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Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922), known during his life as the ‘Angel of Rome’, is remembered today as the only castrato singer to have made recordings. Historically he was the last representative of the centuries-old tradition of castrating boy singers in order to preserve their high-pitched voices into adulthood - an act of cruelty which produced some of the greatest singers the world has ever known.
Behind the extraordinary sound of the voice of ‘the last castrato’ lies a strange and lonely life lived in the shadow of great events and great institutions, a personality glimpsed by inference and
allusion. During his lifetime his singing was universally praised: the great tenor Giacomo Lauri-Volpi described Moreschi’s voice as ‘flutingly soft, light, spontaneous, unforced and uncontrived’. More recent critics have spoken of it as both ‘fascinating’ and ‘one of the saddest things in the world’.
- Sales Rank: #3984195 in Books
- Published on: 2005-09-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.00" h x .50" w x 7.80" l, .65 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 192 pages
Review
"Impressive and exhaustive" Billboard on Brian Morton's Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD"
About the Author
Throughout his 20 year career as a counter-tenor, NICHOLAS CLAPTON has been particularly involved in performing the virtuoso repertoire of the castrati: one Italian critic described his impersonation of the great Farinelli as ‘angelically diabolical’. A professor of Singing at the Royal Academy of Music, this biography of Moreschi, whom he has already played on stage, is his first book. The author lives in Oxford and teaches in London and Budapest.
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Moreschi: The Last Castrato
By Edward Z. Norton
Nicholas Clapton has done an masterful job in collecting career details on the last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, handling this delicate subject matter with great panache. The background information and career details are thoroughly explored and many haunting photographs, notes, chronology and bibliography are included. The details of the private life of Moreschi are sadly lacking, but there were simply no avenues open for the author to explore here in light of the fact that his subject died on 21 April, 1922. Even without the personal details this book is an eerie, haunting read, affordably priced, artistically presented and a great investment for the musical connaisseur.
There are a number of books out there that deal with the castrati and at least one novel. The curious musician will now be able to find many answers and feel much closer than before to Alessandro Moreschi. Among the beautiful photos included are several in color taken by the author and others including a photo of Moreschi's tomb. "Moreschi: The Last Castrato" is indeed a book that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
a rather disappointing look at a very special singer
By adorian
I was disappointed in this book. The part actually devoted to Moreschi takes up only the first half of the book. There are then essays by other authors, one of which (about analyzing sound waves of recordings by boy sopranos versus countertenors) is so technically overwritten that it is unreadable. Another essay about the psychology of the castrato mind is just jargon and babblespeak.
The author tells us near the beginning that although we have lots of questions about the castrati, we really don't want to know about the actual operation, and then when he starts to describe it, I realized I couldn't read about something so painful that I had to skip ahead a few pages. The author utilized lots of old documents to reconstruct Moreschi's life and the inner politics of the Sistine choir. The backstabbing and double-dealing is interesting. The best part of the book details the ups and downs of the castrati in the choir as different leaders had different attitudes towards them.
Since Moreschi is the one (last and only) castrato who left behind any recordings, the temptation has always been to assume that all castrati sounded exactly like him. It's too dangerous to make generalizations of what Farinelli must have sounded like based on Moreschi's recordings, which were made when he was past his prime. It's also difficult to analyze his voice since the recording techniques were so primitive back in the early 1900s. The book should have been proofread. A sentence is baffling until one realizes that "end" should be "and." (p. 297) And "the bead--and chest--register" is intriguing until you realize it should be "head" instead of "bead." (p. 291) There are a lot of good black-and-white pictures. The author's tone is respectful instead of snide or sarcastic, which I appreciated.
But, I was disappointed in this book, especially because of those extra essays that someone forgot to proofread.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
The Angel of Rome
By Brian Morgan
Alessandro Moreschi was born in 1858, during the reign of Blessed Pope Pius IX. To his successor, Pope Leo XIII, Moreschi (at the age of twenty-five) successfully addressed his application (he “prostrates himself to kiss Your holy foot”) to become the Sistine Choir’s First Soprano.
How Moreschi was castrated will probably always remain a mystery. In fact, counter-tenor Nicholas Clapton’s excellent book is, perforce, the “life and times” of the singer, since relatively little is known about him. A comprehensive biography is impossible. What we do know is that, in 1902 and 1904, he was the only castrato to make recordings, solidifying his artistic immortality. These recordings are more than an echo of the days when the castrati were the rage of Europe, when composers vied to compose for their sterling voices, and when mutilated men drove audiences to frenzy with their impassioned singing.
Various writers in the last fifty years have dismissed Moreschi’s recordings, but time is proving them short-sighted, at best. The voice on these records is obviously not that of a female. There is a gleaming, silvery strength that sounds like what they were: The pure voice of a boy soprano, but with the physical and musical development of a grown man. To say the least, it is a sound like no other. The modern-day counter-tenor sounds like that of a strong flute next to the castrato’s clarion voice.
With the 1903 coronation of Leo’s successor, Pope St Pius X, the castrati’s days were numbered at the Sistine Chapel. Naturally wanting to discourage the castration of children, Pius declared that “boys” were to take the parts belonging to soprano and alto. It is this motu proprio of the first year of his reign, “Tra le sollecitudini,” that remains one of the most misunderstood of papal documents. Far from outlawing modern music, the Supreme Pontiff (canonized in 1954 by Venerable Pope Pius XII) commanded that contemporary Sacred Music be derived from Gregorian Chant. As a matter of fact, many twentieth-century composers followed this lead, enriching the patrimony of great music. (What the good Pope would have thought of the influx of “popular” styles of music-making since the Second Vatican Council is anyone’s guess.)
Outside of the Vatican, Moreschi is known to have performed music of the female character, Abigaille, from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, "Nabucco." Even today, this fierce rôle is considered one of the most difficult in the répertoire, in our time the providence of only the most daring of prima donnas: Maria Callas, Elena Souliotis, Marisa Galvany, Renata Scotto (in the recording studio), and Dunja Vejzovic. Professor Moreschi also was soloist at the funeral of the assassinated King Umberto I of Italy, in 1900, having received special papal permission to sing at the historic event.
Moreschi retired from the Sistine Choir in 1914, and went to his reward in 1922. Clapton’s book has several rare photographs of the soprano: He was short and stocky, with—we are assured—a beardless face. Upon his death, his nephews published a notice in the local newspaper: “To-day…after a long illness, and supported by Christian resignation, ended with the Lord’s kiss the adored life of Professor Alessandro Moreschi, Papal Singer.” His grave can still be visited in Rome. Curiously, one of his colleagues from the Sistine Choir, Domenico Salvatori, is buried with him in the same tomb.
The publisher of this fine book is offering a free Compact Disc of the complete Moreschi oeuvre, simply by contacting them at their London address. It is well worth your while. While listening to these ancient recordings, one may find oneself inadvertently calling out, as opera-goers did in the castrati’s heyday, “Long live the knife!”
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