Castrati, a product of a practice in which pre-pubescent boys were subjected to a procedure involving milk baths and twisting their testicles to induce atrophy, were the undisputed vocal superstars of their era. In 18th-century opera, the absence of a castrato's sublime voice in the leading role of 'primo uomo' was a guarantee of commercial failure.
In 1975, musicologist Angus Heriot described the voices of castrati as "clear and piercing as that of a choirboy and much more powerful; they appear to sing an octave higher above the natural voice of a woman. Their voices have always something dry and harsh, quite different from the youthful softness of women; but they are brilliant, light, full of sparkle, very loud and with a very wide range." Heriot's description is tinged with a sense of wistfulness, as if mourning the “irretrievable loss” of castrati's unique, “irrecoverable skills” to the passage of time.
Unlike choirboys, whose voices were lost to the onset of puberty, castrati underwent decades of rigorous training, earning them astronomical wages and frenzied public adoration. For hours on end, they were compelled to hone their craft, pushing their voices to almost violent extremes to achieve machine-like precision. However, their mannerisms and resulting unusual physical appearance also made them the subject of mockery and ridicule. This was not solely due to the roles they were cast in, but also because even modern scholars genuinely believed that castration led to distinct physical developments, particularly in the larynx.
Eighteenth-century opera caricatures depict castrati as towering figures with disproportionately small heads and massive, barrel-chested torsos, fueling speculation that the enlarged chest cavity may have provided greater lung capacity. This, in turn, may have allowed castrati to sing extended phrases with remarkable dynamic range, rendering them uniquely gifted vocalists whose abilities surpassed those of their male and female counterparts.
Although the practice of castration was outlawed in the 1880s, making it superbly challenging to conduct scientific studies on their physical development, the depiction of castrati as almost otherworldly beings with superhuman vocal abilities continues to fuel the myths and legends surrounding the sublime, angelic quality of their voices.
One resource available to musicologists investigating the 'myth of bel canto' is a collection of wax cylinder recordings of one of the last castrati in history, Alessandro Moreschi. Although his voice, arguably imperfect, has been preserved for posterity, the limitations of wax cylinder technology render these recordings somewhat incongruous as a means of studying castrati's singing style. The recordings, characterized by Moreschi's comically squeaky voice and compromised audio quality, are often relegated to footnotes in scholarly research, leading many to assume that no examples of castrato singing exist.
As a result, we are left to rely on word-of-mouth accounts from peers, musicians, and composers, often in the context of promoting their own artworks to patrons. Consequently, the unique and almost mystical qualities of castrato singing seem forever lost to the passage of time. However, it is possible that these qualities may not be entirely beyond recovery.
With their project "If it ain't baroque…", Hidéo SNES has pioneered an AI-powered application that breathes new life into Moreschi's wax cylinder recordings, elevating them to the splendour of modern productions. Through a three-stage process, the original audio quality is first enhanced, and then AI-driven analysis of contemporary soprano and falsetto vocals is used to extrapolate the missing frequencies, effectively reconstructing the full dynamic range.
The original recording provides sufficient timbral information to enable the synthesis of Moreschi's voice in its prime, focusing on biological models of human voice range instead of attempts to woo long dead patrons.
When the project premiered at the Museum of Folk Art Vienna in summer 2024, audiences were mesmerized by the sound of a castrato voice, unheard for over 120 years. Moreschi's vocal clone performed a rendition of "De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", a text by Cicero more commonly known today as the Lorem Ipsum placeholder. In a deliciously ironic twist, musicology has once again proven itself to be a discipline that delights unexpectedly.
From human bodies trained to reach machine-like precision, to analogue machines that struggle to capture these unique qualities, to modern machines designed to synthesize human-like expression, we find ourselves on a fascinating journey. And yet, it is striking to note that these modern machines, capable of recreating the voice of a castrato with uncanny accuracy, are often ridiculed and mocked for their own limitations and quirks.
Inspired by this centuries-old pursuit of aesthetic perfection, Hidéo SNES has revived one of the most distinctive forms of music in history, yet a question lingers. Can we truly recreate the essence of a bygone era, or are we merely paying homage to a lost art? One thing is certain, however: the allure of ‘bell canto’ remains, and its legend endures.
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Image credits: castrato1-3
Prompt:
"Eighteenth-century opera caricatures depict Castrati as towering figures with disproportionately small heads and massive, barrel-chested torsos. It is speculated that the enlarged chest cavity may have provided greater lung capacity, allowing Castrati to sing extended phrases with remarkable dynamic range."
Credit:
Stable Diffusion 3 (SDXL3/MMDiT) with LoRA "Deep Histories" by Hidéo SNES, 2024
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castrato 4-6
1 Caricature of a performance of Handel's Flavio, featuring Gaetano Berenstadt on the far right, the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni in the centre and castrato Senesino on the left. Artist: John Vanderbank URL: http://www.haendel.it/interpreti/old/senesino.htm Credit: Public Domain
2 Charles Joseph Flipart: Portrait of Carlo Scalzi in costume for the role of Sirbace in Rosbale of Porpora. ca 1721-1729 Credit: Public Domain 3 Caricature of Carlo Broschi (Farinelli) as Berenice in Vinci's Farnace, Rome 1724. Credit: Public Domain
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Allessandro Moreschi
Alessandro Moreschi, the last of the Sistine castrati, c 1875, Author unknown, Credit: Public Domain
Alessandro Moreschi c. 1914, Author unknown, Credit: Public Domain
Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922), last surviving castrato of the Sistine Chapel's Choir., Author unknown, Credit: Public Domain