Use of male voices in early (ish) music

[vinteuil]

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... if you want more -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0285634607

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0520279492

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[doversoul1]

Do we know when the papal ban mentioned earlier was in force?

The operas I mentioned were first performed:
Il Sant’Alessio 1632, and Artaserse 1730

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

An interesting online extract from "Snip, Snip Here; Snip, Snip There, and a Couple of Tra-La-Las": The Castrato and the Nature of Sexual Difference, an article by Alan Sikes in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture Vol 34 (2005) on this topic:

On the prohibition of female performers from the Roman stage, Heriot notes that the injunction against actresses - only intermittently enforced until the late Seventeenth Century - was strictly enforced by Pope Innocent XI (1650 - 89) called "Papa Minga" by his contemporaries "because 'minga' in the Milanese dialect means 'No', and this Pope, a Milanese, said No to everything". Heriot gives a brief synopsis of the prohibition, noting that Papa Minga had again confirmed the ban on actresses, as far as his temporal dominions were concerned in 1676, and , with a few backslidings early on, it remained in force until 1798. In that year, the ephemeral Roman Republic was set up, and, filled with liberal and progressive ideas, went to the opposite extreme and banned Castrati. This interdict was in turn lifted the following year, when Rome was occupied by the Kong of Naples (Napoleon's brother) but women were not again [banned from being actresses]. Heriot also remarks that not all regions under Papal jurisdiction were equally affected by the Papal Ban ... "at Bologna - a city which retained a considerable degree of independence - and in the legations of Ferrara and the Romagna, women were allowed on stage as elsewhere.

Which suggests that, whilst women were not allowed to sing in Church choirs (?Convents/Nunneries excepted, I presume?) - the "legality" of working as secular performers was more "flexible"; the fact that Innocent felt obliged to reinforce the earlier Ban suggests that its being ignored had become too common. The popularity of actresses does not, of course, mean that they were regarded as "respectable". It is interesting to note the coincidence of Papa Minga's reinforcement of the Ban occurs at the same time that Nell Gwyn is at the height of her fame in London.

[Dave2002]

The European practice of employing castrated boys in the Catholic church's choirs started in the mid 16th century. Castrati were first used during:
Late 1550s in the chapel choir of the Duke of Ferrara.
1574 in the court chapel at Munich, Germany.
1599 in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.
1610 in Württemberg, Germany.
1637 in Vienna, Austria.
1640's in Dresden, Germany. 4

from http://www.religioustolerance.org/rcccast.htm which presents a lengthy discourse on this subject.

I find it sad that so much damage has been done, ostensibly in the name of religion, though it appears that the Catholic church was officially against castration, but hypocritical enough to turn a blind eye to it.

Also sad was the use of the supposed words of someone who lived thousands of years ago being taken as a justification, but this is not unique in religions.

[vinteuil]

... the Kong of Naples (Napoleon's brother) ....

.. ah, that's where it started

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

.. ah, that's where it started

Ah! 'Twas beauty killed the beast.