[Milton-L] Haydn's Creation and castrati

[JD Fleming]

I am imagining an article title: "'O!': Baroque Opera, Castrati, and the Limits of Historicism."
 
Which is another way of saying I'll take a soprano in drag over a countertenor any day. JDF

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Charlton" <charltonwordorder1 at gmail.com>
To: milton-l at lists.richmond.edu
Sent: Friday, 22 May, 2009 10:17:36 GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Milton-L] Haydn's Creation and castrati


Hannibal Hamlin wrote: 


It's also worth remembering that the heroic roles (Julius Caesar, Samson, 
etc.) in baroque opera were generally sung by men -- castratos -- who, given 
the hormonal results of surgery, were like nothing living today. Imagine 
perhaps a counter-tenor the size of a football player with the vocal power 
of Jessye Norman. 

Some time ago I had the privilege of hearing a scratchy recording of the last castrato, made about 80 years ago. I don't recall his name, but he was primarily a cantor, a singer of liturgical music at the Vatican. His singing sounded as if an oboe reed had been substituted for his larynx. I decided I'd prefer the fictional voice that was synthesized in the film "Farinelli," but that well behind accomplished, virile countertenors the likes of Andreas Scholl OR powerful mezzos such as Dame Janet Baker, Marilyn Horne, or Stephanie Blake (who sang Gluck's "Orfeo" in February shown in Met broadcasts to theaters.) Dame Janet's final performance was a "Julius Caesar" in English, Sir Charles Mackerras conducting; I was bowled over by and video of it about 15 years ago, and it's among awesome performances I can count on one hand. I also heard/saw Ms Horne as Tancred, but it was not as sublime as the JC. 

In a time when the popular press is trumpeting the demise of classical music, it is singular that there is a revival of interest in Handel opera--and an abundance of singers capable of singing it. This includes the rise of several world-class countertenors, whereas for years Sir Peter Pears was the only one, and he best known for singing the music written for him by Benjamin Britten. And then there was Barbra Streisand, later the Celtic Women, making a popular song out of "Lascia ch'io piangia." 

To bring this back to Milton, has there been any study of his Italian poems? For that matter, of his use of Tasso and Ariosto as well as Dante? 

Nancy Charlton 
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-- 
James Dougal Fleming
Associate Professor
Department of English
Simon Fraser University

"das Fragwuerdige zu sehen"