He is the author of a biography of Alessandro Moreschi, Alessandro Moreschi, the Last Castrato. Source Notes Be the first to contribute! During this year, Alessandro was also responsible for overseeing the choir's correct performance of its duties in the Sistine Chapel. Between then and 1904 he recorded seventeen tracks in total. Alessandro Moreschi was born into a Roman Catholic family in the town of Monte Compatri in the Papal States, near Frascati (Lazio). Events. At the height of boy choirs’ popularity, upwards of 4,000 boys each year were secretly mutilated in service to the musical arts. Those who proved mediocre mouldered away in parish choirs, but the successful "sacred monsters" were cosseted and adored. The last castrato employed by the Vatican, Alessandro Moreschi — the “Angel of Rome” — sang in the Sistine Chapel choir from 1883 to 1903. “Alessandro Moreschi Angelo di Roma, Cantore nella Capella Sistina 1858-1922” reads a tomb on the upper level of Rome’s Verano cemetery. Alessandro Moreschi (11 November 1858 – 21 April 1922) was an Italian castrato singer of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings. He died on 21 April 1922. The dated aesthetic of Moreschi's singing, involving extreme passion and a perpetual type of sob, often sounds bizarre to the modern listener, and can be misinterpreted as technical weakness or symptomatic of an aging voice. Hello Select your address All Hello, Sign in. Alessandro Moreschi was an Italian castrato singer of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings. The next year, he became maestro pro tempore, which was mainly an administrative post that covered such things as granting leaves of absence and calling choir rehearsals. Its calls for the Church's music to return to the twin bases of Gregorian chant and the polyphony of Palestrina were a direct threat to both the repertoire and the practice of the Sistine Chapel. [22], The best-known piece Moreschi recorded is the Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria" (though the Sistine Chapel choir recorded Mozart's Ave verum corpus, Moreschi's voice is not individually audible). Services . Moreschi was very much a silent witness to the struggles between the forces of tradition and reform, but was also caught up in secular matters: on 9 August 1900, at the express request of the Italian royal family, he sang at the funeral of the recently assassinated king, Umberto I. His speaking voice has a metallic quality, like a very high-speaking tenor. Another possibility is that he was castrated later, around 1865, which would have been more in line with the centuries-old practice of castrating vocally talented boys well before puberty. He was, in fact, the only castrato ever to make solo recordings. The Church condoned the practice. Gramophone (54774) Publication date 1902 Language Latin. Still others feel that he was a very fine singer indeed, and that much of the "difficulty" in listening to Moreschi's recordings stems from changes in taste and singing style between his time and ours. Critical opinion is divided about Moreschi's recordings:[19] some say they are of little interest other than the novelty of preserving the voice of a castrato, and that Moreschi was a mediocre singer, while others detect the remains of a talented singer unfortunately past his prime by the time he recorded. Perosi, a fanatical opponent of the castrati, had triumphed and Moreschi and his few remaining colleagues were to be pensioned off and replaced by boys. The strange and lonely life of Alessandro Moreschi was lived in the shadows of great events and great institutions, his personality glimpsed only by inference and allusion. Biography. Alessandro Moreschi; Leibach. This 26-year-old priest from Tortona in Piedmont turned out to be a real thorn in Mustafà's side. [2] Another possibility is that he was castrated later, around 1865, which would have been more in line with the centuries-old practice of castrating vocally talented boys well before puberty. It is unknown when he was castrated, but it is thought to have been around 1865. [20], The standard of his recordings is certainly variable; Moreschi recorded two versions of Rossini's "Crucifixus". SOLO EXHIBITIONS. It seems likely that Moreschi's singing abilities came to the notice of Nazareno Rosati, formerly a member of the Sistine Chapel choir, who was acting as a scout for new talent, and took him to Rome in about 1870. Death, Cause unspecified 21 April 1922 chart Placidus Equal_H. He has a tear in each note and a sigh in each breath. Link to Wikipedia biography. Aged only fifteen, Moreschi was made the First Soprano in the choir in the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, and he also sang as a soloist in groups hired by Capocci to sing in salons where Roman high society gathered. The last official castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, retired from the Sistine Chapel in 1913, though some historians suspect that Domenico Mancini, … In 1891, he was segretario puntatore for a brief time, looking after the day-book of the choir and recording their activities. Decades later Fred Gaisberg recalled making these historic first recordings in the Vatican: "Selecting a great salon with walls covered with Titians, Raphaels, and Tintorettos, we mounted our grimy machine right in the middle of the floor. It is possible that he was born with an inguinal hernia, for which castration was still thought to be a cure in nineteenth-century Italy. He was the last surviving castrato singer of the Sistine Chapel choir, and the only one of the castrati whose voice survives in any solo recording. So when the senior castrato retired in 1886, Moreschi became the director of soloists. The famous Moresca [sic], who sings at the Laterano, is a full-faced soprano of some forty winters. His vocal technique can certainly seem to grate upon modern ears, but many of the seemingly imperfect vocal attacks, for example, are in fact grace notes, launched from as much as a tenth below the note – in Moreschi's case, this seems to have been a long-standing means of drawing on the particular acoustics of the Sistine Chapel itself. Social. Moreschi died at the age of sixty-three. Donington, R: Opal CD 9823, track 7, passage from 2'04 to 2'16, this can be heard at the end of track 3 on OPAL CD 9823, "Alessandro Moreschi - The Last Castrato: Complete Vatican Recordings (ristampa) :: Le Recensioni di OndaRock", Tra Le Sollecitudini Instruction on Sacred Music, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alessandro_Moreschi&oldid=978395044, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2018, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 14 September 2020, at 17:24. In the spring of 1902, in the Vatican, Moreschi made the first of his recordings for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company of London. The first series of recordings were made on 3 and 5 April 1902 by Will and Fred Gaisberg. The last official castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, retired from the Sistine Chapel in 1913, though some historians suspect that Domenico Mancini, who sang in the papal choir until 1959, was a secret castrato. The Sistine Chapel Choir was run by traditional methods and rules that were centuries old. These groups were often called the “Pope’s singers”, and Moreschi was a great attraction at these events. [citation needed] It is possible that he was born with an inguinal hernia, for which castration was still thought to be a cure in nineteenth-century Italy. "[18] The second set of recordings was made in Rome in April 1904, under the direction of W. Sinkler Darby. I have now added a lot more references, chiefly from the only published biography of Moreschi, which Itrust bring this article up to Wiki standards as to being sufficiently well-sourced, verifiable, etc. [1], Alessandro Moreschi was born into a Roman Catholic family in the town of Monte Compatri in the Papal States, near Frascati (Lazio). In the first, Moreschi's first side from his first recording session in 1902, he sings off key, and continues to do so for several bars. [15] Moreschi was buried in the family vault in the Cimitero del Verano, the great "city of the dead" not far from Rome's Tiburtina station. Moreschi: And the Voice of the Castrato: Clapton, Nicholas: Amazon.sg: Books. In 2011, a few selections of Moreschi's work are widely available as viral videos. The castrato who modern humans might have heard sing is Alessandro Moreschi, who died in 1922 after recording some of the first and last castrati singing on Earth. It appears these two titles are the same book. Also increasingly in demand as a teacher, Nicholas Clapton is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and has given master-classes at the Dartington International Summer School, at the Zeneakadémia in Budapest, in Belgrade and in Prague. He was, in fact, the only castrato ever to make solo recordings. See also. He then retired, living in Rome on his pension, and died in 1922 at age 63. He made additional recordings in 1904: there are seventeen tracks in all. Pie Jesu is an aria from the opera Dies Irae. [7] On the strength of this performance, he became known as l'Angelo di Roma, and shortly after, having been auditioned by all the members of the Sistine Chapel Choir, he was appointed First Soprano there, a post he held for the next thirty years. Alessandro Moreschi, castrato, recorded in Sistine Chapell, 1902 & 1904 Cricifixus - Ideale - Preghiera - Ave Verum Corpus - Hostias et Preces - Improperia - La cruda mia nerica - Laudamus Te - Oremus Pro Pontefice This audio restoration under Creative Commons by-sa 2.0 License His funeral Mass was a large and public affair in the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, and was conducted by Perosi, who, in spite of his antipathy towards castrati, felt a "great friendship which bound them together". Artistically speaking, the job involved him in choosing soloists and in developing repertoire. Just on the strength of that performance he became known as l’Angelo di Roma. Alessandro Moreschi discography and songs: Music profile for Alessandro Moreschi, born 11 November 1858. These were resisted by Mustafà, but time was against him. In 1873, aged only fifteen, he was appointed First Soprano in the choir of that basilica,[4] and also became a regular member of the groups of soloists hired by Capocci to sing in the salons of Roman high society. Biography of Alessandro Moreschi (excerpt) Alessandro Moreschi (November 11, 1858 - April 21, 1922) was the most famous castrato singer of the late 19th century, and the only castrato of the classic bel canto tradition to make solo sound recordings. This entire period was one of great upheaval within the Sistine choir's organisation as well as Catholic church music at large: the reforming movement known as Cecilianism, which had originated in Germany, was beginning to have its influence felt in Rome. A black-and-white photograph shows a man with an impressively large chest and unusually thick hair. [8], Moreschi's Director at the Sistine was Domenico Mustafà, himself once a fine castrato soprano, who realised that Moreschi was, amongst other things, the only hope for the continuation of the Sistine tradition of performing the famous setting of the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri during Holy Week. Alessandro Moreschi. Moreschi was the last of the cantori evirati, Italian castrate singers. The Pope's singers are the great attraction ... for her salon is the only place outside of the churches where one can hear them. Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922), known during his life as the ‘Angel of Rome’, is remembered today as the only castrato singer to have made recordings. Mail voxclamans 21:04, 7 September 2012 (UTC) and the only castrato of the classic bel canto tradition to make solo sound recordings. All of Moreschi's recordings were made in Rome in two sets of recording sessions for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company. References. He made additional recordings in 1904: there are seventeen tracks in all. To his successor, Pope Leo XIII, Moreschi (at the age of twenty-five) successfully addressed his application (he “prostrates himself to kiss Your holy foot”) to become the Sistine Choir’s First Soprano. These never came to fruition: by this date Moreschi (now fifty-five years old) no longer had the required high soprano range, and in any case he had never had the necessary virtuoso operatic training. Alessandro Moreschi (November 11, 1858 - April 21, 1922) was one of the most famous castrati singers of the late 19th century, and was the only castrato of the classic bel canto tradition to make sound recordings. It looks like we don't have any Biography for Alessandro Moreschi yet. This was all the more extraordinary because the Papacy still had no formal contact with the Italian secular state, which it regarded as a mere usurper (see Unification of Italy). When Moreschi joined the Sistine choir, there were still six other castrato members, but none of them was capable of sustaining this work's taxing soprano tessitura. He sang the jewel song in [Gounod's] Faust, which seemed horribly out of place. The last castrato employed by the Vatican, Alessandro Moreschi — the “Angel of Rome” — sang in the Sistine Chapel choir from 1883 to 1903. [9] Moreschi's star status sometimes seems to have turned his head: "Moreschi's behaviour was often capricious enough to make him forget a proper professional bearing, as on the occasion after a concert when he paraded himself among the crowd like a peacock, with a long, white scarf, to be congratulated ..."[10], The Sistine Chapel Choir was run on traditional lines centuries old, and had a strict system of hierarchies. Alessandro Moreschi was born in 1858, during the reign of Blessed Pope Pius IX. Boston University Libraries. His teacher was Gaetano Capocci, who used to be the maestro di cappella of the St. John Lateran Church. Around Easter 1914 he met the Viennese musicologist Franz Haböck, author of the important book Die Kastraten und ihre Gesangskunst (The Castrati and their Art of Singing, published in Berlin in 1927), who had plans to cast Moreschi in concerts reviving the repertoire of the great eighteenth-century castrato Farinelli. Alessandro Moreschi was a castrato singer in the late 19th century. Moreschi and the Voice of the Castrato / The Angel of Rome, Nicholas Clapton, Haus Publishing Ltd., (2008/2009). July 2004 124–72, again see Clapton, pp. The ethereal, haunting quality of his voice hints at why this extraordinary sound was so highly prized for centuries in the opera houses of Europe. Genres: Opera, Western Classical Music. [11] In 1891 Moreschi took his turn as segretario puntatore, being responsible for the day-book of the choir's activities, and the following year was appointed maestro pro tempore, a largely administrative post concerned with calling choir meetings, fixing rehearsals, granting leave of absence and the like. His singing, which can be found online, is different from what is produced today. It is unknown when he was castrated, but it is thought to have been around 1865. [14], In retirement, Moreschi lived in his apartment at 19 Via Plinio, a few minutes' walk from the Vatican, where he died at the age of 63, possibly of pneumonia. [6], In 1883, Capocci presented a special showcase for his protégé: the first performance in Italy of the oratorio Christus am Ölberge by Beethoven, in which Moreschi sang the demanding coloratura role of the Seraph. [12], In the spring of 1902, in the Vatican, Moreschi made the first of his recordings for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company of London. [16], According to Haböck, "Moreschi's external appearance differs little from that usual for a singer. Guy Fredrick Glass' solemn play "The Last Castrato" recounts the tale of Alessandro Moreschi (Jacob Pinion), the last of his kind and the only castrato captured in recordings. In 1898, he celebrated fifty years as a member of the Sistine, but also appointed Lorenzo Perosi as joint Perpetual Director. During the spring of 1902, while living a few minutes’ walk from the Vatican, Moreschi made his first singing recordings for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company of London. He held that post for the next thirty years. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. Until 1913, Moreschi was officially a member of the Sistine choir; he was fifty-five years old and able to take his pension as he had sung in the choir for thirty years. 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