User:NiCode2/The Castrato Body

= The Castrato Body =

What is a Castrato/Castration?
Castration was practiced in order to produce male singers that were capable of retaining a high soprano or alto voice register. It is uncertain which culture adopted castration first due to the historical complexity and the widespread occurrence of this practice across different civilizations during the 16th century until it was outlawed in the late 19th century. The earliest documented cases of castration are from Persia. There were suggestions that castrati existed as a symbol of primal sex and gender fluidity. The term castrato/castration are derived from the Sanskrit word “sastram”, translating to “a knife”.

When and Why Was it Used?
Historical records, including biblical texts, provide evidence of the ancient practice of castration, indicating its longstanding origins. This form of punishment was employed by various tribes or nations as a means to hinder the reproductive capacity of enemy captives.

The medical profession frequently performed castration, believing it could cure or prevent certain illnesses such as leprosy, madness, epilepsy, hydrocele, gout, and inflammatory conditions. Mortality rate depended on the individual performing the operation, but it is estimated ranging between 10 and 80 percent.

Castration and the Church
The historical position of the Church regarding castration exhibited a degree of ambiguity, particularly in the context of its association with the creation of castrati for choral singing. Although the Church officially condemned the act of castration, it paradoxically provided protection and inclusion for castrati within choirs, a practice that persisted until the early 20th century. Noteworthy church figures, such as Robert Sayer and Tommaso Tamburini, advocated for castration on the premise of enhancing vocal capabilities for the purpose of singing praises to God.

Robert Sayer, the English Benedictine moralist from the late sixteenth century, suggests that he valued the voice more highly than virility. He proposes that suppressing virility can be justified if it contributes to improving one's voice, and he believes such an action can be taken without being impious or irreverent.

Another perspective supporting castrato is of Tommaso Tamburini, a Sicilian Jesuit from the 17th century. Tamburini explained that castration should be considered legal under certain conditions. These conditions include ensuring that the procedure doesn't pose a risk of death and that it is performed with the consent of the boy undergoing it. He suggests that eunuchs contribute to the common good by singing divine prayers more beautifully in churches. He also argues that the preservation of the boys' voices should be seen as an advantage because it can lead to an improved way of life, as they might receive financial support and patronage from the nobility throughout their lives.

The Voice
Most individuals enjoyed the voices of the castrato, describing them as angelic, enchanting, ethereal, otherworldly, and even seductive. “Their voices were enchanting, their nobility and refinement on stage were seductive and they were also perfect Don Juans in everyday life, in the salons and even in the intimacy of the bedroom.”

“In this way the castrato embodied the trinity--man, woman and child – distilled from an asexual personality and a voice often judged sublime and sensual by contemporary observers who were certainly more kindly disposed towards artifice than the general public of today. Since this voice continually bridged the gap between masculine and feminine it was very easy to use the descriptions 'angelic or 'celestial which were constantly applied to it.”

Sexuality of the Castrato
The Castrato's sexuality is still heavily disputed in academia. Terms such as homosexuality and heterosexuality did not exist during the time of the Castrato. There are several historical accounts in which the castrato has been sexually active with women, there are also several accounts that strongly speculate hidden liaisons with castrati and noble men. Roger Freitas mentions three in The Eroticism of Emasculation ; Marc'Antonio Pasqualini and Antonio Barberini, Cecchino and Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, and Atto Melani and Duke Carlo II of Mantua. Most of these affairs were unveiled by re-examining letters that were exchanged between themselves which were found to have several double entendres and in some cases romantic descriptions of the castrato's body.

The castrati were favoured by most, and described as captivating because of their voices. Their refined grace exhibited on stage, and their resemblance to offstage Don Juans rendered them highly desirable. Similar to modern pop stars, their androgynous allure sparked collective hysteria, resulting in fainting episodes and overwhelming enthusiasm. “It is as if castrati were, like God, always already there, occupying the place/moment of primal sex and gender fluidity before the fall into a normative code of sex-gender difference." A castrato opera singer, going by the name of “The great Caffarelli” was described as, "The most amusing: The great Caffarelli often angered his public through his scornful attitude and bad temper, but the women were at his feet, and were at a loss to know how to attract his favours”.

"Castrati were regularly accused of tempting others to practices that would fall under our current term of 'homosexuality.", typically due to their voices sounding womanly and having a youthful look that was desired by many.

Typically, castrati did not perform sexual relations as regularly as other men, but they were still able to experience a normal sexual experience. Castration did not prevent an erection or the emission of sperm and prostatic liquid, however, it did not contain spermatozoa, therefore they could not reproduce.

"But the sexual lives of castrati were matter for gossip right through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many were said to have affairs, homosexual or heterosexual. We need not now rehearse most of these stories: their truth cannot be determined." Rosselli then mentions how these historical accounts of castrati's supposed sex lives can gives insight into the emotional lives of castrati. Several famous castrati had affairs with women, mainly women they worked with. In some cases, castrati were allowed marriage in Germany, Bartolomeo Sorlisi in 1668, and Filippi Finazzi in 1762.

Eroticism of Emasculation
Alcibiades the Schoolboy is an Italian book written by Antonio Rocco. The book consists of dialogue between a teacher and a student, Filotimo and Alcibiade. Filotimo warns about the "contaminating nature of sex with women" and argues that pederasty is superior. Pederasty was still consiered a societal norm during the era of the castrati just as it was in Ancient Greece (see Pederasty in Ancient Greece.) “Whereas nowadays describing a man as “effeminate” might imply homosexual leanings, a womanish demeanor in the 17th century was considered rather a sign of too great a taste for women." Castrati were seen as a prize too grand to possess by the average woman in the seventeenth century. This sexual hunger for the castrato meant that they were "considered predisposed to becoming ensnared in the womanish pursuits of love." Being castrated automatically determined your career for the rest of your life as a singer, being castrated also meant that the castrato would become subject to sexualization from both men and women. "From a woman’s perspective, the castrato offers a scandalous sexual as well as vocal plenitude" The sex life of a castrato is a topic that lacks concreteness because of how secretive it was. Liaisons between women were seen as scandalous whilst liaisons between men were secretive and happening unbeknownst to the public eye. There is plenty of eroticism that surrounds the castrato's body and how desired they were during their time.

The Eroticism of the Boy
Pederasty was still considered a normal societal practice during the early modern period as it was during ancient Greece. "In particular, the literature, art, and records of everyday life repeatedly characterize the prepubescent boy as an object of sexual desire." Prepubescent boys we're so desirable during this period that gangs of maturing men would seek them out solely to sodomize them as a rite of passage into adulthood. Reasonings behind why this body was desirable is still under speculation because of how private and undocumented accounts of homosexual behaviour are viewed.

The french Traité des Eunuques from 1707 is a treaty about eunuchs. This treaty forbade marriage between a woman and a eunuch because of their incapability of bearing children. Charles Ancillion a french diplomat and the author of the treaty responds to a quote from a letter written by St Basil in 372 or 373 that describes the eunuch as a man because he can sexually satisfy women. Ancillion responds "It is certain that an Eunuch can only satisfy the Desires of the Flesh, Sensuality, Impurity, and Debauchery; and as they are not capable of Procreation, they are more proper for such criminal Commerce than perfect Man, and more esteem’d for that Reason by lewd Women, be- cause they can give them all the satisfaction without running any Risk or Danger." Eliminating the risk of pregnancy became a major factor in the desirability of the castrato. The castrato also "embodies a renegade sensuality unbound by the rules of religion and society."

The Physical Body of the Castrato
“Physically, of course, a castrato simply retained many of his boyish features well into the years of adulthood: Although he might grow in height, he retained his high voice, lack of beard, and soft body.”

Physical Attributes of the Castrati:

 * No Facial Hair
 * Soft Skin
 * Small Genitals due to hormonal loss
 * Female Patterned Pubic Hair
 * Female Patterned Body Fat Distribution
 * High/Childlike Voice due to the halted development of the larynx and throat after castration
 * Some castrati exhibited osteoporosis due to hormonal imbalances

The Castrati and Marriage
Pope Sixtus V was against marriage between a eunuch and a woman. Eunuchs attempted to get married by using their ability to ejaculate as a viable reason to get married. The ejaculate of a eunuch was just a prostatic liquid lacking in spermatozoa, but there was a lot of dispute about the ability to orgasm being enough of a reason to become married. Sixtus V stated this about these eunuchs “They are mockers and insulters who have committed the crime of fraud for having represented false merchandise as genuine.” The castrato was thought to be incapable of bringing a woman to orgasm which was why Sixtus called the "merchendise" or penis fraudulant. There is dispute as to why it was fraudulant, it could be because of the size of the castrati penis, but that has not been the case in several other accounts of sexual liaisons between women and castrati.

"With respect to the castrato, the greatest significance of the one-sex model lies in its implication of a vertical, hierarchical continuum ranging from man down to woman. [...] Significantly, the most familiar inhabitant of this middle ground was the prepubescent child." The castrato body was viewed as a grey area in between what would be called a woman and what would be called a man. Despite during this time a woman being called "a lesser version of man along a vertical axis of infinite gradations," the castrato was the middleground. Because of how bodies started to differentiate themselves after puberty, the castrato never had the ability to fully develop, this was why they were considered effeminate and eroticized.