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1:30 PM · Apr 17, 2022·Sprout Social
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We all know this fact. Castration prevents necessary flow of hormones and the vocal cords cannot enlarge. As a result castrati would have the high voice of a boy soprano, but the lung power of a grown man. Because the Church always used to have pre-pubescent boys to sing high parts in chorals during the service (women were not allowed to participate), finest boy sopranos were hand picked by masters of the Church music for castration. When chosen boys were finally castrated, the young castrati were sent to the conservatories. At the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio in Napoli, during the 1780's, the schedule was as follows – in the morning an hour of singing difficult passages, an hour of literature and an hour of singing exercises in front of mirrors; in the afternoon a half hour of music theory, a half hour of counterpoint on improvisation and another hour of literature.
First castrati were reported in Spain around 1550, and references to their presence in the Rome Sistine Chapel Choir were found starting around 1565. The Spanish falsettists ruled the Sistine Chapel. The falsettists' voices were more agile and had a richer sound. It has been theorised that some of these Spanish falsettists were castrati. Change from falsettists to castrati came from the fact that the castrato's voice sounded more natural. The earliest castrati known individually were Jacomo Spagnoletti (probably a Spaniard) and Martino, both of whom were admitted to the Sistine Chapel Choir in 1588. Then in the archives, another two good castrati were mentioned, this time Italians, Pietro Folignani and Girolamo Rosini, in 1599. By 1640 castrati were used throughout Italy, despite much theological debate, the musical needs of the church always prevailed over the anti-mutilation fraction. They were formally banned from the papal chapel by Pius X in 1903.
http://www.historicaltenors.net/articles/shore/castrato.html
Pope urged to apologise for Vatican castrations
Rory Carroll in Rome
@rorycarroll72
Tue 14 Aug 2001 05.06 EDT
Revelations that the Vatican encouraged the castration of choir boys in the name of art for hundreds of years have prompted calls for a papal apology.
Human rights groups, historians and Italian commentators said the Pope, a singer himself, should ask forgiveness for his predecessors' role in the mutilation of castrati singers.
New research suggests that the employment of castrati was tolerated by the Vatican as late as 1959, long after other states had banned it as barbaric.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/aug/14/humanities.highereducation
Why Castrati Made Better Lovers
When women were banned from the stage, these guys were the true divas of opera.
by Tony Perrottet
§
in Archive • 08/06/2007
Long live the knife, the blessed knife!” screamed ecstatic female fans at opera houses as the craze for Italian castrati reached its peak in the 18th century — a cry that was supposedly echoed in the bedrooms of Europe’s most fashionable women.
https://www.thesmartset.com/article0806070116/
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-02/pope-francis-video-message-world-day-prayer-human-trafficking.html