Castrato rated among all-time opera greats
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| The castrato Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, in a 1752 painting by Jacopo Amigoni |
The opera singer Carlo Broschi – better known by his stage
name of Farinelli – was born on this day in 1705 in the city of Andria in what
is now Apulia.
Farinelli was a castrato, a type of classical male singing
voice that was enormously popular from the 16th to the 18th century, one which had
an enormous range and flexibility, a little like a female soprano but subtly different.
It was achieved through the somewhat barbaric practice of
castrating a male singer before puberty, which is why there are no castrati today. Among other things, the procedure caused
changes in the development of the larynx, meaning the voice effectively never
breaks, and of the bones, including the ribs, which grew longer than in
non-castrated boys and gave the castrato singer considerably enhanced lung
power and capacity.
Although many survived and, like Farinelli, went on to enjoy
a normal lifespan, the practice was hugely risky and there were many deaths not
only from post-operative infections but also from overdoses of opium or other
narcotic drugs administered as painkillers, or else from
the compression of the carotid artery in the neck employed as a means of
rendering the boy unconscious.
During the early part of the 18th century, when
castrato singers were in demand and could earn a considerable income, many poor
families had their sons castrated in the hope that they would turn out to have
beautiful voices that would provide the family with a route out of poverty. Legally, a castration could be carried out
only if there was a medical need, but tenuous reasons were often accepted with
little argument.
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| Another depiction by Amigoni of the artist in a fantasised setting |
Farinelli’s story was somewhat different. His father,
Salvatore Broschi, was a composer and maestro di cappella at Andria’s cathedral,
and both he and Carlo’s mother, Caterina Barrese, were related to nobility.
They were a well-to-do family.
Carlo had natural singing talent and, after the family had
moved from Barletta, a coastal town not far from Andria, to Naples, primarily
so his brother, Riccardo, could enroll at the Conservatory of Santa Maria di
Loreto, he began to receive lessons from the renowned composer and voice
teacher, Nicola Porpora.
There are differing versions of how he came to be castrated.
One is that, after Salvatore Broschi died unexpectedly at the age of just 36 in
1717, the family suddenly faced financial insecurity and, knowing that Porpora
was an especially gifted coach of castrati voices, Riccardo took the decision
that Carlo should be castrated. But this is disputed by some historians, who
argue that at 12 years old he was too old for the procedure to have saved his
voice and that he probably underwent it earlier, while his father was alive.
Whatever the truth was, Carlo Broschi’s singing talent
developed rapidly under Porpora’s tutelage and he made his stage debut at the
age of 15 in one of Porpora’s own compositions, a serenata entitled Angelica e
Medoro, with a libretto by the poet Pietro Trapassi, who would go on to be
famous in his own right under the name of Metastasio.
It is thought Broschi adopted Farinelli as his stage name as
a nod to the help provided for the family in paying for his singing lessons by
the Farino brothers, who were wealthy Neapolitan lawyers and music lovers.
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| The cathedral at Andria, where Farinelli's father was the maestro di cappella |
Farinelli’s extraordinary voice, described by one critic as
“a penetrating, full, rich, bright and well-modulated soprano voice, with a
range from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C”, soon made
him famous across Italy and beyond.
After making his Rome debut in 1722, he sang in Vienna in
1724, then Parma and Milan in 1726, subsequently performing in Munich and again
in Vienna. In 1729, he was engaged to
perform in two works by Metastasio during the carnival season in Venice,
appearing at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo alongside some of the greatest
singers of his time.
Audiences were large and appreciative. In addition to his
handsome appearance fees, Farinelli was regularly showered with lavish gifts
and acquired a wealth to go with his fame.
In 1734, he moved to London, where he was signed up by Senesino, an Italian contralto-castrato who had formed his own company, the Opera of the Nobility, performing at a theatre in Lincoln’s
Inn Fields, with Porpora as a composer.
The company paid Farinelli £1,500 per season – an
enormous salary for the times and possibly swelled to £5,000 with gifts – although the sum was
not sustainable in the long run and by the end of his time in London he was
performing for much more modest fees.
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| Farinelli's tomb at the Certosa cemetery in Bologna |
When Farinelli left London in 1737, his career took a turn
that removed him from the public arena for good but assured his financial
security. Summoned to Madrid by the
Spanish queen, Elisabetta Farnese, in the hope that his voice might help lift
her husband King Philip V, out of his depression, he was offered the position
of Chamber Musician to the King.
He kept that position for 22 years, performing private
concerts nightly for the royal couple and developing a still closer
relationship with their successors, King Ferdinand VI and his wife, Barbara of
Portugal, with whom he sang duets.
With a generous pension guaranteed, he left Spain in 1759
after Ferdinand was succeeded by Charles III, who was no music lover. He retired to Bologna, where he had owned
property since 1732, and died there in 1782, by then a rather lonely figure who
had outlived most of his contemporaries.
He was buried at the Capuchin monastery of Santa Croce in
Bologna and removed to the Certosa cemetery in Bologna after the monastery was destroyed during the Napoleonic wars.
Hotels in
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| The Castel del Monte, outside Andria |
Travel tip:
Andria, where Farinelli was born, is a city well off the
usual visitor trail yet is a substantial place with a population of more than
100,000, the fourth largest municipality of the Apulia region, an important centre
of the agricultural service industry and a producer of wine, olives and
almonds. Situated some 60km (37 miles) northwest of the port of Bari, it is
about 210km (130 miles) almost due east of Naples across the peninsula. The
centre of the city is Piazza Catuma and a short distance away is Piazza Duomo,
the site of a 12th century cathedral. About 15km (10 miles) south of
the city is the impressively well preserved 13th century Castel del
Monte, built by the Emperor Frederick II, who was particularly fond of the area.
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| The Norman motte and bailey castle at Barletta |
Travel tip:
Like Andria, the nearby coastal city of Barletta, where
Farinelli grew up, is not a well known destination among tourists, with those
who do visit the area tending to gravitate towards Trani, the attractive
fishing port a few kilometres south. Yet Barletta is known for its sandy
beaches to the north and south of the city and its reputation as a centre for
concrete and cement production should not put off would-be visitors, who will
find an attractive and historic old town and an impressive Norman castle of the
traditional motte and bailey structure that was built in the 10th century,
when it served as a hostel for soldiers heading for the Holy Land during the
crusades.
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