On Sat, 17 Mar 2001, Tako Oda wrote:
> there are CTs working today (Bejun Mehta, James Bowman, and a few > members of la gran scena) who have vocal size comparable if not > larger than some of the smaller-voiced castrati of years past.
And you are sure based on what empirical evidence? The very few 78RPM recordings of Moreschi at the end of his career, recorded using acoustical equipment that produces recordings that are of limited, questionable value in helping us determine vocal *size* (vs. colour)? Documented direct comparisons (if any exist) between castrato and countertenor voices?
I've always liked Robert Rushmore's term "hearsay voices" - because as far as I'm concerned (and the few Moreschi 78s made very late in his career nothwithstanding), no-one will ever know what the castrati sounded like. Any speculation, no matter how allegedly scientific the basis for that speculation, is just that: speculation.
KM ===== My NEIL SHICOFF Website: http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Website: http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
----- We're sitting in the opera house; We're waiting for the curtain to arise With wonders for our eyes, A feeling of expectancy, A certain kind of ecstasy, Expectancy and ecstasy....Sh's's's.
- Charles Ives
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