Ian Belsey <Idbelsey@y...> wrote:
> Yes of course, you're quite right. Moreschi did indeed
> record at the begining of the 20th Century. However,
> I do not agree that you can say that we can have an
> idea of how he sounded from those old recordings.
You are totally right - we'd be crazy to think we "knew" what Moreschi
sounded like at 40 years old (let alone in his prime!) Still, I
personally feel I have gleaned some information about the castrati from
these few recordings. Here are my thoughts:
1) Moreschi was able to sing up A4 (at least) in "chest" voice like it
was nothing. He seemed to cross to "head" somewhere above this point.
For him, the break is obvious, but it was not necessarily so when he was
younger.
2) The basic character of his "chest" voice was that of a tenorino
(speaking voice like Yoshikazu Mera), not like that of a woman's. His
easy access to his "chest" register probably meant close to an octave
below middle C.
Still, just because castrati could sing to A4 in chest, doesn't mean
they did in Baroque times. Women can push their chest voices up too, but
they usually don't, so as to avoid an ugly break (Moreschi's is
obvious). It may have just been part of the style at the turn of the
century. If he approached his passagio the same way as a woman, perhaps
he would have sounded more like a woman?
-Tako
|
|  |
