What was the point of castrating young boys to sing opera when they could just as well have a woman sing the part ?
In: Biology
Castrati don’t sound exactly the same as women and, by and large, did not take women’s roles in opera.
Castrati started because they were rare, and they became somewhat of a novelty for the Italian aristocracy to own. They persisted in part because they had a unique vocal range and were *loud* at a time when the only way to amplify a person’s voice was through the architecture of the theater’s walls.
Castrati get the “best” of both worlds as far as the anatomy of singing is concerned. They have the size and muscle tone of a man along with the highly flexible rib cages of a woman. Those anatomical features allowed them to be much louder than an equivalent non-castrated man.
But the other part of why they persisted goes back to them being rare. Good castrati were basically born into the role and then trained extensively from when they were young enough to speak until they were old enough to perform. Paying a family to castrate one of their kids, then training that kid for over a decade was a non-trivial expense in a world where the vast majority of people could just barely manage to afford to eat. Only very wealthy aristocrats could afford castrati, which meant that there just weren’t a whole lot of them and, like any other novelty, people like seeing or owning rare things.
Latest Answers