Castrati

When Nerone starts singing in the opening scene of Agrippina, you might be very surprised: Nerone is a male character, yet his vocal range is comparable to that of his mother, Agrippina! This is because the role of Nerone was originally sung by a castrato (pl. castrati), a male singer who, for the sake of retaining his high voice, underwent surgical castration before puberty. And although the idea of castrated singers might strike modern listeners as strange or even barbaric, castrati were the Baroque opera world’s biggest stars.

Castration affected boys’ vocal cords, but it also had a profound effect on the rest of their body. By disrupting normal growth hormones, castration could result in a variety of unusual physical attributes, including remarkable height and an abnormally large chest cavity—which, in singing terms, meant powerful thoracic muscles and extra lung capacity. As such, castrati were uniquely equipped to produce the loud, sustained, highly ornamented phrases that Baroque audiences loved.

The earliest archival records of castrati date to the 1550s. At the time, castrati sang only sacred music; a biblical injunction against women singing in church had created a dearth of singers capable of performing the high parts in sacred choral works. When opera arrived on the musical scene around 1600, the castrato’s unusual voice was quickly embraced by composers working in the new genre. Claudio Monteverdi’s 1607 opera Orfeo featured castrati singing the opera’s Prologue as well as two female roles, yet the castrato’s phenomenal vocal powers would soon lead them to be cast as the manliest role in opera: the primo uomo, or heroic male lead.

Successful castrati were the rock stars of their day, and they delighted noble and public audiences alike. The castrato commonly known as Farinelli (born Carlo Broschi, 1705–82) was knighted by the King of Spain and even had a ministerial role at the Spanish court. By the 19th century, however, changing operatic styles and new conceptions of medical ethics meant the castrato tradition was quickly dying out. The Vatican banned castrati in 1903, and the last known castrato, Alberto Moreschi, died in 1922; recordings of Moreschi singing offer modern listeners the only surviving example of this voice type.

Fortunately, singers and directors have come up with two solutions for casting castrato roles today. One solution involves having a woman sing the role formerly played by a male castrato. Another solution is the “countertenor,” a male singer who has carefully trained his falsetto range so he can sing the high notes required by castrato roles. Both of these solutions are on display in the Met’s production of Agrippina: Nerone will be played by the (female) mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, while Ottone will be played by (male) countertenor Iestyn Davies.