This is, of course, "Farinelli, il castrato"; 1990's early: an Italian-Franco-Belgian production; it purports to tell the story of the great castrato Carlo Broschi (Farinelli); wildly inaccurate in the main, though a few of the stories are intact; for example, Farinelli's famous vocal duel with the trumpeter. The brother mentioned was the composer Riccardo, who was prolific, and his arias were used in the film; but nothing is really known about the brothers sharing sexual favours with their admirers !! Farinelli did NOT cause Handel to have a stroke, either. The film was lavishly staged and "titillating"; and, in order to produce the castrato sound, two voices, those of the soprano Ewa Mallas Godlewska and the countertenor Derek Lee Ragin were "morphed" electronically. A CD was issued with the film soundtrack.
Do, please, have a look at my new web site: same name, but modified and enlarged! Elsa
Elsa Scammell, Church and Operatic castrati. http://www.cix.co.uk/~velluti
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