Kastraten – alles für den Ruhm

Abstract

The phenomenon of castration is wedded to the baroque era. This epoch stands for pure sensual pleasure. Those who could afford it tried to arrange their earthly days to be as enjoyable as possible. A perverse bloom of this ambition was the angel-like voices of the castrati. The supernatural sound of the voice was meant to let the opera visitors escape into another world. High society was almost addicted to those voices. On the other hand nobody showed any interest in the spiritual life of the castrati. Farinelli, Nicolini, and Senesino, three of the most famous castrati, were the first musical superstars of the eighteenth century. Their voices moved the decadent baroque audience to tears and enraptured them to the point of standing ovations. But the price for this fame was high. Only through castration in their early boyhood could this bell-like voice be kept. Because of the sensational success of the castrati, a huge wave of castration swept over Italy. Ambitious parents had their boys castrated, hoping that they would also become famous opera stars. It is estimated that in Italy alone over half a million boys were victims of this mutilating procedure during the eighteenth century. Because castration was officially forbidden it was done"behind closed doors" by untrained barbers and of course was associated with a high morbidity and mortality rate. The height of the castrati ended with the fading eighteenth century. The last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, was engaged as a chorister and soloist at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He was pensioned off by Pope Pius X in the year 1912 after an official ban on castrated singers was imposed. With that a very impressive part of music history had ended.