| To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist> Subject: Re: Castrati Date sent: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 23:39:18 -0700 Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 17:59:40 EST From: Axwell-at-aol.com Subject: Re: Castrati
In a message dated 1/18/00 12:00:47 PM Pacific Standard Time, vocalist writes:
<< Can someone please tell me how castration alters the voice? I read that about 4 thousand boys were castrated in the 17th century every year to enable them to have the most beautiful voices to sing in the churches. >>
When a boy is castrated (it must be before puberty) they then lack testosterone and the voice stays feminine.
James here....
It is important to remember that castration in no way guarantees a good singing voice and from what I have read many were mutilated because of a families high hopes (and the churches need) only to end up with an unpleasant singing voice. There should be quite a lot of info on this in the archives and I remember an intrusting thread about this a year or more ago.
Peace and love from the high desert of northern New Mexico,
Saint James mailto:stjames-at-la-tierra.com http://www.la-tierra.com/stjames
"J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage." (I alone have the key to this savage parade) Les Illuminations, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
http://www.la-tierra.com/stjames/parade.htm
Quidquid latine dictum sit, alutum vidiur.
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