My favourite piece of this course - Alessandro Moreschi 'Ave Maria'

My favourite piece of this course - Alessandro Moreschi 'Ave Maria' - student project

Probably the most impressing piece we studied in this course, in my opinion, was the recording of Moreschi, also known as the last Castrato. Arguably, there were many pieces with more musical virtuosity and lovelier sound covered in this class, such as Palestrina’s Marcellus Mass that even inspired the Council of Trent to keep polyphony in church music. But what fascinates me most is not the piece itself, but rather the artist and his history. It should also be mentioned that, of course, the piece was also not written during this period of time, and I assume the majority of people would’ve even listened to it before. This version, however, is truly unique due to its vocal sound, that was man-made and artificial to begin with and will, most desirably, never be heard again. A practice for roughly three centuries which would have impacted the lives of many, showcases the cruelties of mankind. Despite the artists often gaining a prosperous life through this, I doubt they were fully aware of the impact it would bring upon them, when they underwent the procedure or they were, most likely, not consulted about it at all. It is shocking that this was able to survive up until a time when people would have invented a contraption to record audio, and, hence, would survive the singers themselves. It’s astonishing how some historic events intertwine so closely, to leave a combined legacy behind.

As far as the recording goes, this was certainly a late recording in Moreschi’s life. I read that he was already in his 50s when he sang for this record, so one can only imagine how Moreschi sounded in the prime of his career. The voice had a quite peculiar sound to me, somehow too strong and heavy for the voice of a choir boy and yet not like a trained female voice either. Sadly, we’re not able to hear much of the coloratura or intended changes in volume, instead the voice sounds even thin at times, which may indicate further, that this was not the standard sound of a castrato. With all the training they received and, as some records pointed out, their larger than average size, they surely claimed very strong vocal cords, that could fill a whole opera with their sound.

Now, the quality of the audio recording is, by all means, not what we are used to nowadays. Some people would have thought that his voice sounds pleading, really conveying the harsh reality of the castrati. While Moreschi was certainly not in his prime anymore, a lot of the things I pointed out about his voice sounding rather weak may actually be attributed to the limits of the sound recording equipment back then. Even though there have been efforts to redefine the audio, to improve the quality and to make it sound more life-like, we don’t exactly know which features were meant to convey the meaning of the piece and which could be attributed to the technical limits of the times. Even though there may be post-produced audios of his floating around on the internet, what castrati really sounded like will remain a mystery.

Lastly, I do need to point out that there are still male singers who train very hard to be able to sing alto and even soprano parts throughout their adulthood. These hard-working individuals may be the closest we can get to the sound of castrati. These professionally trained singers may also have the vocal capacity that can be compared to theirs, even without the bodily contortions that came with a castration, such as larger body size and wider rib cages.
This history doesn’t only impress with the treasure of time it could convey to us but also sparks a lot of discussion about the origin of this practice and the people that stood behind it. There is so much that one could think about while listening to this piece, as it’s not just the music but all the historic weight that’s entangled with it. Therefore, it’s the piece I was most impressed with during this class.