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Alessandro Moreschi Recordings ALESSANDRO MORESCHI Discussion Accompanying Portrait, by sfkcbf Castrato Alessandro Moreschi was born in Rome in 1858 and died there in 1922. He was a lead soprano in the Sistine Chapel from 1883 through 1913. He also is the only castrato known to have been recorded. There has been much discussion as to the unsatisfactory sound of those recordings. Briefly, I shall mention the factors contributing to his sound. First, His Voice: The rather strained and uneven quality of Alessandro's voice is not the consequence of old age. He was 44 at the time of the recordings. Marchesi sang publicly at age 66, and Farinelli sang for himself in his 70s. Alessandro's voice may have deteriorated, but he must have had a pleasing voice at one time (in his youth, he had been known as "The Angel of Rome" (Angelo di Roma). One factor is that, apparently, Alessandro was no opera-quality singer, which places far greater demands upon the singer. Also, his training was inferior to, and different from, the unexcelled training of the early 18th-century conservatories. Many schools had closed, and the remaining ones had fallen into a state of poor reputation. In addition, the style of singing strayed from the required pure and precise style of the Baroque golden age to a looser, schmaltzy way of singing. Ample use of lead notes to the higher notes also contributed to the lack of vocal precision. Further, I can imagine that the years of singing in a chapel choir resulted in vocal habits that did not help solo singing. Finally, apparently Alessandro was nervous being recorded for the first time and singing in front of a studio audience. Second, Recording Methods: As most of you are aware, the mechanical means by which early recordings were made were quite primitive. The voice was directed into a large cone, often placed in a second room. A pusher was employed to move the singer away from the cone during loud or high notes and then forward during softer or lower notes. This certainly could not have helped Alessandro's nerves. Not only did this mechanical system record with poor quality, but it also eliminated the higher frequencies of a castrato voice (as it did with violins. A tenor voice recorded better.) The recorded grooves were made in shellac, which deteriorated rapidly, especially with the heavy needles used. The Castrato Sound: Many people have turned to the recordings of Alessandro for hints as to the true castrato sound. There are hints of that sound if one listens carefully and has studied the recordings of the best boy sopranos and best adult male sopranos. Also, there has been medical/physiological research published about the singing voice, which is quite helpful. Finally, knowledgeable audience members of the 18th century sometimes wrote clear descriptions of castrato performances and the stylistic demands of the time. Taking all the above facts into consideration, the listener can better judge the recordings of Alessandro Moreschi. | | Tags: | None |
| Replies to Article: Alessandro Moreschi Recordings | 
13th July 2008
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Very informative!
chris |
13th July 2008
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It seems that Moreschi did perhaps not live a healthy lifestyle seeing that he died at 64. Although I am not fond of his style of singing, I sometimes listen to his performance of Tosti's "Ideale for that seems to be the best recording of this voice where it sounds much better than on all the other recordings. |
13th July 2008
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| |  Pig's Ear
Incidentally, do NOT expect to have any useful clues as to the sound of the castrato voice by seeing the British-produced, television program about attempts to duplicate the castrato voice. Apparently, they thought that they were covering all bases by listening to Moreschi's voice, then using a male soprano, a treble, a sopranist, and a female singer for their comparisons.
The truth of the matter is that they definitely did NOT start out with good matierals. As popular and important as Michael Maniaci is becoming in the opera world, his voice is not the one to have selected for male soprano considering the fact that his vibrato and timbre sound more like a female voice than castrato. The boy treble was not even average in tone, breath control, and strength. They could have used a treble the quality of Steven Mockel, Tommy Williams, or Connor Burrowes instead. The self-proclaimed "sopranist" was embarrassingly incompetent. Any one of us could do no worse. And the chosen female soprano had a typical warbly voice with no male element to it all.
Apparently, the producers went about their task with more enthusiasm than knowledge. Without the very best voice for each of the four catagories, they did not stand a chance of approximating the castrato sound. "You can not make a silk purse from a pig's ear."  |
13th July 2008
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Who is the sopranist you are referring to? You seem to have mentioned Maniaci as a male soprano but there was no other soprano singer in the program except for the female and the boy. |
13th July 2008
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I am not so convinced that a castrati would have sounded exactly like a female. Even though the tone was high there would have been differences. The vocal cords would have been larger than a female's. Also the physical size of a male would have made the resonance a bit different. Just a thought....
chris |
15th July 2008
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| | "Sopranist"
1. Re Television Program:
Look again at the video. There is a fourth member of the group used in the British television production, and he appears to have been one of the participants in designing and producing the program; therefore, this unidentified man simply may have been trying to sing falsetto soprano without actually being a singer. He certainly was no Aris Christofellis.
2. Re. Male Castrato vs. Female Sound:
There are several physiological reasons why the male voice, even the castrato, would sound different from a female voice (although there obviously are some variations in sound with either gender.) Without posting a more lengthy explanation at this time, one must consider the different placement of the larnyx, different facial bone and sinus structure, different size of the rib cage, and other more subtle differences. The greatest misunderstanding among too many people in the 20th and 21st centuries is that any voice, if it is high enough, is the "appropriate " sound for castrato arias. |
15th July 2008
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| | Castrato sound
About your last sentence: I totally agree with you. The most beautiful castrato voices showed their beauty in their middle and lower registers, conveying the feeling of "pathos".In fact most of Farinelli's arias were written for the contralto range. And nobody can ever know the TRUE castrato sound! |
14th August 2008
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I think it would be best if one can find a male soprano and teach him the real Belcanto technique. Radu Marian is very good but he was obviously not trained to sing real belcanto. The use of chest voice is missing ( how Tosi and Bernacchi describe it in their textes about the real manner of singing) |
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