Thursday, December 04, 2008

The Last Castrato

The New Statesman carries a respectful article on Alessandro Moreschi, the last castrato who sang for the Sistine choir and made it to the recording age. Recordings of his voice are available all over the web, and it does provide a haunting look back. It always strikes me as interesting to see that it took centuries to finally end the practice, long after it had been condemned by the Church. It took choirmaster Perosi to fire them all and break the cycle of moral hazard. Here is an example.

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