For a solid portion of musical history, castrato singers or ‘castrati’ had a prominent role in operas, churches and courts across Europe. But why were young boys forced to undergo the gruesome ...

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Castrati, boys castrated before the onset of puberty to preserve their high-pitched voices, played heroic male leads in Italian opera from the mid-17th to late 18th centuries. Farinelli, born Carlo ...

Listen to the "last castrato", Alessandro Moreschi, recorded in 1902. The castrato's voice was prized for its combination of pitch and power - an unbroken male voice able to reach the highest notes, ...

Along with its many acts of musical patronage, the Roman Catholic Church perpetrated one appalling musical outrage. By banning women's voices from places of worship, the church fostered an economic ...

THEY were described as perfect singing machines. Now the body of Farinelli, the most famous castrato opera singer, is to be exhumed to learn how he achieved such dulcet tones. “Farinelli was more ...

The legendary castrato singer Farinelli (1705–1782) suffered from a disease typical of post-menopausal women, according to the first-ever osteological analysis of a eunuch. Subscribe to read this ...