Un’occasione perduta: lo studio anatomico e fisiologico dei musici castrati

Abstract

While the Italian musician may have been an object of study for nineteenth-century medical sciences, the same cannot be said of the singer castrato: although the latter is the most characteristic and original element in the history of Italian opera, the castrato remains unknown to scientific studies of the time, despite his exceptional biological nature. The rare texts which deal with castrati consider castration as an exotic subject. They study the different anthropological forms of eunuchism present in the East, but neglect orchiectomy which aims at artistic purposes. Though widely disseminated in Italy, orchiectomy is presented in these texts as an aberration which should not be investigated further. There were, however, many castrati who could have been examined in their lifetime or even after their death. This article thus brings together the little information accessible in non-medical sources in an attempt to define the acoustic nature of castrati’s voice, taking into consideration the vocal change undergone during their adolescence.

Keywords

• castrato
• eunuch
• voice mutation
• falsetto
• countertenor