La Scintilla
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Cecilia Bartoli
mezzo-soprano
"Sacrificium – The School for Castratos"
18th Century Italian Music
Arias by Nicolò Porpora, Antonio Caldara, Leonardo Vinci, Leonardo Leo, Francesco Araia and Geminiano Giacomelli
Instrumental movements by Nicolò Porpora, Alessandro Scarlatti and George Frideric Handel
Cecilia Bartoli touches on a taboo with this programme: she focuses on the fates of hundreds of thousands of 17th- and 18th-century boys, the numberless children who were castrated in the name of art. They could sing in the highest registers like a woman, but with the powerful delivery and long-breathed phrasing of a man. 'On one hand, 18th-century society was fascinated by the castratos’ "longer-higher-broader" feats of athleticism', Ms Bartoli explains. 'On the other hand, people were moved by their extraordinary emotional intensity, which was rooted in the sufferings they had to endure. They were pariahs. They'd been turned into "monsters".' For her recital Ms Bartoli delved into the archives, where she unearthed a great many unknown gems. And she has 'trained' for years to attain the breath control needed for the insanely difficult castrato arias she will sing – with bravura and an ear for the most delicate nuance.
Cecilia Bartoli introduces her album "Sacrificium":