In many singing programs today, there are always some male singers who make good use of the high pitch and interpret the high pitch of the song. But no matter how powerful the male singer's false high voice is, it is still much inferior to the same soprano.
This flaw is particularly evident in the bel canto singing of high-pitched singing, but in the 17th and 18th centuries, there was a brief "golden age of bel canto singing" in the history of vocal music.
During those two centuries or so, a number of male bel canto artists appeared in Europe who surpassed both male and female singers. They all share a common trait, they are physically handicapped eunuch singers.
The imperfections of the body make them sing beautiful songs that break through the limits of normal physiology, and the world gives them the best praise for this song, adding a strong mark to the history of art.
But these artists, who are castrated before puberty, have no right to choose not to live a deformed life. What's more, most people don't become artists, just the failures of the "human experiment of exploring the treble."
Discrimination against women has a long history, and during the reign of medieval feudal societies in Europe, discrimination and restrictions were particularly ridiculous. And this discrimination later became the indirect perpetrator of male victims, and all mankind was spared in the ignorance and superstition imposed by itself.
Since the 4th century AD, churches in Europe have forbidden women to sing in churches and in group settings. At that time, it was widely believed that the appearance of female voices in the church was an obscure one.
At the same time, the choir plays an important and indispensable role in the church. The choir is mostly made up of enthusiastic members of the church, who are responsible for singing and leading worship on church Sundays. However, because women are "silenced", the choir and other singing also lack the unique high vocal range of women.
Initially, this part of the vocal range was replaced by boys or false male singers. But the replaced voice is not as dexterous as the female voice, and the high notes are very jerky. Until people stumbled upon, the false tenor from Spain could actually be loud and unobstructed, and perhaps even better than the soprano. Later scholars discovered that they were originally eunuch singers.
The pursuit of bel canto in Italian opera is also one of the main reasons for the emergence of eunuch singers
In terms of lung capacity, female singers can generally sing a long tone of 25 seconds, while male singers can sing for 1 minute. In terms of range, most singers can only span two octaves at most, while eunuch singers can easily span three octaves, which is also filled with a large number of vibrato and ornamental tones.
This castrated singer has both male lung capacity and female high-pitched voice, showing a level of singing beyond normal people. And how is such an excellent castration made?
In the 1980s, biologists found that the voice frequencies of men were significantly inextricably correlated with serum testosterone. That said, male voice change may be closely related to the most important male hormone, serum testosterone.
Through the analysis of male subjects, it was found that testosterone levels showed an increasing trend with age, hormone levels gradually increased at 9-12 years old, testosterone growth rate increased in 12-14 years old, and growth was relatively flat after 16 years old. At the same age, both the minimum and normal audio showed an almost corresponding downward trend.
Testosterone, lowest tone, normal voice change with age in men
In order to prevent the decline in male audio, the most direct way is to suppress the increase in testosterone. As a result, people took the most brutal way, castrating pre-pubertal boys, losing their testosterone-secreting organs, and from then on they most thoroughly maintained the original audio. Eunuch singers are halfway through, and while eunuchs may not necessarily develop into singers with amazing voices, the path is easier.
Of course, as early as the 17th century, there was no such rigorous scientific research that made people understand the relationship between male voice change and male hormones. But in practice, people have discovered this "terrible" fact.
Once such a beautiful tenor has been heard, people are even more unable to accept the original rough pseudo-soprano. So with the improvement of aesthetics, a prosperous era belonging to eunuch singers and male singers has arrived.
In addition to the lack of soprano in singing, the Italian opera genre at that time had a strong pursuit of "showmanship" bel canto, which was the main reason for the mass production of eunuch singers in that era.
A film from the 1990s, "Absolute Demon" tells the story of the castrated singers of that period. The protagonist of the film plays a real-life Italian eunuch singer, Farinelli.
At the age of 17, he had been invited by the King of England to sing for the Royals, and for 25 years he sang every night for the King of France. Kings change from generation to generation, but Farinelli's beautiful singing voice lingers.
He was the most outstanding and greatest castrated singer of his time. It is said that those who have heard him sing sincerely lament that his singing voice is too perfect and infectious.
From an early age, Farinelli showed a sweet singing voice, even singing a high note for a minute without breathing, singing 250 notes in a row. But it is not easy to become such a famous figure in history, and he faced the "persecution" of his closest family at the age of 10.
Portrait of Farinelli
His biological brother Rigado is a classical music composer who appreciates his brother's singing voice, and he hopes that this will not disappear because of his brother's growth.
And to preserve this talent, Rigado even did not hesitate to poison his hands. One day when Farinelli was 10 years old, Rigado took advantage of his illness and castrated him. Afterwards, he also made up a lie that Farinelli was unfortunate enough to be trampled by a horse and accidentally became an eunuch.
Growing up, Farinelli unsurprisingly became a castrated singer, and he received many praises throughout his life. But when he accidentally learned that it was his brother who had poisoned himself and caused these achievements, he still turned against his brother.
He could not attain dignity and happiness in his showmanship, and in the hearts of the world, the castration represented by Farinelli was just a singing instrument. Castrated to please the majority, they live like performers in a circus who participate in a deformed show.
In the movie "Absolute Demon", "Farinelli" is a scene sung for everyone
And a castrated singer like Farinelli, who sang for the royal family, was already very lucky. Most "eunuch singers" can only achieve the first half of this name, and have not become well-known singers or big stars of the scenery.
Most of them followed the trend and were castrated in childhood, but did not show strong singing ability in adulthood. So they could only sing and live in the homes of the church or the nobility. They were careful and did their best, and were fired if they didn't sing well.
And due to the imbalance of sex hormones, most of them look different from ordinary people, are laughed at, and live a deformed and tragic life in their lives.
While lamenting for the European eunuch singers, we are shocked to realize that this special group is not far away from us. In the ancient imperial palace of our country, is there not a group of people who have returned to the same place? And they are not even dedicated to art, and they are hardly admired by future generations.
According to records, eunuchs have appeared in ancient China since the Yin Zhou period. They were called "temple people", meaning people who specialized in serving others, and later "eunuchs", "eunuchs" and other titles became more widely known.
Unlike the castrated singers of Europe, they did not appear because of people's pursuit of the art of song, but also because of the lack of male hormones.
Totalitarian groups found that castrated men generally had a weakened personality and were better attached and submissive. They also retained more, the original instinct to actively complete the master's instructions.
The royal family at that time needed not singers, but slaves of high quality "for slavery".
Eunuchs in the late Qing Dynasty
Similarly, castration surgery also needs to be performed during male childhood. Under the extremely backward medical technology conditions of ancient times, castration surgery survived far less than during surgery. Young children either die of pain or become infected and die.
During the Tianshun period of the Ming Dynasty alone, a total of 1894 young children were castrated, and the mortality rate was as high as nearly 20%. Castrated children, if lucky enough to survive, could serve as candidates for court eunuchs and were screened by the royal family.
And because of their huge physical defects, their psychological state is usually different from ordinary people. Once they gain power, the weight of power in their hands is often transformed into a breakthrough to vent their perverted psychology. In history, there have been many cases of eunuchs bullying the people's women, raping, killing and plundering.
The evil "Duke of Dongchang" in film and television dramas
Compared with the ancient eunuch slaves with humble status and difficult lives, eunuchs at least called them "dedication to art". But what still can't be changed is that their existence is dehumanizing.
It was not until the early 19th century that eunuch singers gradually disappeared. First, because the European feudal system was already dying, women began to enter the opera stage; second, the reform of opera gradually made people tired of the serious opera on which eunuch singers lived. For various reasons, the eunuch singers were eliminated by the times, and they also happened to be the key to unlocking their shackles.
After the 20th century, the Pope issued an order permanently prohibiting eunuch singers from singing in churches. After ruling the opera stage and church singing for about two centuries, the age of castration finally came to an end.
The world's last castrated singer died in 1922, and there have been no real castrated singers since then. The tragic fate of such groups was finally ended by the times, and the training methods of castrated singers were recorded, and gradually developed into a training system for false tenors.
Nowadays, male voices with special congenital conditions can also achieve a singing effect similar to that of castrated ling if they are trained. There are also a very small number of men who are "born castrated" who do not need to be castrated by chance. They are born with a lack of male hormones, which leads to vocal variation and the ability to produce a soprano without the use of falsetones.
The last castrated singer
Two centuries of glory arose in the history of vocal music, a height that is now unattainable in any way. Behind the glory, it is at the cost of the castration sacrifice of many singers.
Was their sacrifice worth it? It may be worth it for art history, but they can't live the lives of normal people, and before adolescence they have been involuntarily arranged for their lives, sacrificing themselves to please most people in the world.
And the times have given this sacrifice the "right" outlook on life. They may not often have regrets about sacrificing for art, but perhaps they have fallen victim to a sad history without knowing it.
Art is important, but if you can only choose between human nature and art, people may still be entangled.
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ZHU Huan, LIU Shuyan, XU Youheng. A Preliminary Study on the Relationship between Androgen Levels and Voice Change in Male Adolescents[J]. Journal of Hainan University (Natural Science Edition), 1991(03):68-73.
TIAN Yimiao. From eunuch singers to false voice tenor "Import Little Brother" there is more than DiMahi. Sina Reading, 2017.02.10.
LU Yunting. The Problem of Non-competitive Physical Mutilation of Men in Ancient China: An Antimodern Critique of the Phenomenon of Eunuchs[J]. Sports and Science, 2009, 30(2).