I thought I might write something on the subject of “Farinelli, Il Castrato” the 1994 Gerard Corbiau film which I decided to watch on DVD after writing my last post. In spite of the historical inaccuracies, the problems I have as a trained singer watching the mouth and body of the actor, Stefano Dionisi, who plays Farinelli as he mimes to the tracks and also some questions I have about the vocals (a digital fusion of two voices: that of the counter tenor Derek Lee Ragin and the lyric coloratura of Ewa Mallas Godlewska), I have to admit, however, to enjoying this film hugely.
One cannot help but be deeply moved by the scene where Farinelli sings Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga” and in his mind relives the moment of his castration. The melancholic music and the use of flashback makes you realise with a shudder what an impact this brutal practice must have had on the minds of these singers. Indeed, every time they sang, the mere act of singing must have been a poignant reminder to them of the loss of a normal adult male life.
Corbiau’s biggest problem was to recreate the sound of Farinelli’s voice and of course all he had to go on were the written accounts of his performances. There are also recordings of the last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi from 1902. I gather, however, that Moreschi was aging (for a castrato at least) by the time this recording was made and opinion is that he had not been a great singer anyway. I have listened to the recordings of him which are historically of interest, but although there are some notes that are amazingly well-produced, I think it is a fairly futile exercise to compare him to Farinelli.
For the film, Farinelli’s castrato voice was created in the end by a long and painstaking process involving recording the two singers (soprano Ewa Mallass Godlewska and the countertenor voice of Derek Lee Ragin) then editing the material (at times note by note) and digitally fusing the two voices. I think in fact the resulting timbre is more impressive than the sound these singers produce individually! It’s definitely a case of two singers are better than one! I am also curious to know what it would have sounded like if they had fused a more masculine sound – a high tenor perhaps rather than a counter tenor in order to get the total androgyny of the castrato voice. They may have tried it but we’ll never know. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the end product and just got twitchy watching Stefano Dionisi when he was “singing”. I did feel like shouting out various instructions to him such as “Drop your jaw for that high note!” “Keep your tongue in the parking place!” and “Breathe!”
Vocal Odyssey 
i just read your comments on Farinelli, the movie. i liked your idea about fusing a more masculine sound. have you contacted the movie producers to find out what program was used? it might be a interesting exercise to try it yourself. i ended up at your site because i was thinking of Moreschi and castratos recently. there is a pop singer called Antony of Antony and the Johnsons. i was thinking about why his singing is so moving to me. i thought that perhaps it was the fusing of the male and female voice that he seems to capture. perhaps that was the reasoning behind the horrible practice of castration for male singers, trying to find the ideal voice, fusing the power of the male with the sweetness of the female voices.
Dear Steve
Thank you for your comment and yes, the castrato voice is totally intriguing. My holiday reading was Anne Rice’s novel “Cry to Heaven”. It’s a good raunchy read but also her research with regard to the castrati was excellent. The castrati were real sopranos and contraltos who possessed a female-sized larynx in a man’s body, akin to a small valve with huge bellows so no wonder they had such consummate breath control. As she points out “countertenors or male falsettists can give no true idea of the beauty of their voices”.
Glenna
i HAVE THE “FARINELLI IL CASTRATO” SOUNDTRACK CD – ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS ITEMS ON MY MUSIC SHELF AND EVERY TRACK ON IT IS BRILLIANT.
LOUIS BOUWER
Pretoria
South Africa