Copyright ©2003 Elsa Scammell

Last Updated 03 March 2004


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Castrati - Hot Links

The most valuable is produced by my good friend Andreas Kopp: the Male Soprano Page.

This leads to many interesting sub-links; please e-mail webmaster @velluti.org if you have any problems with the site. It is constantly being modified! And it is in English.

Another good page on the subject is the Castrati page at The Singing Voice.

The Internet Movie Database has a short review of "Farinelli, il castrato", and you can also see the trailer.

Amazon offers "Moreschi - The Last Castrato" and a number of related recordings, plus "Farinelli, il castrato" on VHS or DVD.

OTHER INFORMATION: Much lively discussion, chiefly about the countertenors, but slipping into male soprano and castrati territory can be found in various Yahoo groups, including TheCountertenors, the Alternative Baroque group Orfeo, Angelo Manzotti, and Castrati and Countertenors (not mine!).

Another Yahoo Group, which was started for me in 2002: Castrati_History. It is definitely growing…rapidly!! And there are now 40 photographs on the album.

The Castrati History Group welcomes the scholarship and erudition of Dr. Neil Moran of Toronto, who is an expert on the Byzantine castrati; yes, really, and there are pictures to prove their existence in the Dark Ages !

Even newer, (founded 6 Jun 2002) is the Simone Bartolini Society, a group dedicated to the lovers of the Belcanto; it also has a web site.

Another Yahoo Group: Handel Forever, which deals with the castrati, among others, but is conducted in Italian, in spite of its title.

There are also many Yahoo Clubs, which are now being reorganised into groups. Keep searching!

ALSO:

The Usenet news group rec.music.early has some discussion of castrati and countertenor singing, as does Todd Michael McComb's Early Music FAQ

I owe Steven Langley Guy and TeriNoel Towe my sincere gratitude for all their help.

My friend, Dr. Peter Giles, who has written an appendix on the "substitute" castrati for my book, is an authority on the history and the technique of the countertenor voice; his books are currently out of print, but worth searching for, and now may be coming into print again... in fact, the handbook for teaching the countertenor voice may be out this year.

Peter Giles will, if necessary, finish "Angel Voices"  for me, in the event of my incapacity and/ or death. Publication date is therefore a bit uncertain; my sincere apologies. Please check my personal Home Page for any news.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my kind friend David Wright, who patiently updates this site, and to Philippa Gray, who provided the picture inserts, and lots of other good advice on computing generally.

And to TeriNoel Towe, who sent me some pictures; to Flavio Ferri Benedetti, who built a web site of pictures, together with much information, which I can now access from the Internet instead of copying from books; and to Gregory Vozar, whose CD ROM of his collection of rare castrati material is matchless; to Lucio Peres, on the Italian side; and to Barbara Mauger, who is translating, much more quickly than I can, my web site into French.

Kylee Maloney, a New Zealander, has mastered many skills, including advanced computing, singing and an interest in the disabled; she herself is blind. She has revealed these special concerns in her broadcast for New Zealand Radio, which can be found in the Castrati History files entitled "Walking the Outer Road".

One of her special interests is the last castrato Alessandro Moreschi, of whom I have been able to supply 3 different sets of recording for her and others; her extreme acuity of hearing and musical background has empowered her to distinguish the subtle vocal differences between Moreschi and the male sopranos. She has contributed much to our understanding in this field.

And the castrati were disadvantaged, too, but some tried to make the most of their lack.  

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Copyright ©2003 Elsa Scammell

Last Updated 27 July 2003