A. Moreschi CD - the only castrato recorded

[Paolo]

I received a couple of emails lately asking about this recording, so here it is:

Opal CD 9823 - The Last Castrato. Alessandro Moreschi, the last castrato.

Pavillion Records LTD., Sparrows Green, Wadhurst, E. Sussex, England.

Alessandro Moreschi (1858*-1922) was the last known Castrato, and the only one to have made records. His recordings were made in 1902 and 1904 at the Vatican where he was a soloist. Most of them are of extreme rarity and are collected here for the first time. This historic re-issue includes all twelve records which Professor Mroeschi is known to have made, as well as five choral records on which his voice is clearly discernable.

Amazon.com carries the CD, but in light of their changes to privacy policy, I hesitate to recommend them. I would see if your local record store can order it.

*The practice of castrating little boys to be singers was officially banned in 1878 by Pope Leo XIII. Moreschi would have been 20 or so at the time of the new law, depending on when his birthday was. Most sources cite the age of 6 or 7 as the most common age for the surgery, so Moreschi was probably castrated in 1864 - during the time of the Civil War in the USA, in fact. One other interesting sidelight is that when he died, the Church refused to have his body autopsied or examined, and there is still some debate as to whether Moreschi was a Castrato by the hand of a surgeon, or a "eunuch from his mother's womb."