Part III: Rare and unknown voices - ALESSANDRO MORESCHI

[flon5flon]

One way or the other I was linked to this recording of Moreschi.

I tried again ( I heard him in the early sixties for the first time) to hear something of interest but no. Weird singing and although less off key, a glimpse of Foster-Jenkins. Caruso and many others made also records in 1904 which are still very pleasant to listen to so you cannot blame the recording technique.

[ferociousgumby]

This guy's voice just gives me the shivers. It's true he has poor control over his vibrato and there is an unevenness in tone, but those high notes have real purity and his higher range is choirboy-like. There are tenor notes in there, too - a definite masculine sound - but his voice can't make up its mind - is this a man or a woman? It's too bad no better examples of castrati exist in recordings, but this does give us a hint of what they could do.

[100Singers]

@ferociousgumby We have some singers, suspected of being "natural born" castrati. Just listen to Ugo Farell, Radu Marian or Jorge Cano - and then make your own judgment. Mike

[ferociousgumby]

@100Singers I have heard Radu Marian who sounds like a boy soprano or a young woman with a lighter, very pure soprano. One wonders what is going on hormonally. And then there are countertenors who seem to have two voices, through training and natural ability. I've also heard Michael Maniaci who is phenomenal and I think calls himself a male soprano. Has a more natural quality than the countertenors who sometimes sound like tenors with tight shorts.

[vautour23]

@ferociousgumby Good observation. I do like this type of voice. in fact this voice technique. When we listen to old singers, around the time of Moreschi, we find a similitude in the voice technique the we don't find today or after 1950. They kind of carry the chest voice. That make shivers in the voice. It's unstable but alive.

[Mrapellicon]

poco sostegno!! i fiati sono corti. Ansima. In questi condizioni c'è poco da valutare. La seconda versione migliore. Ma gli arpeggi discendenti sono un disastro. Notate che le dinamiche sono piatte? Dubito che appoggiasse sul diaframma.

[ferociousgumby]

I still think he sounds like Pavarotti on the wrong speed.

[Normhib]

To flaze3.This is not opera,it is liturgical music .Moreschi only did a few recordings the earliest in 1902 and the others in 1904 all of them liturgical.He was the choirmaster for the sistine chapel choir.As I recall he only agreed to do them because the Pope wanted him to.He cannot be comparedto modernsingers because everything is different,especially the style of singing.

[Juliet0307]

In the first version,Moreschi was so afraid that his memory failed.But,anyway,we can apreciate the beauty of his timbre.That's why he did the second version,very successful,and perfect.Moreschi sang in Churchs,because his type of voice was no longer used in opera.But he gave many concerts,and then,sang opera very brilliantly.His tessiture was enourmous,and his interpretations in the perfect style of his time.His musicality and deepness are exceptional

[LordMgls]

Unknown?

Mike, I didn't know almost none of the artists who you had posted in this number - nor many of the favourites and bests. But the "last castrato" is almost as well known as Rossini himself! :-P

[Teonareine]

I like it.

[tenorvoicefan]

Ich kann mich an diese Töne nicht gewöhnen, mit ihnen anfreunden!

Ich finde es ehrlich gesagt, etwas abstoßend, weinerlich und einfach nur schlecht gesungen.

Aber wie immer, eine subjektive Meinung!

[flaze3]

Can't say I'm a fan. It just sounds whiny and unwholesome. I infinitely prefer modern male sopranos, who TRAIN their voices in the upper register. The choir-boy sound is pleasant, but for opera? Not for me.

[mradaChris]

I love listening to Mr. Moreschi. There is a sadness to his voice which touches me very deeply. He wouldn't have to been the best castrati singer for me to appreciate the beauty of his singing, the depth of his soul. Thank you for posting this.

Chris

[triptoheaveandho]

@mradaChris oh my i so agree..... there is a soulful depth there that touches me as welll bless his sweet spirit

[GermanOperaSinger]

He had a strange style of singing. I'm not sure if this was the norm of castrati singing, but personally - and don't crucify me for this (no pun intended) - I'm not digging it. Someone I knew once said comparing Moreschi to someone like Farinelli was like comparing Caruso to a professional church tenor - completely different sound and style. But who really knows? Since Farinelli was never recorded no one has any idea how he sounded - save the firsthand accounts, and those are always subjective.

[pjdonagh]

@GermanOperaSinger re subjective accounts....I agree that these accounts must be be subjective , however , and even allowing for fashionable hyperbole, the sheer weight of adoring opinoin from people who were deemed in their time to be important critics must add to the sense of loss in that we now are unable to form any first hand opinon of our own!!

[andrika1990]

@GermanOperaSinger Yes I agree with what you said! And of course in the BBC documentary on castrati, Nicholas Clapton makes a point in saying that we beleive all the baroque castrati sounded better but that may not necessarily be the case. At least in our opinion as modern people. There are no recordings of them in any case.

[Dalmata1961]

@andrika1990 I tend to agree with GermanOperaSinger about subjective accounts and also very influenced by the taste of the era. To be completely frank this sounds to me like cat whining. If all castrati were sounding like this it is better they stopped with that practice. However this is a very bad recording, alhough I can listen through it I still don't really like it, neither I dig that soulfulness. To be honest I have impression that singers of our time are the best of all periods till now.

[andrika1990]

@Dalmata1961 I see your point, that is because the era in which people live in now music of past decades is different from today in many ways, style shifts every few decades in popular music, like all the stuff on the radio. But the point is classical music changes style in which the way people sing it, like the 40's opera has a different timber to it than today's opera however you could say its the technology of the time and how sound has more quality today.

[andrika1990]

But I still beleive regardless of that there is a difference in the style. So everything has its time. And people of each time period are only used to the style of their time. So with opera singers today the style is alot different from past decades like the post World War era and further back and so on. So I the 17th and 18th century style sin voice must have been even more different than we really know

[Dalmata1961]

@andrika1990 Well, when i say our time I mean also 40s and 50s....... it could be recording technique but I speak only oc classical singers and experiencing singers only acoustically, no mikes and such. pop stiles change a lot but classical did not so much last 50 years. I believe it will actually stop changing due to available technology. We can hear how they almost really sounded in 40s and 50s. However baroque singing must have been different as whole baroque was different in everything...