# Arias for Castrati - The golden age of Castrati



## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

For a solid portion of musical history, castratos/castrati had a prominent role in operas, churches and courts across Europe. Castrati could impress audiences by holding notes for a superhuman amount of time as well as singing higher than a naturally matured male voice could.

The golden age of the castrati came in the 17th and 18th centuries when they became the stars of the opera stage. Francesco Bernardi - or Senesino as he become known - appeared in many of Handel's works, including the operas Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. One contemporary account mentions: "He had a powerful, clear, equal and sweet contralto voice, with a perfect intonation and an excellent shake. His manner of singing was masterly and his elocution unrivalled… he sang allegros with great fire, and marked rapid divisions, from the chest, in an articular and pleasing manner."

Personally, I really enjoy listening to arias for Castrati and I see interesting how nowadays singers can tackle Castrati roles. Some arias are too difficult to perform but despite some flaws, I still enjoy how current male singers can achieve good results with no need to be mutilated for the sake of music. There are rare males who sing in the soprano range. There are also countertenors. The voice of a countertenor is a falsetto voice. Competent countertenors can create a falsetto that sounds like a full voice.

Personally, I prefer to listen male singers for Castrati voices and see how they can perform/struggle with the most difficult arias. Let's discover the most beautiful arias composed for Castrati roles and for the most notable castrati: Francesco Bernardi ("Senesino"), Giovanni Carestini ("Cusanino"), Carlo Broschi ("Farinelli"), Domenico Annibali ("Domenichino"), etc.

Here are some Arias for Domenico Annibali (c. 1705 - 1779) performed by the countertenor Flavio Ferri Benedetti and ensemble Il Basilico










J.A.Hasse - Cleofide, Act III: Cervo al bosco





G.F.Handel - Arminio, HWV 36, Act II: Vado a morir





Gaetano Latilla - Romolo: Romolo: Cosi geloso un angue


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## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

Gaetano Guadagni (1728 - 1792) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762.

Countertenor Iestyn Davies performed the Aria 'Pensa a serbarmi, o cara' from Ezio, Dramma per musica in Tre Atti, by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) with Jonathan Cohen & Ensemble, Arcangelo in the recording "Arias for Guadagni", Hyperion Records


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

You might try this one. Phenomenal singing


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I doubt that most countertenors have the brilliance of castrati. Most of them sound wimpy (a technical term) to me, and there have been only a few countertenors whose voices can excite me as I suspect the castrati could have. Neither of the above gentlemen does it for me. For my sensibilities music written for castrato is usually more effectively sung, on recordings, by women or, occasionally, transposed down an octave by tenors or baritones. I concede that in the theater there might be more of a need to cast a man, whatever his vocal category.

David Daniels and Franco Fagioli have rich, vibrant tone and don't sound wimpy to me. Whether they sound much like castrati I couldn't guess.


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## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

It's very easy to find sopranos for Castrati roles, I know lots of them because I own their recordings: Cecilia Bartoli, Vivica Genaux, Roberta Invernizzi, Simone Kermes, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Karina Gauvin, Julia Lezhneva, Ann Hallenberg. Generally I feel is far easier for a female soprano/mezzosoprano to sing Castrati role arias.

I am now exploring male soprano/countertenors to sing arias for Castrati which I find more challenging and even interesting to give me an idea on how a castrato would have sung in 18th century. We are likely to never know. However, the only male soprano/sopranist I know about is *Radu Marian*. He possesses a pure soprano voice, and he is considered an important singer in Baroque music, is an "endocrinological castrato" or "natural castrato". Here you have three performances of Radu Marian singing three arias for soprano:

G. F. Händel, Lascia Ch'io Pianga





W.A. Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, The Queen of the Night Aria





A.M. Bononcini, Vorrei pupille belle





Though I am not strongly convinced about Radu Marian, I wonder if this is the closest example we have to give us an idea on how Castrati sung. If you know more male soprano/sopranist, I would appreciate if you let me know.

It's also true is not easy to find male singers achieving good results as is easier to find a female soprano achieving excellent results who has no difficult times to reach the highest pitches. It's been a long time I don't listen to David Daniels, I have Hogwood's Handel Rinaldo opera recording in Decca, I will come back to it.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

One simply doesn't know what a castrato sounded like. Obviously today's male soprano is a freak but lacks the sheer chest and range of the castrato. The only known recording of a castrato is Moreschi and he was over 50 at the time and past it






We simply don't know.

Interestingly to get the sheer range of the castrato in the movie Farinelli the singing voice was provided by the Polish soprano Ewa Malas-Godlewska and a countertenor, Derek Lee Ragin, who were recorded separately and then digitally merged to recreate the sound of a castrato. The movie is of little interest as it takes high liberties with the historical facts apart from hearing what may have been the remarkable voice.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I was never convinced by the merging of Godlewska and Ragin. However if we merge DavidA's comment with Woodduck's it sums up my feelings on the matter. We don't know what the great castrati sounded like, but the closest we have to it is Moreschi. Whatever the state of his voice at that age and the technological level of the recording, it sounds more like a mezzo to me than a counter tenor, there's more heft and it sounds more natural (although very much off key) to my ear. I generally prefer castrati roles to be sung by a mezzo and where there are two of them in an opera it works quite well to have a counter tenor in the more minor role and a mezzo in the more prominent one.

N.


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## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

We can switch the thread to female soprano/mezzosoprano if you like. My favourite ever aria, one of the best-known arias by Broschi "Son qual nave chagitata" sang by Broschi's brother Farinelli, has been performed by Mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli:






Another great performance has been achieved by Soprano Julia Lezhneva






And I would also consider the Mezzosoprano Ann Hallenberg's performance a reference:






And finally the OST version for the Farinelli's film (Ragin Derek Lee+Ewa Mallas-Godlewska)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I doubt that most countertenors have the brilliance of castrati. Most of them sound wimpy (a technical term) to me, and there have been only a few countertenors whose voices can excite me as I suspect the castrati could have. Neither of the above gentlemen does it for me. For my sensibilities music written for castrato is usually more effectively sung, on recordings, by women or, occasionally, transposed down an octave by tenors or baritones. I concede that in the theater there might be more of a need to cast a man, whatever his vocal category.
> 
> David Daniels and Franco Fagioli have rich, vibrant tone and don't sound wimpy to me. Whether they sound much like castrati I couldn't guess.


Scandal aside, before all the mess I saw David Daniels in concert with the symphony, and it was not a wimpy little voice. He was easily heard over the orchestra and he sang very beautifully with a real mezzo soprano sound. I still have fond memories of the concert. Fagioli has a glorious voice. He even sang the big arias from Semiramide's Arsace well.


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