Patrick Barbier is the author, at Grasset, of the irreplaceable
History of the castrati
and of a
Voyage in Baroque Rome
which earned him, in 2016, the Thiers prize from the French Academy.
LE FIGARO.
- How to situate the Moreschi case in the history of castrati?
Patrick BARBER.
-
It embodies the end, sad and a little painful, of a brilliant history.
The epic of the castrati began in Italy at the end of the 16th century, and ended with the retirement of Moreschi, in 1913, who became the last castrato to leave the Sistine Chapel.
If he has gone down in history, it is above all for this reason… More than for his qualities as a singer who, as we know, were incapable of competing with what were the great castrati of the Baroque period.
Read also
Farinelli-Caffarelli: the duel of the castrati
Moreover, we had put forward the somewhat crazy project of having Moreschi take over Farinelli's repertoire.
This never happened: the last castrati were in fact incapable of it.
His recordings, however, constitute the only sound testimony…
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