The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified? Page: 14
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Financial gain was assuredly not the only advantage to the family of a son in such a
career. It was certainly true that at the apex of their career, some castrato opera singers became
extremely rich and internationally famous. But of course not all castrati had such lucrative
careers. However, even the "failed" castrati often continued their careers within the Church. By
serving the Church in such a way, he was also bringing respectability to the family name. Even
if he did not strike it rich in the opera realm with his voice, he was still employed by the Church
in a stable and worthy career. Pope Clement VIII's edict described their service as ad honorem
Dei. So when the need for castrato singers in the Church arose, this could have seemed an ideal
solution for some of those desperate families. The most successful castrati became international
celebrities, arguably the first of such fame in history. Statistically, only about one out of a
hundred castrati escalated to this height of glory. This may seem to be a bit of a far reaching
goal to place upon a young boy's shoulders, but considering the desperate situations that many
families faced at the time, this must have seemed a viable and attractive solution (Somerset-
Ward 2004).
Whether the boy became an international opera star or spent his days serving a holy
purpose by singing in a church or monastic choir, it was a much better situation for a noble or
peasant family in those uncertain times than a fruitful son who produced more mouths to feed or
more heirs with which to subdivide land. As for the boy himself, his chance to live a better and
more meaningful life was at hand. Whether of peasant or noble background, their education and
prospective careers stood to be much improved by this operation. But what exactly was created
by this procedure?
The way that castration affects a boy's voice is primarily of a preventative nature. The
removal of the testes prevents the sexual dimorphism of the larynx at the time when a boy would14
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Sowle, Jennifer. The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified?, thesis, August 2006; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5343/m1/17/: accessed May 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .