| Abstract |
The period when the castrati, male eunuch singers, were the toast of Europe, was probably the richest period of opera history both in terms of works produced and performed, and of public enthusiasm. The origins of the use of male singers with a female vocal range is shrouded in mystery, but the reign of the castrati was a long one and with their decline the art of bel canto singing declined too. Angus Heriot's book is the standard work on the subject and documents the extraordinary lives of these celebrated, but often sad, entertainers, for whom composers from the twelfth century to the nineteenth wrote music, in particular Monteverdi, Cavalli, Scarlatti, Handel and Mozart. |
| General note | Includes extensive biographical material on Domenico Annibali, Giuseppe Appiani (Appianino), Giuseppe Aprile, Antonio Maria Bernacchi, Francesco Bernardi (Senesino), Carlo Broschi (Farinelli), Giovanni Carestini (Cusanino), Domenico Cecchi (Cortona), Gioacchino Conti (Gizziello), Girolamo Crescentini, Vincenzo Dal Prato, Baldassare Ferri, Nicolò Grimaldi (Nicolino), Giovanni Francesco Grossi (Siface), Gaetano Guadagni, Tommaso Guarducci, Gaetano Majorano (Cafferelli or Cafariello), Giovanni Manzuoli (Succianoccioli), Luigi Marchesi, Andrea Martini (Senesino), Giuseppe Millico, Angelo Maria Monticelli, Gasparo Pacchierotti, Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Venanzio Rauzzini, Francesco Roncaglia, Giovanni Maria Rubinelli, Felice Salimbeni, Matteo Sassani (Matteuccio), Carlo Scalzi, Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci (Senesino), and Giovanni Battista Velluti. |
