Post by IhateMana on Feb 16, 2020 3:46:11 GMT
Vocal Range: B3 - B5
{Vocal Summary}One of the last castrato singers of the late 19th century, certainly the last of the Sistine castrati and the only to record solo. Opinion on Alessandro Moreschi's singing is often quite divided, with a lot of critics (who are going off of his recordings only) considering him to be a rather mediocre singer, with only his novelty really selling him. Some of the recordings are off key, his grace notes can be grating as well as his classical style of singing (which is of course very much "out of fashion" nowadays). Regardless,we can't exactly judge him during his prime which was never recorded, in which he was probably a remarkable singer and was a brilliant example of the (thankfully) incredibly rare castrato voice type. To get an idea of how high this guys voice actually was, he struggles to get to middle C and the recordings I made this thread from are of him in his 40s.
A brief overview of the castrato voice type: Most people do not know this, but sitting well above the tenor, above the countertenor and equal to or even above the soprano is a very rare male voice type: the castrato. A castrato voice comes about when by whatever means: be it castration before puberty or an unfortunate endocrinological condition, a boy's body never reaches sexual maturity. What this meant was that the vocal chords never thickened correctly and the larynx did not lower, the joints in the body did not harden correctly and the boy (as a man) developed unusually long limbs and ribs. This resulted in immense lung capacity operating on tiny child-like vocal chords. Unfortunately, they used to castrate young boys before they reached puberty in order to this a lot of the time.
A brief overview of the castrato voice type: Most people do not know this, but sitting well above the tenor, above the countertenor and equal to or even above the soprano is a very rare male voice type: the castrato. A castrato voice comes about when by whatever means: be it castration before puberty or an unfortunate endocrinological condition, a boy's body never reaches sexual maturity. What this meant was that the vocal chords never thickened correctly and the larynx did not lower, the joints in the body did not harden correctly and the boy (as a man) developed unusually long limbs and ribs. This resulted in immense lung capacity operating on tiny child-like vocal chords. Unfortunately, they used to castrate young boys before they reached puberty in order to this a lot of the time.
Significant High Notes:
B5: ("Ave Maria")
B♭5: ("Domine Salvum Fac", "Tui Sunt Coeli")
A5: ("Ave Maria")
G♯5: ("Domine Salvum Fac")
G5: ("Ave Maria", "Crucifixus (First recording)", "Et incarnatus est, Crucifixus", "Hostias et Preces", "Laudamus Te", "Pie Jesu", "Preghiera", "Tui Sunt Coeli")
F♯5: ("Ideale", "La Cruda Mia Nemica", "Oremus Pro Pontifice")
F5: ("Ave Verum", "Crucifixus (First recording)", "Domine Salvum Fac", "Et incarnatus est, Crucifixus", "Hostias et Preces", "Improperia", "Pie Jesu", "Preghiera")
Significant Low Notes:
E♭4: ("Preghiera")
D4: ("Ave Maria")
C4: ("Crucifixus (First recording)")
B3: ("Oremus Pro Pontifice")
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Underlined = notes obscured in harmonies
