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LISTENERS' BOX
June 6, 2006
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Responses to Recent Issues
In response to: "Lessons in Beguilement" (5/30/06)
While I have to say I mostly agree with Stephanie Friedman's assessment of the Scholl concert, it disturbs me that she confuses the vocal quality of countertenors and castrati. All contemporary reports of castrati remark on the incredible power and range of the castrato voice. Certainly, countertenors are anything but powerful; they are often the weakest voices on stage. Friedman also assumes that since countertenors and castrati are men, that they have a similar vocal coloring. We have no idea if this is true or not. Based on many of the roles that were written for castrati, I would venture not, but that is simply my guess. I do know for sure, that I generally much prefer women to take castrato roles. The only recordings we have of a castrato were made before World War I, and they are so bad that it's hard to draw any inferences at all.
— Martin Cohn
Stephanie Friedman Responds
Martin Cohn's letter raises points I am happy to explore a little more than I could in my review of Andreas Scholl.
Mr. Cohn thinks I confuse the vocal quality of the countertenor and the castrato. But I'm under no illusion that the two voices are or must have been alike. We can only imagine what castrati sounded like, since there are none today. We're on much firmer ground when we relate their effect on their audiences: people went crazy.
No doubt the "incredible power and range" of the castrato voice sent audiences into raptures, but that was not all that accounted for their rapturous response. Contemporary accounts, as I recall, mention the emotional intensity of the castrati's singing as well as their speed and agility in divisions (the runny bits). We heard quite a bit of that intensity and that agility in Scholl's singing, and it's natural to wonder if it was anything like what the castrato sounded like.
Nor was Scholl without power. Unlike some "weak" countertenor voices that Mr. Cohn alludes to, Scholl's voice fairly lifted me out of my seat as he swelled from nothing to a dynamic level I would have considered almost too loud, had he sustained it for very long. His swell, a typical accomplishment of the castrati, was at its climax quite powerful enough to be heard throughout the hall and to penetrate the soul. Even if it didn't match the power of a castrato's voice, it will do! Some countertenors have weak voices, some strong; this one had power in reserve that he rarely used, and since he appears on the opera stage as well as giving recitals, we assume he has sufficient carrying power to do so with success. All countertenors are not alike, any more than are all baritones, or all mezzos. They vary in timbre, purity of voice, range, color, and so on.
I don't assume that countertenors and castrati have similar vocal color because they are both men, as Mr. Cohn says I do, but because they both sing using the same unchanged part of their voices — countertenors by developing and strengthening what's left of the boy's voice, and castrati because that's the only voice they had to sing with. Both voices are housed in the body of a mature man, but the castrato's voice must have partaken fully of that body's strength, as do our own singing voices, whereas the countertenor's voice occupies just a portion of his anatomy and therefore is perhaps in some way less firmly grounded in that anatomy.
I agree with Mr. Cohn that it is only an exercise of the imagination to believe there might be similarities in the two vocal colors. But the fact that we can't totally prove our speculations shouldn't stop us from speculating, as long as we admit that we can't be sure. We don't know what those audiences way back then heard. For me, however, in this day and age, it is enough that a singer sing with the commitment, intensity, grace, agility, and taste that Scholl had. As for how much like a castrato he did or did not sound, it's fun to think about.
In response to: "San Jose's Rising Star" (5/23/06)
I read with real interest your marvelous and detailed article on the
San Jose Symphony. I remember back when George Cleve hit the media with those terrible burns on the hands and his remarkable recovery. Bravo and good work.
— Widgie Hastings
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