کاستراتو: تأملاتی دربارهٔ طبیعت‌ها و انواع (مقالات ارنست بلوخ)

__The Castrato__ is a nuanced exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing, culminating in bel canto, was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political. In Italy, castration for singing was understood through the lens of Catholic blood sacrifice as expressed in idioms of offering and renunciation and, paradoxically, in satire, verbal abuse, and even the symbolism of the castrato’s comic cousin Pulcinella. Sacrifice in turn was inseparable from the system of patriarchy—involving teachers, patrons, colleagues, and relatives—whereby castrated males were produced not as nonmen, as often thought nowadays, but as idealized males. Yet what captivated audiences and composers—from Cavalli and Pergolesi to Handel, Mozart, and Rossini—were the extraordinary capacities of castrato voices, a phenomenon ultimately unsettled by Enlightenment morality. Although the castrati failed to survive, their musicality and vocality have persisted long past their literal demise. The Castrato is a nuanced exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing, culminating in bel canto, was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political. In Italy, castration for singing was understood through the lens of Catholic blood sacrifice as expressed in idioms of offering and renunciation and, paradoxically, in satire, verbal abuse, and even the symbolism of the castrato's comic cousin Pulcinella. Sacrifice in turn was inseparable from the system of patriarchy--involving teachers, patrons, colleagues, and relatives--whereby castrated males were produced not as nonmen, as often thought nowadays, but as idealized males. Yet what captivated audiences and composers--from Cavalli and Pergolesi to Handel, Mozart, and Rossini--were the extraordinary capacities of castrato voices, a phenomenon ultimately unsettled by Enlightenment morality. Although the castrati failed to survive, their musicality and vocality have persisted long past their literal demise [Publisher description] Cover 2 Acknowledgments, Title page, Copyright, Epigraphs 3 Contents 13 Preface 15 Note on Textual Transcription, Translations, Lexicon, and Musical Nomenclature 27 Part One. Reproduction 29 1. Of Strange Births and Comic Kin 31 2. The Man Who Pretended to Be Who He Was: A Tale of Reproduction 68 Part Two. Voice 105 3. Red Hot Voice 107 4. Castrato De Luxe : Blood, Gifts, and Goods 161 Part Three. Half-Light 203 5. Cold Man, Money Man, Big Man Too 205 6. Shadow Voices, Castrato and Non 239 Acknowledgments 291 Abbreviations 295 Notes 297 Bibliography 397 Illustrations 429 Index 433 Image plates 450 'The Castrato' is the first book to explore in depth why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that although the practice formed the foundation of Western classical singing, it was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political