Portrait Of A Castrato

Roger Freitas

This book explores the fascinating life of the most documented musician of the seventeenth century. Born in 1626 into a bourgeois family in Pistoia, Italy, Atto Melani was castrated to preserve his singing voice and soon rose to both artistic and social prominence. His extant letters not only depict the musical activities of several European centers, they reveal the real-life context of music and the musician: how a singer related to patrons and colleagues, what he thought about his profession, and the role music played in his life. Whether Atto was singing, spying, having sex, composing, or even rejecting his art, his life illustrates how music-making was always also a negotiation for power. Providing a rare glimpse of the social and political contexts of seventeenth-century music, Roger Freitas sheds light on the mechanisms that generated meaning for music, clarifying what music at this time actually was.

Bibliographic Details

15 b/w illus. 16 tables 18 music examples

Contents

• Introduction
• 1. Creating a castrato
• 2. The politics of patronage: 1638–1653
• 3. In pursuit of prestige: 1653–1655
• 4. The sexuality of the castrato
• 5. Disgrace and transformation: 1656–1671
• 6. Atto Melani and the cantata
• 7. Completing the portrait: 1671–1714
• Appendices: A. The letters of Atto Melani
• B. Letters addressed to or concerning Atto Melani
• C. Satires: Sopra Atto Melani musico and Al Signor Atto Melani
• D. Excerpt from the Receuil des défenses of Nicolas Fouquet
• E. Biographical sketch from Tommaso Trentas Memorie
• F. The cantata texts of Atto Melani, with analyses and translations
• G. The Wills: For Italy
• For France
• H. The cabinet in the Salotto dellAbbate Melani, from the inventory of 1782.