A castrato (Italian; plural: castrati) is a male singer who was castrated before puberty to keep a singing voice similar to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. This voice can also occur in someone who, because of a medical condition affecting hormones, does not reach full sexual maturity.

Castration before puberty stops the larynx (voice box) from changing as it normally would during puberty. This allows the voice range from childhood (shared by both boys and girls) to remain, and the voice develops in a unique way as the person grows older. Castration for this purpose became much less common by the late 18th century.

Doctors used different methods to stop puberty. They often gave boys opium to make them unconscious, then placed them in cold baths before performing the procedure. This involved twisting the testicles until they stopped working or removing them completely, though removal was not widely used. The procedure was usually done to boys aged 8–10, and recovery took about two weeks. However, the process could lead to serious harm or death. Some children received too much opium and died, or suffered injuries from being held too tightly around the neck to keep them unconscious.

It is unclear exactly where these procedures happened. In the 18th century, the music historian Charles Burney tried to find places where castration occurred but was unable to locate them.

Because castrati lacked testosterone, their bones did not harden as they normally would during growth. This caused their arms, legs, and ribs to grow longer than usual. Combined with intense training, this gave them unusually strong lungs and the ability to hold their breath for long periods. Their voices, which came from small, child-sized vocal cords, were highly flexible and different from the voices of adult women. Their vocal range was higher than that of uncastrated adult men. Listening to the few surviving recordings of a castrato, the lower part of their voice sounds like a very high tenor, with an even higher, falsetto-like upper range.

Castrati were rarely called by this name. In the 18th century, people often used the word musico (plural: musici) instead, though this term was sometimes used in a disrespectful way. Another term was evirato, which means "emasculated." The word eunuch is more general, as many eunuchs were castrated after puberty, which did not affect their voices.

Historical background

Castration as a method of control, forced labor, or punishment has been used for a long time, beginning in ancient Sumer. In Western history, eunuch singers were known to exist during the early Byzantine Empire. In Constantinople around 400 AD, the empress Aelia Eudoxia had a eunuch named Brison who may have started the practice of using castrated male singers in Byzantine choirs. However, it is not certain whether Brison himself was a singer or if others joined him. By the 9th century, eunuch singers were famous, especially in the choir of Hagia Sophia, and remained so until the city was attacked by Western forces during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. What happened to these singers until they reappeared in Italy more than 300 years later is unknown. It is possible that the Spanish tradition of singers with high voices, called soprano falsettists, included castrated men. Much of Spain was ruled by Muslim leaders during the Middle Ages, and castration had been practiced in the ancient Near East for many years. Eunuchs were often assigned to guard harems, but they were also trusted as important political officials because they could not start families that might challenge the ruler.

European classical tradition

Castrati first appeared in Italy in the mid-16th century, though early descriptions of them were sometimes unclear. The term soprano maschio (male soprano), which could also refer to a falsettist, appears in Due Dialoghi della Musica (Two Dialogues upon Music) by Luigi Dentice, an Oratorian priest, published in Rome in 1553. On November 9, 1555, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, known for building the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, wrote to Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1538–1587), stating he had heard the Duke was interested in his cantoretti (little singers) and offered to send two so the Duke could choose one for his service. This term is rare but likely refers to castrati. The cardinal’s nephew, Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, was also an early supporter, inquiring about castrati in 1556.

By 1558, there were certainly castrati in the Sistine Chapel choir, though they were not described as such at the time. On April 27, 1558, Hernando Bustamante, a Spaniard from Palencia, was admitted to the choir. The first castrati explicitly named as such who joined the Sistine choir were Pietro Paolo Folignato and Girolamo Rossini, admitted in 1599. Surprisingly, considering later French disapproval of castrati, they were also present in France during this time, with records of them in Paris, Orléans, Picardy, and Normandy. However, they were not common, and the King of France had difficulty obtaining them. By 1574, castrati were in the Ducal court chapel at Munich, where the Kapellmeister (music director) was the renowned Orlando di Lasso. In 1589, Pope Sixtus V reorganized the choir of St. Peter’s in Rome through the bull Cum pro nostro pastorali munere, specifically including castrati in the choir.

This led to castrati replacing both boys (whose voices changed after a few years) and falsettists (whose voices were weaker and less reliable) as the top vocalists in choirs. Women were banned from singing in choirs due to the Pauline dictum mulieres in ecclesiis taceant (“let women keep silent in the churches”; see I Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 34). Italian castrati were often rumored to live unusually long lives, but a 1993 study found their lifespans were average.

Opera

Although the castrato (or musico) existed before opera, some evidence suggests they performed in the earliest operas. For example, in the first performance of Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), castrati played supporting roles, including Speranza and possibly Euridice. In some papal states, castrati performed female roles, but this became less common over time. By 1680, castrati had taken over lead roles in Italian opera, and they remained the preferred male singers for important parts for about 100 years. An Italian opera that did not include a famous castrato in a leading role was unlikely to succeed.

Because Italian opera was widely popular across Europe in the 18th century (except in France), singers like Ferri, Farinelli, Senesino, and Pacchierotti became the first operatic superstars. They earned large amounts of money and were highly admired by audiences. Opera seria, a type of opera with strict rules, valued the high voices of castrati as symbols of heroism. However, they were often criticized for their unusual appearance and acting skills.

In his 1755 book Reflections upon theatrical expression in tragedy, Roger Pickering described the rigorous training of young castrati. At a singing school in Rome around 1700, students practiced singing difficult pieces, trills, and ornamented music for several hours each day. They also studied literature, music theory, and counterpoint. After lunch, they practiced harpsichord playing and composed music. This demanding schedule allowed talented castrati to begin performing in their mid-teens with highly developed skills, a voice quality unmatched by women or ordinary male singers.

Many castrati came from poor families, and their parents castrated them to help them escape poverty (as was the case with Senesino). Some boys, however, requested the operation themselves to preserve their voices. For example, Caffarelli, who came from a wealthy family, used income from his grandmother’s vineyards to pay for his training. Caffarelli was known for his temper and romantic relationships with noble women. Some castrati, as described by Casanova, were attracted to men.

According to John Rosselli, the exact number of castrati alive at any time during their peak is unknown. He estimates that several hundred castrati lived at the same time between 1630 and 1750. In 1694, about 100 castrati lived in Rome, though this number may have decreased earlier in the century. Only a small number of castrati became famous opera singers; others sang in church choirs. Due to their appearance and the ban on marriage, these singers had limited opportunities outside of music.

Castrati faced harsh and unfair criticism, and as their fame grew, so did public dislike. They were often accused of encouraging men to engage in homosexual relationships. Some castrati were homosexual, as noted by Casanova’s accounts of 18th-century Italy. He described meeting a man who appeared to be a woman but was actually a famous castrato. In Rome in 1762, Casanova attended a performance where the lead female singer was a castrato, known as the favorite companion of Cardinal Borghese. The castrato’s behavior on stage suggested he hoped to be admired as a man, not as a woman.

Decline

By the late 1700s, changes in opera styles and social views led to the end of castrati. They continued performing after the fall of the ancien régime, a time when their type of opera was popular. Two famous castrati, Pacchierotti and Crescentini, performed for Napoleon. The last great castrato was Giovanni Battista Velluti (1781–1861), who sang the final operatic role written for a castrato: Armando in Il crociato in Egitto by Meyerbeer (Venice, 1824). Soon after, a new type of male singer, the heroic tenor, took over the leading roles in opera. This new style was first shown by the French singer Gilbert-Louis Duprez, known as the "king of the high Cs." Later tenors included Enrico Tamberlik, Jean de Reszke, Francesco Tamagno, Enrico Caruso, Giovanni Martinelli, Beniamino Gigli, Jussi Björling, Franco Corelli, and Luciano Pavarotti, among others.

After Italy was unified in 1861, "eviration" became illegal because the new Italian government used the old laws from the Kingdom of Sardinia, which banned the practice. In 1878, Pope Leo XIII stopped churches from hiring new castrati, though some remained in the Sistine Chapel and other papal churches in Rome. A photo from 1898 of the Sistine Choir shows only six castrati left, plus the choir director, the soprano castrato Domenico Mustafà. In 1902, Pope Leo XIII ruled that no more castrati could be admitted. The official end of castrati came on St. Cecilia’s Day, November 22, 1903, when Pope Pius X issued a decree called Tra le Sollecitudini. It stated that high voices for sopranos and contraltos must be sung by boys, following the Church’s oldest tradition.

The last Sistine castrato to live was Alessandro Moreschi, the only castrato to make solo recordings. These recordings give a small glimpse of the castrato voice. Though he was once famous as "The Angel of Rome," some believe he was past his best years when the recordings were made in 1902 and 1904. He never sang opera again. Domenico Salvatori, a contemporary of Moreschi, recorded music with him but left no solo recordings. The recording technology of that time was not as clear as modern equipment. Salvatori died in 1909; Moreschi retired in March 1913 and died in 1922.

The Catholic Church’s role in the castrato tradition has been controversial, and some have recently asked the Church to apologize for its part. As early as 1748, Pope Benedict XIV tried to stop castrati from singing in churches, but he did not ban the practice completely, recognizing the difficulty of enforcing such a rule.

Rumors that a castrato was kept in the Vatican for the Pope’s personal use until 1959 were proven false. The singer, Domenico Mancini, was a student of Moreschi and could imitate his voice so well that Lorenzo Perosi, the Sistine Choir director from 1898 to 1956 and a strong opponent of castrati, believed he was a castrato. Mancini was actually a skilled falsettist and a professional double bass player.

Modern castrati and similar voices

A male may keep his child voice if it does not change during puberty. This voice is the same as the high-pitched voice that both boys and girls have as children, similar to the voice of a boy soprano. However, evidence shows that many castrati, such as Senesino and Caffarelli, actually had voices similar to altos (mezzo-soprano), not sopranos. Some men with high voices, called "natural" or "endocrinological castrati," are born with hormone-related issues, such as Klinefelter's syndrome and Kallmann's syndrome, or experienced unusual physical or medical events early in life that caused their voices to remain high without actual castration.

Examples of men with high voices due to these conditions include Jimmy Scott, Radu Marian, and Javier Medina. Michael Maniaci is different because he does not have hormone-related issues, but he claims his voice did not change in the usual way during puberty, allowing him to sing in the soprano range. Other men without castration who sing soprano typically use a technique called falsetto, but their voices reach higher ranges than most countertenors. Examples include Aris Christofellis, Jörg Waschinski, and Ghio Nannini.

It is believed that castrati had a deeper voice register, similar to tenors. For example, the aria "Navigante che non spera" from Leonardo Vinci’s opera Il Medo, written for Farinelli, includes notes as low as C3 (131 Hz). A similar low-voiced singing style can be heard in the jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott, whose range matches that of female blues singers. High-pitched singer Jordan Smith also demonstrates a deeper voice register typical of tenors.

Actor Chris Colfer has said in interviews that he sang in a high voice often during puberty to keep his range. Actor and singer Alex Newell has a soprano range. Voice actor Walter Tetley may or may not have been a castrato. A colleague, Bill Scott, once joked that Tetley’s mother "had him fixed" to protect his voice-acting career. Tetley never confirmed the exact reason for his condition, which caused him to have the voice of a preteen boy for his entire adult life. Botanist George Washington Carver was known for his high voice, which was likely caused by childhood illnesses such as pertussis and croup that limited his growth.

Notable castrati

• Loreto Vittori (born 1604, died 1670)
• Baldassare Ferri (born 1610, died 1680)
• Atto Melani (born 1626, died 1714)
• Giovanni Grossi ("Siface") (born 1653, died 1697)
• Pier Francesco Tosi (born 1654, died 1732)
• Francesco Ceccarelli (born 1752, died 1814)
• Nicolò Grimaldi ("Nicolini") (born 1673, died 1732)
• Gaetano Berenstadt (born 1687, died 1734)
• Carlo Mannelli (born 1640, died 1697)
• Antonio Bernacchi (born 1685, died 1756)
• Francesco Bernardi ("Senesino") (born 1686, died 1758)
• Valentino Urbani ("Valentini") (born 1690, died 1722)
• Francesco Paolo Masullo (born 1679, died 1733)
• Giacinto Fontana ("Farfallino") (born 1692, died 1739)
• Giuseppe Aprile (born 1731, died 1813)
• Giovanni Carestini ("Cusanino") (born about 1704, died about 1760)
• Carlo Broschi ("Farinelli") (born 1705, died 1782)
• Domenico Annibali ("Domenichino") (born 1705, died 1779)
• Gaetano Majorano ("Caffarelli") (born 1710, died 1783)
• Francesco Soto de Langa (born 1534, died 1619)
• Felice Salimbeni (born 1712, died 1752)
• Gioacchino Conti ("Gizziello") (born 1714, died 1761)
• Giovanni Battista Mancini (born 1714, died 1800)
• Giovanni Manzuoli (born 1720, died 1782)
• Gaetano Guadagni (born 1725, died 1792)
• Giusto Fernando Tenducci (born about 1736, died 1790)
• Giuseppe Millico ("Il Muscovita") (born 1737, died 1802)
• Angelo Maria Monticelli (born 1710, died 1764)
• Gaspare Pacchierotti (born 1740, died 1821)
• Venanzio Rauzzini (born 1746, died 1810)
• Luigi Marchesi ("Marchesini") (born 1754, died 1829)
• Vincenzo dal Prato (born 1756, died 1828)
• Girolamo Crescentini (born 1762, died 1848)
• Francesco Antonio Pistocchi (born 1659, died 1726)
• Giovanni Battista "Giambattista" Velluti (born 1781, died 1861)
• Domenico Mustafà (born 1829, died 1912)
• Giovanni Cesari (born 1843, died 1904)
• Domenico Salvatori (born 1855, died 1909)
• Alessandro Moreschi (born 1858, died 1922)