The Age of the Castratos Captured by New Album
This morning, a friend brought to my attention a new musical CD that combines both history and some of the finest arias ever written. The artist is Cecilia Bartoli. She has done extensive research about young men who were castrated so that there voices would remain “high” forever, for the sake of the art. In mid-18th century, she says in one interview, 4,000 boys, annually, underwent this procedure in Italy. She has written a “Castrato Compendium” to explain more about this trend, and that accompanies her just published CD. In Italian, the plural of castrato is castrati.
In the words of the artist:
“The age of the castratos was one of the most dazzling and remarkable in European music history. Seldom has there ever been such a complete fusion of sensuousness and splendor, form and content, poetry and music, and, above all, such a perfection of vocal virtuosity, as was achieved in the glory days of the Baroque era. The legendary art of the castratos continues to exert its fascination even today, and despite the great human sacrifice it exacted, a new assessment of this extraordinary period is surely justified.” – Cecilia Bartoli
The cover of the album presents the strong image that the artist intended: a female head and a male body. Bartoli has an exquisite and well-trained voice and seems to have been the right person to have achieved this kind of historical exploration. With her many abilities, she certainly appears to present a true depiction of the time period.
In addition, Anne Rice has written a novel that includes details about the castratos of Venice and Naples.
Patricia Cummings
