True Or Falsetto? When Opera Singers Were Castrated To Hit The High Notes
By Manuel Brug
DIE WELT/Worldcrunch
http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/true-or-falsetto-when-opera-singers-were-castrated-to-hit-the-high-notes/opera-music-eunuch-bartoli-baroque/c3s10105/#.UOAr7nf5V6gIn the 17th and 18th centuries, opera performers could take any role they wanted. Sopranos were kings, countertenors their lovers; although, in an old theater tradition that went back to the Greeks, wet nurses were always played by men, and the character was re-written if no male could be found to play it.
Only in papal Rome was the stage taboo for women, offering plenty of opportunities for singing eunuchs – or castrati. While castration to the service of music was banned by the Church, castrati were members of the Sistine Chapel choir and cast in opera productions.
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Despite the many productions and recordings featuring such voices over the past 20 years, however, there has been little investigation into the social history behind castrati. What values were assigned to "male" and "female" virtues in Baroque times, and how were gender issues and sexual orientation dealt with? What was tolerated or considered scandalous? Could a castrato have sex?
A new book by Helen Berry, The Castrato and his Wife – about the 18th century opera singer Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, a popular megastar in his day, who fell in love and married, but who was unable to consummate the short-lived union – goes a long way to answering these questions.
