Oooooh, wow, I had no idea about Farinelli! (I mean, I'd heard of him, but I didn't know about Philip V or Barbara of Portugal.)
in 1728 she had appointed Domenico Scarlatti as her harpsichord teacher; the musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick acknowledges Farinelli's correspondence as providing "most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day")
That is really kind of amazing. I wonder if Farinelli writes good letters
In the movie Farinelli (for which they tried to recreate the sound and range of a castrato voice by blending the voices of a soprano and a countertenor), Farinelli retiring to Spain is the happy ending, so there isn't much of that, but check out two great sequences which showcase the opulent late Baroque/Rococo staging habits beautifully: in the former, he sings an aria from an opera composed and conducted by his brother Riccardo (Farinelli's real name was Carlo Broschi), and in the second, the Lascia di Piange by Händel. The main relationship of the film is that between the brothers Broschi which is super angsty because Riccardo is the older and did help Dad to have Carlo castrated back in the day; he also subsequently dedicated his life to him, composing for him, managing him etc. Cue arrival of mind messing Händel who points out to Carlo, aka Farinelli, that he's the way better composer, and what's this about dedicated his life, isn't it more the case that Riccardo exploits Carlo, has done since their childhood and wouldn't get his mediocre compositions staged otherwise? Presto, conflict.
Oh woooooow. Those are goooorgeous clips and I can, uh, almost see why you'd castrate a kid if it meant he'd sound like that. I assume that in the second clip the flashbacks are Riccardo consoling him after he was castrated? Ugh, angst!! Also, ouch!
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Re: Italian Affairs
in 1728 she had appointed Domenico Scarlatti as her harpsichord teacher; the musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick acknowledges Farinelli's correspondence as providing "most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day")
That is really kind of amazing.
I wonder if Farinelli writes good lettersRe: Italian Affairs
Re: Italian Affairs