title: [On the pathology of the human voice. Reflections on castrato singing from the point of view of the history of medicine].
abstract: The origins of castration can be traced back to the times of Classical Mythology. THe reasons for this kind of operation were extremely varied.Up into the 20th century it was performed as punishment and revenge upon conquered enemies, on religious grounds and for acquiring slaves and harem guards. THere are very few diseases to date giving rise to a medical indication for castration. According to the excessively strict interpretation of the words of St. Paul that "women should remain silent in Church", women were not permitted to participate in signing for several voices in the church. The high-pitched voices of young boys were therefore adopted, whose skill no longer met the continuously rising demands placed upon singers. The vocal performance of men signing in the falsetto registers ("falsettos") progressively failed to suffice in church singing and even more so in the opera, which started to become established as a new art form towards the end of the 16th century. Young boys' voices and flasettos were therefore gradually replaced by singing castratos. The "heyday" of this type of singing was in the 18th century and one of its best known representatives was Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli. THe high pitches and aria di bravura corresponded to the taste of the audiences. In the 19th century the demand for castratos declined. One of the last was Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922), who sang for over 30 years in the Sistine Chapel, in later years mainly conducting. According to present-day knowledge, he is the only castrato of whom several recordings were made between 1902 and 1904. They were published on a record, now available as a CD.
authors.forename: Chrisitian von
authors.initials: Cv
authors.lastname: Deuster
mesh_terms: D002835:Christianity / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music / Q000266:history; D009919:Orchiectomy / Q000266:history*; D014831:Voice