Alessandro Moreschi, The Last Castrato, Ave Maria

A castrato is a male singer who is castrated as boys in order to keep their soprano voice. Alessandro Moreschi was the last castrato alive, and this is a recording of him singing Ave Maria.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• castrato
• alessandro
• moreschi
• ave
• maria

[RickHindi]

He was old, sick and tired when this was recorded!

[sniperx2]

Sounds like Herbert from the Family Guy.

[C00lman555]

sounds like justin bieber XD

[boopbeepbeepboop]

I find this recording in particular to be rather eerie. We listened to it today in my music class and it gave me chills. I think it's a combination of knowing the history of castrati and the recording quality.

[1604meds]

@TallPoe Oh and also composers of the time composed music for the popular Castrato and not females. A Castrato's lung capacity is much greater than that of a woman's, meaning they could hold high notes for a minute or more without having to stop for breath, unlike women. One of the greatest composers of the time Handel worked with several Castrato singers and composed his music to their voices, although today women often sing these pieces. Hope this helps you understand :)

[1604meds]

@TallPoe Originally men were castrated as a form of punishment but soon it was used for the unique voice (Not Counter Tenor nor Soprano) It was used because women under 16 were not allowed to sing decades ago and once they became adults the size of their mouth caused there voice to be too dynamic and low, whereas a Castrato could preform like no other. Yes I agree it was wrong, but their angelic, chilling voices apparently got them plenty of female attention :)

[TallPoe]

Bonkers! Why did they chop a mans bits off to sing this song obviously written to be sung by a woman? And why did the Chinese used to make the women bind their feet? Bonkers we all are at times!

[irvansaid]

@irvansaid wait!! after I listened to the "no scratch" version uploaded by javiermedinavilla , I sincerely apologize, he's NOT a 2 or 3, he's at least an eight. *sigh*

[irvansaid]

I think we can safely assume that this is a 2 or 3 out of 10 in quality of the Castarati voice. Farinelli was a 12! I can't even begin to imagine his divine vocal. If he's still around I'd probably be worshiping the ground he walks on.

[RainbowTammy]

I've had to hear this song about 5 times to finally stop being creeped out by it and really hearing the beauty. I really do think it takes a bit to get used to the sounds of the recording and the idea of him being a male soprano.

[ponnyegua]

Yes, this recordings were made when Alessandro was and old man. His voice wasn´t the same as when he was younger. May he sound scary? maybe yes, but try to understand this was happening back in 1890´s when boys mutilation was finally forbidden. Alessandro didn´t receive the same vocal training as Farinelli some centuries ago. But anyway, this is pure history, just try to understand this in this way...