کاستراتو: تأملاتی دربارهٔ طبیعت‌ها و انواع (جلد ۱۶) (درس‌های 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. - Martha Feldman is Mabel Green Myers Professor of Music, Romance Languages. and Literatures and the Humanities at the University of Chicago. She is the author of "City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice" and "Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy" and coeditor of "The Courtesan's Arts". (Klappentext) 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. 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 satires, verbal abuse, and even the symbolism of the castratos comic cousin Pulcinella. Sacrifice in Italy also encompassed a logics of reproduction, involving teachers, patrons, colleagues, and relatives. Yet, what lured audiences and composersfrom Cavalli and Pergolesi to Handel, Mozart, and Rossiniwere the extraordinary capacities of castrato voices, a phenomenon ultimately unsettled by Enlightenment morality. Although the castrati failed to survive, their musicality and vocality persisted long after their literal demise in traditions that extend to bel canto repertories and beyond. Part One. Reproduction. Of Strange Births And Comic Kin ; The Man Who Pretended To Be Who He Was : A Tale Of Reproduction -- Part Two. Voice. Red Hot Voice ; Castrato De Luxe -- Part Three. Half-light. Cold Man, Money Man, Big Man Too ; Shadow Voices, Castrato And Non. Martha Feldman. Series From Book Jacket. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 369-400) And Index.