Voicing the Third Gender – The Castrato Voice and the Stigma of Emasculation in Eighteenth-century Society

Abstract

The golden days of vocal castrati lasted from c. 1650 -1750, when opera buffa, reform opera, and Enlightenment ideas about ‘the sound’ and ‘natural’, made the ‘unnatural’ and ‘unsound’ voice of the castrati obsolete. This article will investigate the castrato voice in eighteenth-century music on a scale from sound to unsound, using contemporary statements. It will explore the castrato voice, the vocal ideals that led to their fame and downfall, and also reveal the stigma that adhered to their presence in society, barring them from a normal social life. It will consider how the contemporaries of castrati viewed them on a scale from male to female and explain the reasons for categorizing them as a third gender.