FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Monday, April 03, 2006
Eviva il coltello - Long Live the Knife!!
Sean Coughlan, of the BBC News Magazine, compares the 17th Century practise of castrating young boys in order to allow them to maintain their vocal range into adulthood, to pushy parents encouraging their kids to appear on televised talent contests, such as Pop Idol & Fame Academy :
"Castrati were the singing superstars of the 18th Century... In 17th and 18th Century Italy, about 4,000 boys were castrated each year, from the age of eight upwards, with the aim of making a fortune as opera singers and soloists with choirs in churches and royal palaces."
It does occur to me that this obsene practise is in many ways strikingly similar to the lengths people will go to in this day and age to achieve celebrity and stardom. You only need look to the likes of Jade Goodey, happy to be slated on a daily basis by our national gutter press as "thick" and "ugly". Happy, that is, if it means she's able to attract attention to herself, just as children often misbehave to get noticed - any publicity is good publicity. Thus far, it doesn't seem to have done Jade a lot of noticeable harm but I get the distinct feeling there's a fall to come.
Those seeking fame by being 'discovered' on Pop Idol have a slightly different relationship to those castrated gents of a few hundred years ago : at least both parties in this case are actively trying to do something creative.. or at least, have their 'abilities' noticed. But, like 8 year old boys being encouraged (or forced) to allow irrepairable damage done to their bodies, I can't help thinking that the next generation of Pop Idol candidates to be humiliated on screen (whether successful on the show or not) have been somehow held to ransom by the fickle, voyeuristic peer group that is modern day Western society.
You can read Sean Coughlan's full article about the Handel & the Castrati exhibition here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4853432.stm
"Castrati were the singing superstars of the 18th Century... In 17th and 18th Century Italy, about 4,000 boys were castrated each year, from the age of eight upwards, with the aim of making a fortune as opera singers and soloists with choirs in churches and royal palaces."
It does occur to me that this obsene practise is in many ways strikingly similar to the lengths people will go to in this day and age to achieve celebrity and stardom. You only need look to the likes of Jade Goodey, happy to be slated on a daily basis by our national gutter press as "thick" and "ugly". Happy, that is, if it means she's able to attract attention to herself, just as children often misbehave to get noticed - any publicity is good publicity. Thus far, it doesn't seem to have done Jade a lot of noticeable harm but I get the distinct feeling there's a fall to come.
Those seeking fame by being 'discovered' on Pop Idol have a slightly different relationship to those castrated gents of a few hundred years ago : at least both parties in this case are actively trying to do something creative.. or at least, have their 'abilities' noticed. But, like 8 year old boys being encouraged (or forced) to allow irrepairable damage done to their bodies, I can't help thinking that the next generation of Pop Idol candidates to be humiliated on screen (whether successful on the show or not) have been somehow held to ransom by the fickle, voyeuristic peer group that is modern day Western society.
You can read Sean Coughlan's full article about the Handel & the Castrati exhibition here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4853432.stm
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Heh, I had singing lessons from Nick Clapton when I lived in Oxford. He is great. Amazingly camp, and amazingly good at overcoming all the old 'church choir' techniques I inherited.
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