Although the procedure was completed clandestinely, cities like Bologna, Lecce, and Norcia became centers for the surgery where the surgeons were further called to other capitals in Europe. The surgery was said to be quick and painless; one description of the operation comes from a French work published 1707, later translated into English in 1717 titled Eunuchism Displayed, under the pseudonym of Charles d’Ancillon:
During the eighteenth century as many as 4000 boys were castrated in Italy to preserve their treble voices into adulthood. Voltaire writes a phrase in the Old Woman’s Tale Candide, “I was born in Naples he told me, where they caponize two or three thousand children every year; some die of it, others acquire a voice more beautiful than any woman’s, still others go on to become governors of kingdoms.” Castration was largely popular all across Italy; in an article, “The Castrati as a Professional Group and Social Phenomenon”, 1550-1850, John Rosselli, English historian and musicologist, surveys existing church records throughout Italy in an effort to clarify just how many boys were submitted for castration. Though he admitted a precise calculation is further impossible, he notes, “at any time between about 1630 and 1750 there must have been living several hundred castrati, nearly all Italians…. In Naples, Rome, Bologna, and Venice… and in some smaller towns (Padua, Assisi, Loreto), there were groups of castrati large and stable enough to be a feature of everyday life.” Disregarding legality, thousands of boys were castrated with hopes of becoming “super stars” in the performance world both in church and opera. Voltaire’s passage examines how many boys found no passion for music and later became rulers and governors of d...
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...itten for castrati. However, each singer played their part with their natural voice and contributed to the general transformation of opera in the nineteenth century.
Although the castrato maintained a 100 year long infamy, transition was bound to happen. The phenomenon was splendid and served well in the upbringing of opera through the eighteenth century, but various European events (i.e. French Revolutionary and Napoleon wars) changed the course of history for good. If not for those wars, women might still be sitting silently in the audience. However, opera really owes credit to the “barber surgeons” of Italy for disobeying the law and continuing their practice despite all consequences against their actions. Without their bravery, castrati may never have existed along with the moving operatic compositions of the early seventeenth century to the nineteenth century.
In the book, Giovanni and Lusanna, by Gene Bucker, he discusses the scandalous actions of a Florentine woman taking a wealthy high status man to court over the legality of their marriage. Published in 1988, the book explains the legal action taken for and against Lusanna and Giovanni, the social affects placed on both persons throughout their trial, and the roles of both men and women during the time. From the long and complicated trial, it can be inferred that women’s places within Florentine society were limited compared to their male counterparts and that women’s affairs should remain in the home. In this paper, I will examine the legal and societal place of women in Florentine society during the Renaissance. Here, I will argue that women were the “merchandise” of humanity and their main objective was to produce sons.
Giese, Loreen L. "Malvolio's Yellow Stockings: Coding Illicit Sexuality in Early Modern London." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England: An Annual Gathering of Research, Criticism and Reviews 19 (2006): 235-246. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
When it comes to music history, the Castrati are one of the most important and debated topics. The Castrati were men (in Italian opera) that had been castrated during puberty to stop a flow of hormones, causing them to have the voice of a soprano woman, but the vocal power of an older, full-grown man. A general estimate said that four thousand boys a year were castrated in Italy. Some Castrati tried to make it in church choirs (which often gave them almost nothing of monetary value), most chose the opera route. They reigned supreme when they got onstage, being the obvious star of the show. They were the master performers that drew the crowd in with their amazing voices. During the Baroque period, they made up more than half of the soprano singers in opera.
A rediscover of their history and recognition of early Greek philosophers changed the way that the influential families and Princes, in Italy, considered themselves. Their way of thinking of the Devine and need to promote one’s own aspirations through sponsorship of the arts, as well as, civic duty became not only fashionable but important to progress in the city states. Although Donatello’s David and Botticelli’s Primavera are master pieces in their own right, their influence on future generations of artists cannot be ignored. The spark that ignited the fire which we call the Renaissance was a transformation of societies thinking and values to a Humanistic approach to one duties to society and the church. These two works are a reflection of the changing attitudes which would eventually change all of
castrato soprano, lovely to watch and to listen to however pitiful in plot and lightweight
Barry Millington, et al. "Wagner." The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 23, 2014,
For the musical composer essay, I have chosen to write about a man who I felt made the greatest impact on Romantic opera in the 19th century this master of a man was given the name Giuseppe Fortunio Francesco Verdi but was commonly known as Giuseppe Verdi by all who knew and loved him. This great man was born on either October 9, or 10 in the year 1813 in the community of Le Roncole, near a small town called Busseto in the province of Parma, Italy his astrological sign is that of a Libra. His mother and father were both of Italian descent and their names were Carlo and Luigia Verdi respectively. Now this is where it gets complicated Verdi told every person that talked to him about his background that his parents were illiterate peasants. Despite this lie that Verdi told them they later discovered that his parents were not illiterate peasants as he had claimed but were very smart individuals tha...
Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in Rome were beauty was highly valued, surgeons began practicing methods to alter the human body. They first started operating on gladiators whose faces had been severely damaged. Afterwards they began to use some breast reduction methods, but they mostly focused on reconstructing the ears, lips, and noses. After the Roman Empire fell the advancement of surgery was stalled for a couple hundred years. During the rise of Christianity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period the church forbade anybody to have any surgical changes done to their body.
The history of opera companies in New York City may bring to mind the largesse of the Metropolitan Opera Company, but for years before that opera was alive and well, and even thriving, in New York City. High society in New York had long been envious of the elegance associated with European opera outings, but it wasn't until 1825 that the first production of an opera was performed on a New York stage – an Italian opera troupe performing the premiere of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. A review from the New York Evening Post reported, “the first-night house was full”, and noted with a “touch of relief” that “an assemblage of ladies so fashionable, so numerous… so elevated, so ‘European’” attended the performance. Accompanying the ladies of high
MONDELLI, PETER. "The Sociability Of History In French Grand Opera: A Historical Materialist Perspective." 19Th Century Music 37.1 (2013): 37-55. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2014.
Amateur voice teachers, amateur singers, and amateur listeners often associate straight-tone singing with correct Baroque performance practice (Almirena). This idea is probably an outgrowth of the way scholars understand correct d...
One of the key figures in the history of opera, Wagner was largely responsible for altering its orientation in the nineteenth century. His program of artistic reform accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new breed of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice. As the most influential composer during the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner's conception of music remains very much with us even a century after his death.
Harr, James. Essays on Italian Poetry and Music in the Renassisance: 1350-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
The origin of opera was born in seventeenth century Italy. Wealthy Italian nobles had these “musical works” presented in their piazzas or courtyards. During this time extravagant entertainments, such as fireworks and other amazing effects along with music, singing, dancing and speeches were presented at regal weddings or to welcome important guests. These pre-op...
The development of opera practices in the seventeenth and eighteenth century is evidently affected by social, political, economic and cultural currents.