I had never heard of The Last Castrato. I went to Amazon.com, where you can listen to five excerpts on-line. It was very strange. Moreschi's not really a very good singer; his voice quavers and almost breaks at some points. Still, his voice, and that of the chorus, is distinctive. Like a man's voice pitched very high, if that makes sense. Men's and women's voices are not only low and high; they have characteristic timbres. Fascinating to hear how the masculine quality of this high voice has been preserved. A musical footnote of enduring interest. What could the makers of Farinelli have done? Even most of our fellows on this site were cut too late in life to achieve the true effect.

Bob, you are right. It is interesting to compare voices by age, gender, etc. as they have their own timbres, ranges, etc. It isn't that Moreschi's voice (pictured in my avitar) is a high man's voice, but just what it is: his boy voice that never left. His body grew around his boyhood vocal chords: more lung capacity, more control over the voice, and just plain 30 more years (in these recordings) than most people get with their boyhood voice! Compare to an adult woman's voice, and its not the same effect, so its more than just a lack of testosterone that changes a woman's voice. (And yes they do "change" at puberty; maybe not like a man's, but still: women aren't singing with their childhood voices!)

As for how Moreschi sings, the CD insert talks about this. Basically, you have to look past a couple of stylistic things of the time: grace notes and glissandos. So he will attack a note from below with a small "grace note" and leap basically up to the right note. That's done on purpose! Then a glissando is scooping up or down to a note. Other instrumentalists of the time did this also. Its not bad technique. In fact, if you take these into account, and especially on the ones where it lists only the Sistine Chapel Choir (some other recordings were done with boys), you can really hear the power of the castrati singing together. The last track (not the pope, but the one before) is Moreschi and some boys choir. (Not sure if there are other eunuchs singing with the boys or not.) You can obviously hear the difference between these boys' voices and Moreschi's as they sing against each other. More "power" to Moreschi's and a darker color.

So I hope that helps!

bobov (imported) wrote: Tue Jun 03, 2003 12:28 am A musical footnote of enduring interest. What could the makers of Farinelli have done? Even most of our fellows on this site were cut too late in life to achieve the true effect.

I don't know what they could've done, but at LEAST they could've researched the recording of real castrati and known that digitally mixing a woman's and a man's voice was NOT going to be "it".

Anybody read that here? I have a copy- but have lost it for the moment- and its quite interesting. Mostly the sexual bits between the castrati and others. Its Anne Rice, after all!

Thanks, Moreschi, for the explanation about grace notes and glissandos. I never knew that singers did this. I've enjoyed your passionate and informed discussion.

Aha! There's the word I was looking for before: Portamenti. Plurel for portamento. That's another technique used by the sistine chapel choir in those recordings.

The only previous occasion I've heard of portamento was in the liner notes to Wanda Landowski's recording of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, played on the hapsichord. She mentioned portamento as a traditional harpsichord effect. This reminds me of a recent magazine interview with Tony Bennett. He said that, early in his career, he was advised to imitate instrumental players rather than other singers, and that helped him develop an original style.

Sins of the 7th Sister by Huston Curtiss....

You have GOT to read this one!

While it's not a "eunuch story", per say, one of the main characters, Stanley, is a eunuch. Jesus has mentioned it before, and it's a very good book.

Set in the South, USA, just at the time of the Depression and moving on through time (Curtiss is quite old now), it's pretty much as the header says - when you start to read it, you think "Oh my God, these people are crazy."

And they are.

Very briefly, Stanley Black is accussed of murdering his father at the age of 10, castrated as punishment for the crime, and sent to an orphanage for 6 years. At 16, he is taken in by Curtiss' mother - one of those "uppity women" - to work on their large farm. The story is told from Curtiss' viewpoint; he was 7 when Stanley arrived at their home.

What follows is one amazing adventure after another, including Stanley's later adoption and identity change to Stella - who becomes a famous opera singer.

Curtiss claims that the story is true, and from the way it reads, there's not much doubting it.

Also about portamenti, Moreschi mostly slides DOWNward with them, rather than up, and indeed in large intervals. Other instrumentalists of the day this this too, including the one on the CD in "Ave Maria" by Bach/Gounod. Again, stylistic thing, not sloppy technique.

Dictionary.com says:

por·ta·men·to ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pôrt-mnt, pr-)

n. pl. por·ta·men·ti (-t) or por·ta·men·tos

A smooth uninterrupted glide in passing from one tone to another, especially with the voice or a bowed stringed instrument.

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[Italian, from portare, to carry, from Latin portre. See per-2 in Indo-European Roots.]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

portamento

\Por`ta*men"to\, n. [It., fr. portare to carry.] (Mus.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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This may account for why Moreschi sounds "sloppy". That plus the grace note leaps/attacks. In Moreschi's case, though, he used these notes an octave or so below, not just a step!

ap·pog·gia·tu·ra ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-pj-tr)

n. Music

An embellishing note, usually one step above or below the note it precedes and indicated by a small note or special sign.

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[Italian, from appoggiato, past participle of appoggiare, to lean on, from Vulgar Latin *appodire : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin podium, support (from Greek podion, base, from pous, pod-, foot. See ped- in Indo-European Roots).]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

[Buy it]

appoggiatura

\Ap*pog`gia*tu"ra\, n. [It., fr. appogiarre to lean, to rest; ap- (L. ad) + poggiare to mount, ascend, poggio hill, fr. L. podium an elevated place.] (Mus.) A passing tone preceding an essential tone, and borrowing the time it occupies from that; a short auxiliary or grace note one degree above or below the principal note unless it be of the same harmony; -- generally indicated by a note of smaller size, as in the illustration above. It forms no essential part of the harmony.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

appoggiatura

n : an embellishing note usually written in smaller size [syn: grace note, acciaccatura]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University