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The Castrato: Reflections on Natures and Kinds
Martha Feldman
€ 38.99
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Description for The Castrato: Reflections on Natures and Kinds
Paperback. An exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing, culminating in bel canto, was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political. Series: Ernest Bloch Lectures. Num Pages: 496 pages, 45 musical examples, 75 b/w photos. BIC Classification: 1DD; 3J; AVGC; HBJD; HBLH; HBLL. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 157 x 229 x 35. Weight in Grams: 706.
The Castrato is a nuanced exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing, culminating in bel canto, was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political. In Italy, castration for singing was understood through the lens of Catholic blood sacrifice as expressed in idioms of offering and renunciation and, paradoxically, in satire, verbal abuse, and even the symbolism of the castrato's comic cousin Pulcinella. Sacrifice in turn was inseparable from the system of patriarchy ... Read more
The Castrato is a nuanced exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth and late-nineteenth centuries. It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing, culminating in bel canto, was birthed from an unlikely and historically unique set of desires, public and private, aesthetic, economic, and political. In Italy, castration for singing was understood through the lens of Catholic blood sacrifice as expressed in idioms of offering and renunciation and, paradoxically, in satire, verbal abuse, and even the symbolism of the castrato's comic cousin Pulcinella. Sacrifice in turn was inseparable from the system of patriarchy ... Read more
Product Details
Publisher
University of California Press
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2016
Series
Ernest Bloch Lectures
Condition
New
Number of Pages
496
Place of Publication
Berkerley, United States
ISBN
9780520292444
SKU
V9780520292444
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Martha Feldman
Martha Feldman is President-Elect of the American Musicological Society and Mabel Green Myers Professor of Music, Romance Languages and Literatures and the Humanities at the University of Chicago. She is the author of City Culture and the Madrigal at Venice and Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy and coeditor of The Courtesan's Arts.
Reviews for The Castrato: Reflections on Natures and Kinds
Rich in scholarship and filled with subtle analysis.
Colm Toibin London Review of Books This is a remarkable book... An impressive achievement.
Nicholas Clapton Early Music Meticulously researched, beautifully written and richly illustrated ... In this book, as erudite as it is gripping, there is little to criticize. Cultural History ?Feldman's high-mindedness? ... Read more
Colm Toibin London Review of Books This is a remarkable book... An impressive achievement.
Nicholas Clapton Early Music Meticulously researched, beautifully written and richly illustrated ... In this book, as erudite as it is gripping, there is little to criticize. Cultural History ?Feldman's high-mindedness? ... Read more