Abstract
Following the birth of modern opera in Italy in 1600, the demand for soprano voices grew up and the prepuberal castration was carried out to preserve the young male voice into adult life. Among the castrati, Gaspare Pacchierotti was probably one of the most famous. The remains of Pacchierotti were exhumed for the first time in 2013, for a research in the reconstruction of his biological profile, to understand the secrets behind his sublime voice and how the castration influenced the body. All the findings discovered, through anthropological and Computed Tomography analyses, are consistent both with the occupational markers of a singer and with the hormonal effects of castration. The erosion of cervical vertebrae, the insertion of respiratory muscles and muscles of the arms can be an effect of the bodily position and exercise during singing. The hormonal effect of castration were related to osteoporosis and to the disorders of spine.
Highlights
Castration has been performed since centuries: from The Bible[1] to the ancient Rome and China, until the 19th century, orchiectomy was made for different reasons from punishment for prisoners of war, to castration of mentally deficient men for eugenics laws[2]
The anthropological analysis of Paccherotti’s remains underlined the presence of many characteristics related to castration: high stature, open epiphyseal lines in the hips, lower cortical bone density related to vertebral fractures
At the beginning of the XX century, the Skoptzy, a Christian sect practicing male castration, were measured and they appeared to be taller than their peers[24]
Summary
Castration has been performed since centuries: from The Bible[1] to the ancient Rome and China, until the 19th century, orchiectomy was made for different reasons from punishment for prisoners of war, to castration of mentally deficient men for eugenics laws[2]. Pacchierotti’s body instead can be considered the first whole skeleton of a castrato ever studied His remains were well preserved and could give new insights about his lifestyle and castration. [...] Yet he was so thorough a musician that nothing came amiss to him; every style was to him easy, and he could sing, at first sight, all songs of the most opposite characters, not merely with the facility and correctness which a complete knowledge of music must give, but entering at once into the views of the composer, and giving them all the spirit and expression he had designed. Such was his genius in his embellishments and cadences, that their variety was inexhaustible”[6]
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