The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified? Page: 44
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correspondence cemented a lifelong friendship, though they rarely crossed physical paths (Heriot
1975).
A few years later, Porpora and Farinelli left together for Rome. The opera stage in Rome
is where Farinelli's reputation began to swell. His legendary nightly competition with a then
famous trumpet player was merely friendly sport until the audience began to get involved.
Taking sides and heartily cheering their favorite, they watched in rapt attention as each musician
executed to more and more impressive musical feats. Ultimately the trumpeter surrendered to
exhaustion, mistakenly thinking Farinelli would surely do the same. Yet with a grin the singer
jovially forged ahead, attempting with fantastical success even more complex and powerful
ornamentations, clearly triumphing in this friendly duel. At age seventeen he had firmly
established himself as the premiere singer of the time, garnering instant adoration.
After this astonishing episode, his fame rose exponentially. Known simply as il ragazzo
("the boy"), he was renowned not only for his extraordinary voice, but for his bewitching looks
as well. His widely spaced eyes and expressive, chiseled features earned him instant acclaim,
particularly with the ladies of his audiences, although, as previously discussed, the subject of
love seemed to hold little interest for him. He continued to dazzle audiences with his impressive
vocal pyrotechnics until his rather famous meeting with Emperor Charles VI. Upon his advice,
Farinelli adopted a calmer, more personal style, focusing less on enthralling people with
technical acrobatics and simply becoming involved with the emotion of the piece. This proved
to be extremely successful, as he moved audience after audience to tears. Even the great
Senesino, himself an accomplished actor as well as singer was so passionately moved by
Farinelli's singing that he forgot his character completely and rushed to embrace the young
singer. Burney reports that:44
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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/m1/47/: accessed May 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .