El jurista Giulio Capone, el cantante Ottavio Gaudioso y la defensa filosófica de la castración con fines musicales

Abstract

So far, the theoretical consideration of castration for musical purposes has received little attention. In general, it is stated that Christian countries have condemned this practice since it began to spread in the 16th century. However, at the same time, they did not stop hiring castrated singers for four centuries, both in civil and religious institutions. The arguments against the castration of singers appear in the work of theologians such as Francisco Farfán, Fabio Incarnato, Alonso de Vega, Pedro de Ledesma, Juan Machado de Chaves, Théophile Raynaud, Antonio Diana, Enrique de Villalobos, and Martín de Torrecilla, among many others, today practically unknown. But some eminent theologians also defended the legitimacy of this practice, such as Miguel Bartolomé Salón, Gregorio Sayro, Juan Gil Trullench, Zaccaria Pasqualigo, and Tommaso Tamburini. This article addresses the philosophical, theological, medical, and legal context in which this debate arose, paying particular attention to the defense made by the Neapolitan jurist Giulio Capone. He was motivated by a scandal in Naples in 1670 when an attempt was made to deny a canonry to the singer Ottavio Gaudioso because of being castrated. This context is essential not only to understand a musical practice that survived for four centuries in Christian territories but also to deepen our understanding of the body, sexuality, marriage, social success, and religious life.

Keywords

• theology
• philosophy
• musicology
• medicine
• law
• castration