Celestial sacrifice

摘要

Long before singers became superstars by surviving humiliating television contests, they did so by surrendering much more than their dignity. For almost 200 years Europe's biggest singing celebrities were the castrati: surgically snipped "man-boys" whose high voices and incredible breathing powers captivated audiences and commanded football-star salaries. Cecilia Bartoli, a mezzo-soprano-and one of the few classical artists today who can claim sports-star fees of her own-is trying to resurrect the art of the castrati with her new Decca album, "Sacrificium". This collection of 15 opera arias from the early 18th century (11 of which have never been recorded before) is packaged with notes that illuminate the castrati's glamorous and tragic world.