Castrati - The Sad Story of the Boys who were Castrated to Become Singers

Castrati - The Sad Story of the Boys who were Castrated to Become Singers - Historical Curiosities - See u In History

#SeeUinHistory #History

[MiddleAgedMillennial]

I can’t believe they did ALL of this instead of just allowing women to sing in their churches.

[areiaaphrodite]

"Women even wore medallions of portraits of their favourite singers around their necks."
Aka, 18th century Band Mrrch 😎

[cydkriletich]

Years ago, probably as far back as the 1960’s-1970’s, I read a novel called Castrati or Castrata. It was both horrifying and fascinating. The description of the castration “surgery” stayed with me for years. The main character was essentially kidnapped and had the surgery forced on him, with no anesthetic, in some dank back room. He rose to be extremely rich and famous. A great story about a terrible practice, all because the misogynist Catholic Church would not let women sing.

[KediKatzen]

The Catholic Church didn't really condone the Castrati, and took in the "rejects" that didn't make it into the opera houses, because Castrati were only "rockstars" if they were famous, otherwise they were social outcasts and really couldn't find other jobs. The Church threatened to excommunicate any parent who put their child up for castration.
Nice to see the little tidbits of history that aren't talked about often get some attention though ^^

[luvzfrance]

It was pretty terrifying learning about the castrati when I was in college. I had no idea such a thing existed and I was blown away when I heard the recordings mentioned in this video.

[dafttool]

One of Anne Rice’s novels is centered on the castrati. Believe it’s called “Cry To Heaven”

[ninatouchdown]

In the 90s, a movie about the life of Farinelli was made (called Farinelli). To achieve a castrato voice, or as close to one as possible, a soprano and a tenor voice was mixed. Good movie, I can really recommend it.

[Nevada_Dan]

There are times when I absolutely HATE and DISPISE humanity...

[cw]

The description of the castrati’s skeletal structure is why one should allow their pets to attain maturity prior to neutering. This is especially important in large breed dogs.

[rosieclarkson]

Horrible. To think somebody out there thought that child abuse on that level was justified. Nasty.

[hitmanjonesy]

"Long live the knife" is INSANE

[helenhighwater]

There is no limit to the variety of horrendous absurdities humans can be talked into not only accepting but promoting. Reprehensible.

[verge]

Ancient societies regarded women's menstrual bleeding as both mysterious and repugnant. Public places - such as theatres, temples and political arenas were strongly associated with the divine. To the ancients, to risk bringing the uncleanness of mysterious, UNCONTROLLABLE bleeding into such sacred places was anathema. As a result, women were forbidden from such venues. In Antiquity, places where dramatic and musical performances occurred were strongly associated with worship. Effectively, such places were comparable to theatres, temples and magisterial chambers. Ergo, even as late as the early 1700s: No women on stage.

[imsleepingbeauty]

Poor boys. I can't imagine how painful that must have been. Makes you feel even worse for farm animals that they still castrate these days with hardly any anesthesia 💔

[chungusmaximus]

So canonically speaking, does this mean that Varys can sing like Barry Gibb?

[rodolfoerdogan]

1. The voice of the castrati was not the same as a woman's voice. They were more than a replacement for female singers. They played male roles and sometimes female roles. Their voices were obviously not the same as other male opera singers, though.
2. One health issue of the castrati was that many developed osteoporosis.
3. From some of the comments, one might think castration of males is a women's issue. It is not. It is a physical mutilation of the MALE body.
4. I am very glad this practice ended long ago. It was very unfair to the boys involved. And most of them never even achieved the hoped for success. And so many of them died a painful death during or shortly after the procedure.

[SoundOfOceanBlue]

The closest we come to castrati today is male soprano and countertenors, such as Aris Christofellis and my favourite singer Philippe Jaroussky.

[terryjackson]

Farinelli was a great movie. So sad yet so powerful.

[sheilaclemett]

There is an excellent novel by Anne Rice called CRY TO HEAVEN about these unfortunate guys. This phenomenon happened because someone didn't get the line in Corithians.

To this day an opera fan friend of mine will not listen to counter-tenors because of this barbaric practice.

[gloveofants]

I learned about them in college and will never forget the looks of horrors on all my male classmates 😂😂