Castrati: The Lost Tradition

Castrati were young boys who were castrated (had their testicles removed) before they hit puberty, to ensure that their voices would not “break”. The result of the operation was that the boy would grow up being able to sing with the same voice as a boy soprano, but with the strength of a man. As the castrato’s body grew, his lack of testosterone meant that his epiphyses (bone-joints) did not harden in the normal manner. Thus the limbs of the castrati often grew unusually long, as did the bones of their ribs. This, combined with intensive training, gave them unrivalled lung-power and breath capacity. The boys were often fed opium to make them unaware of the operation. In the image to the left we see the instrument used to castrate the boys.

Once castrated, the young boys were sent to conservatories. At the “Conservatorio di Sant’ Onofrio” in Napoli, during the 1780s, the work schedule was as follows: In the morning, one hour of singing difficult passages, one hour of literature and one hour of solfeggi in front of mirrors. In the afternoon, one half hour of music theory, one half hour of counterpoint on improvisation and one hour of literature.

The history of Castrati

The first castrati were reported in Spain around 1550 and their presence in the Rome Sistine Chapel Choir was reported to have started around 1565. The Spanish falsettisti ruled the Sistine Chapel. The falsettisti’s voices were more agile and had a richer sound. It has been debated that some of the Spanish falsettisti were castrati. The change from falsettisti to castrati came about because the castrato’s voice sounded more natural.

The earliest castrati known were Jacomo Spagnoletti (probably a Spaniard) and Martino, both of whom were admitted to the Sistine Chapel Choir in 1588. Other two good castrati were mentioned in the archives of 1599, the Italians Pietro Folignani and Girolamo Rosini. By 1640, castrati were used throughout Italy despite much theological debate, the music need of the church always prevailing over anti-mutilation surgery. They were formally banned from the papal chapel by Pius X in 1903.

What do we know of Castrati?

Many things are known about castrati. For example, they were not allowed to marry in church and sing in Lutheran churches. In France , Italian singers and castrati were not welcomed because of their excessive ornamentation and decadent life style. In the 17th and 18th century Italy , castrati were considered to be natural sopranos, whereas falsettisti, which would still possess all tokens of masculinity, were considered to have artificial voices. They were so treasured that, in 1625, all sopranos in the choir of the Sistine Chapel were castrati. In Bach’s time, there was already heavy competition between the clerical courts of Venice and Rome, so that the local opera theatres were ordered to engage the best castrati. At the peak of time, there were 4000 boys between the age of 7 and 9 castrated per year.

What did they sound like?

Castrati loathed their parents and families for allowing the surgical intervention. Domenico Mustafa’s family told him that, when he was a child, his testicles were eaten by a pig and he always swore he would kill his father for lying.

Fortunately, Pope Leo XIII was a bit of a geek and he asked Thomas Edison to bring his new phonograph to the Cistene Chapel to record the choir. The choir master happened to be Alessandro Moreschi (image left), the last living true castrato. As a result of the meeting between Leo XIII and Edison’s aides, a series of recordings were made of Moreschi in 1908. While the quality is not the greatest, these recordings allow us to hear the true voice of a castrato.

Alessandro Moreschi was born into a large Roman Catholic family in the town of Monte Compatri, near Frascati. Baptised on the day of his birth, it is clear that his life was in danger. Perhaps he was born with an inguinal hernia, for which castration was still a “cure” in nineteenth-century Italy. Or he could have been castrated later, around 1865, which would have been more in line with the centuries-old practice of castrating vocally talented boys well before puberty. In any case, much later in life, he referred to his enjoying singing as a boy in the chapel of the Madonna del Castagno, just outside his native town.

Listen to Moreschi singing Ave Maria (MP3)
Listen to Moreschi singing Domine Salvum Fac (MP3)