Castrati: Rock Stars of the Eighteenth Century

During the Middle Ages, there was no form of entertainment to which citizens could focus their attentions. With the invention of the Gutenberg printing press and exploration of knowledge once lost, people began to take pleasure in the arts again. The Renaissance returned people to books, art, and music. In the musical world, the opera took center stage and this became the place to socialize. Great amounts of money, talent, and sacrifice were put into these productions and singers singers underwent a lot of hardship for their craft.

Under the reign of Louis XIV, the group of men known as the castrati became the greatest operatic stars. As prepubescent boys, these singers would endure the painful procedure of castration, so as to achieve the upper levels of the vocal range that would not normally be possible. I think this provokes an important topic: human mutilation for art.

Many artists practice self-mutilation, but in the case of the castrati, the procedure was done on young boys who most likely had no say in whether or not the procedure has done. Most of the boys who undergo the procedure have been offered up by their families in exchange for financial reward (source).