{"product_id":"moreschi-and-the-voice-of-the-castrato-9781905791422","title":"Moreschi: And the Voice of the Castrato","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his own lifetime Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922) was known as the Angel of Rome. 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. 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. The castrato tradition became established in Italy in the late 16th century  when Pope Clement VIII gave it his sanction. By the 17th century the castrati had moved onto the secular operatic stage  where they were feted as the pop stars of their day. Few normal singers  male or female  came close to matching their fame and success. But by the 19th century their continued existence had become an embarrassment  and when Moreschi joined the Sistine Chapel in 1883  there were only six castrati left in the choir  and by 1903 they were officially no more. 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. Written by an acclaimed musicologist  who as a counter-tenor has performed much of the repertoire written for castrati  this is a perceptive and informed study of the last survivor of a perennially intriguing part of Western cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647945269301,"sku":"ByrdShop_1905791429","price":81.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781905791422.jpg?v=1781699917","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/moreschi-and-the-voice-of-the-castrato-9781905791422","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}