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Castrato Disinterred

Written by DeadGirl
Monday, 24 July 2006
Castrato is heard from the grave By Dayla Alberge, Arts Correspondent THE remains of the legendary castrato Farinelli were disinterred in Bologna yesterday for scientific research. In Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries thousands of boys were castrated a year: their voices did not break at puberty but gained more power than a man’s because of their size and strength. Carlo Broschi (1705-82), known as Farinelli, enjoyed wide renown and was one of Handel’s favourite singers. Nicholas Clapton, curator of the Handel & the Castrati exhibition at the Handel House Museum, in the West End of London, and himself a counter-tenor, noted that disinterment was rather gruesome “and some might consider it sacrilegious”. However, he added, it would now be possible to measure the bones of a castrato singer and test his physical shape against the cartoon images of castrati as “tuneful scarecrows”. The biomedical research, including X-rays and scans, will be done for the Centro Studi Farinelli by the universities of Pisa and Bologna. Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Professor of Physical Anthropology, said that the skull could suggest the appearance of a castrato’s face and that “removal of the testicles results in the absence of male-type growth of the larynx, which may appear very small, with the vocal cords as short as in a female soprano. Yet the resonating chambers provided by the pharynx and oral cavity, as well as a fully adult chest capacity, were probably responsible for the vocal prowess of castrati.” Castration, banned in Italy in 1870, was in part a reaction to the Roman Catholic ban on females singing in church. In the 17th and 18th centuries the heroic lead in Italian opera would usually be written for a castrato. When such operas are performed today, the role is taken by a female singer or a counter-tenor — who, unlike the castrato, sings falsetto. Farinelli is among the castrati featured in the exhibition at the museum. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2267386,00.html

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries