What I'll Be Wearing Next HalloweenI found this image in a New York Times review of a theater piece, "Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati" by a Mexican theater company called Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes. It played last weekend as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. You gotta click on this pic to see it in all its glory!
I don't really want to experience the life of a castrato (OUCH!) thank you very much, but they did apparently have thrilling voices. In the era of Baroque Opera (think Handel), they were most often cast as the heroic/romantic male leads.
I am just digging all the plumes!
According to this Times review, Voltaire and Rousseau spoke out against the practice of castration of singers, while the Roman Catholic Church "turned a blind eye." I was SO surprised to read that!
According to this Times review, Voltaire and Rousseau spoke out against the practice of castration of singers, while the Roman Catholic Church "turned a blind eye." I was SO surprised to read that!
Labels: Opera 101
posted by AlbGlinka @ 8:36 AM
2 Comments:
I know you only read elevated literature by people like George Eliot, but you should definitely check out Anne Rice's early masterpiece "Cry to Heaven," easily the most delirious take on the castrati ever written. It also includes an outrageous number of graphic sex scenes that will definitely surprise you.
LMAO!! ya right! hehe
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