The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon [Hardcover]

Patrick Barbier (Author), Margaret Copeland (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1997

This entertaining and authoritative study of the castrati during the baroque period explores the lives and triumphs of more than 60 singers over three centuries—their social origins, training, and relationship to society and church. Blending history and anecdote, it traces the course of a phenomenon that held Europe in its thrall. People were fascinated by these hybrids—part man, part woman, and part child—who became virile heroes on the operatic stage. The reader will learn of the horrors of castration, the nature of the strange castrato voice, and the conflicts these singers experienced.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The practice of castrating boy sopranos continues to both repel and fascinate the modern audience. Reflecting these responses, this book vacillates between an up-to-date obsession with clinical details and a Victorian sense of shock. As Barbier (music history, West Catholic Univ., Angers) documents here, some of the castrasti were extraordinary singers and led interesting lives, both public and private. But the book adds few new details to what has previously been known, and it is neither scholarly enough to be a definitive study nor breezy enough to entertain. A more interesting treatment is still Angus Heriot's The Castrati in Opera (1956. o.p.).?Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The papal declaration that no woman could sing in church gave rise to the castrati--boys castrated before puberty and cultivated to sing the treble parts. Major Italian cities even had conservatories for training poor boys as castrati to give them a better life. Soon the musical theater embraced the castrato voice, and many castrati enjoyed long, international careers as singers and teachers; the famous Farinelli, subject of a recent movie, became a privy minister of the Spanish court. Considered safe companions, castrati often forged alliances with noble women; they even married. Handel, Gluck, and Rossini all wrote for the castrato voice, but the passion for castrati in the theater died out by 1790. (It continued in the papal choirs until 1913, when Moreschi, the last castrato, died.) Barbier weaves quite a tapestry out of the lives of the great castrati and the theater and church music of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Europe, especially that of Italy. Although rather dry, well worth reading. Alan Hirsch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Souvenir Press (August 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0285633090
• ISBN-13: 978-0285633094
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,348,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eviva, October 18, 2003

By 

Neil G. Croll (Edmonton, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon (Paperback)

No serious discussion of opera would be complete without mentioning the castrati; the period which gave rise to the castrati, their lives and work, and their legacy as it affects us today. In Barbier's book the reader is given an extraordinarily well researched, informative and entertaining look at the castrato phenomenon from it's earliest beginnings, through the so called "golden age", and right on into the twentieth century. While presenting a tremendous amount of information the book is never boring or pedantic but rather gives a unique insight into a subject that many, even the most learned opera cognoscenti, would not want to discuss.

Along with the lives of the greatest operatic castrati (Farinelli, Senesino et al.) Barbier gives details of almost every castrato of any significance in the history of opera. He also provides an informative description of the physical caharacteristics of eunuchs along with the social, religious, and political conditions that ushered in and provided for the existence of the castrati.

Any person who wishes to learn more about the castrati, their role in the development of opera, or simply to expand his or her knowledge of opera history should read this book.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Opinioni, August 9, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Venice, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon (Paperback)

I thought the book did very well in revealing the great yet mysterious past of some of operas greatest exponents, the castrati. Through their eventful history vocal technique was able to reach past its highest peaks, and audiences were able to be thrown, into raptures of ecstatic bliss, by listening to the angelic voices in all their skill.... and unassailable perfection of the greatest singers our world has known through the music of some of the greatest composers. However petty some may make themselves in attacking the style of the author or some phrase he was supposedly ridiculous to have uttered in the book, Patrick Barbier indeed accomplished much in revealing to us in wonderful detail the history of music's glorious past. I also wish to thank him for all that he has given me through the publishing of this great book.