The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified? Page: 35
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some of their dizzyingly high ranges. Other physical attributes contributed to the creation of
these ethereal voices. As previously discussed, the lack of testosterone production allowed long
bone growth to continue without interruption in these boys, accounting for some of their unusual
heights. This same principle also applied to their rib cages, which kept growing past what would
have been complete puberty for them, creating a larger chest cavity. An unusually large rib cage,
coupled with an unusually small larynx and accented with years and years of intense vocal
training rewarded these singers with an extraordinary supply of air. One castrato, singing the
premiere role in Aldovrandini's Cesare, astounded his audience with a phenomenal two octave
scale up and down, finishing with a flourish of embellishment- all in a single breath (Street
1987). It is no wonder that these singers were placed on a celebrity pedestal and admired
worldwide.
For singers with a seemingly unlimited air supply, composers were free to create
incredibly lengthy passages for them, and certainly took full advantage of this freedom.
Cadenzas were very common, allowing the singer to embellish to his full ability, dazzling
audiences at his will. Improvisation and ornamentation was heavily stressed in a castrato's
teaching, so here he was in his element. The da capo aria of the Baroque period contained no
less than three cadenzas. During a fermata, 6/4 chords, the end of a section or even merely a rest
in the music.., all these were prime opportunities for a castrato to show off their skills. The style
of Baroque opera was fashioned around these singers and their abilities. New forms of
ornamentation were created around them, forms that do not really exist in today's style of opera
singing. The trillo ("goat's trill") is one such example. A single note was repeated in rapid
succession, aspirated before each repeat. What is sung as a trill today was greatly embellished
by the castrati. There were several different types of trills in the later Baroque period, making a35
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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/m1/38/: accessed May 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .