You are on the Desktop website, Click here to go back to our mobile website
We use cookies to offer you the best service possible. By using our site you agree to the use of cookies.
ARTICLE
From Michael Jackson to Britney Spears, music’s brightest stars have often suffered as well as succeeded by their parents’ hands – as the young countertenor singers of 16th century Italy knew all too well. Late in 2021, people across the globe watched as one of the western world’s biggest pop stars, Britney Spears, was finally freed from the grasp of the legal agreement that had controlled just about every detail of her life for the last 14 years.

The conservatorship, which can be described as a guardianship appointed by a court, included Britney’s father, Jamie Spears, as a conservator, and was put in place following the singer’s public mental health crisis in 2008. Back in November, the Guardian reported that Spears said she “had been forced to take medications and perform against her will, and that her father, Jamie Spears, had been an abusive conservator who tightly controlled intimate details of her life.”

Michael Jackson, another troubled pop star of our time, also felt the impact of having a controlling father.
It’s alleged that Joe Jackson would sit in Jackson 5 rehearsals, belt in hand, ready to lash anyone who wasn’t performing up to scratch. Of course, Mr Jackson would argue that this tough approach (probably not unusual at the time) turned the Jackson kids into stars, but there is no denying that this kind of pressure and physical abuse would be traumatic for any child, no matter how talented or how successful they became later in life.

In a recent issue of Pro Mobile, I wrote about the talented Amy Winehouse and her tragic story of addiction and mental health problems. Following the release of the documentary film Amy (directed by Asif Kapadia) in 2015, many viewers were critical of the singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who some felt had used Amy’s fame to propel his own ambitions as a jazz singer and showbiz name.

As it turns out, parents going to drastic, even abusive lengths to see their children succeed is not just true today but all through history. After all, a talented child can bring money to a struggling family. The parents may even live vicariously through the success of their child to make up for their own failures. Or perhaps they simply want their child to have a better life than they did.

Well, no case of parents exploiting their children for monetary gain is more preposterous than that of the ‘castrati’. When Pete Holding asked me if I fancied writing an “unusual” piece about the young countertenor singers of Italian opera, I was a little hesitant. But if there’s one thing that unites all Pro Mobile readers and contributors, it’s music. And the story of the castrati details one of the most astonishing and outright bonkers musical traditions in the history books.

Who were these people? And why, for almost 400 years, had they been having their balls chopped off? Feeling like Louis Theroux preparing to film some sort of weird documentary series, I went off to find out…

Who were the castrati and how did they get their name?



As I discovered when I initially Googled the term, the castrati are nothing to do with the illuminati (my apologies to any conspiracy theorists out there). However, just as the Latin “illuminati” translates to “the enlightened”, the Italian “castrati” translates neatly to “the castrated”.
The term referred to a type of classical male singer found in the choirs, operas and courts of Italy, mostly from the 16th century through to the 18th century. A castrato was desired by choirs and operas due to his unrivalled lung power and high vocal range, which was equivalent to that of a female soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto. (Essentially, a castrato would make Barry Gibb sound like Barry White.)

How these grown men came to have such high vocal ranges is where the story gets disturbing. Most often, young male singers would be castrated at home in secret by their own mothers. This barbaric practice sought to preserve their high voices; these boys never developed sexually and their voices never broke. However, due to the lack of testosterone their bones remained soft, meaning they developed larger-than-normal ribs that allowed for incredible lung power.

In a piece back in 2016, the BBC said: “that such an act of barbarism could be legitimated in the name of art beggars belief in our modern age, but the practice kept Europe’s papal choirs and ducal courts generously supplied with sopranos, whilst simultaneously following St Paul’s charming edict that ‘women should be silent in church’.”

For the church, the castrati offered the ultimate combination of high range and high power, without them having to allow those pesky girls into the choir! For the families of these children, castrating their sons was the best way to preserve their angelic voices and ensure they could continue earning an income for the family.

How high could a castrato sing?



Like all people, castrato’s vocal ranges varied. But because their childhood voice was preserved, they often had the equivalent range to a soprano (a high-range female voice). This is what made the castrati popular in the choirs and operas of Europe, with plenty of composers writing parts for them.

To give an idea of just high the castrati could sing, we can compare them to some of popular and classical music’s most famous names, including Luciano Pavarotti (a baritone-tenor), Stevie Nicks (an alto) and Mariah Carey (a soprano).

At the height of the castrati’s popularity in 17th century Italy, it’s claimed that as many as 5000 boys were cruelly castrated each year.
In the 18th century, legendary opera composers such as Handel and Mozart wrote lead soprano parts specifically for castrati singers, though the composer Vivaldi notably preferred to use castrati singers with lower contralto voices. Often fulfilling the role of hero in some of the most famous operas, singers like Farinelli (a soprano) and Senesimo (who had a “powerful, clear, equal and sweet” contralto voice) were adored across Europe – the rockstars of their day.

Was the castration against the law?


The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 111, Pages 32-34.
UPCOMING EVENTS
BPM DJ Show 2024
12 / 10 / 2024 - 13 / 10 / 2024
Photo Booth Expo London
13 / 10 / 2024 - 14 / 10 / 2024
VIEW THE FULL CALENDAR
BOOK STORE FEATURED PRODUCT
HOW TO PRICE YOUR PLATYPUS

BY DAVID ABBOTT

£5.00 (INC P&P)
More
VISIT THE BOOK STORE