This was discussed at length in a fascinating BBC Radio 3 programme, some years ago. During that programme, someone made the point that judging from the recording you could almost imagine that Moreschi wasn't a castrato at all, but using falsetto. It was postulated that he might have masqueraded as a castrato to further his career. This is an interesting point, and one that probably is never going to be resolved. But it leaves us with an even bigger question over the Moreschi recordings.
Monday 27 March 2006
Castrati Ho
The press is currently full of articles about castrati, as the Handel House has a fascinating new exhibition on the subject. The only known recording of a castrato is that of Alessandro Moreschi, who worked in the Papal choir during the early 20th century. The problem with this recording is the Moreschi is relatively elderly and his technique involves the rather bizarre attacking of notes via grace notes as far as a 10th away from the destination note. This gives his vocal line a peculiar gulping, swooping quality.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - title page Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments: Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann; London Handel Players, director ...
-
Retrospect Opera's recording of Stanford's Shamus O'Brien in rehearsal Charles Villiers Stanford’s opera Shamus O'Brien pre...
-
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard Frederick Jones, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Ric...
-
Rediscovering her Polish musical roots: Jennifer Pike on the personal connections in her latest discJennifer Pike (Photo Arno) With her latest recording, violinist Jennifer Pike has been rediscovering her Polish roots. The Polish Violi...
-
Poster for the première of Léo Delibes' Lakmé Léo Delibes: Lakmé; Haegee Lee, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, James Platt, Julien Van Mellaerts,...
-
Stephen McNeff: A Star Next to the Moon - Jacob Harrison (Pedro Páramo) - Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Photo: David Monteith-Hodg...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
The Afghan Youth Orchestra On Thursday 7 March 2024, the Afghan Youth Orchestra makes its debut at the Southbank Centre at the start of its ...
-
Jonathan Dove: The Enchanted Pig - Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 2023 (Photo Greg Milner) On Monday 29 February 2024, the Royal Birmingha...
No comments:
Post a Comment