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Giovanni Battista Velluti as a young man. Giovanni Battista Velluti, colloquially "Giambattista" (28 January 1780 – 22 January 1861), was an Italian castrato.Considered "the last great castrato", [1] he had a reputation of being something of a diva, with some singers refusing to appear with him.
Alessandro Moreschi c. 1914. Moreschi's Director at the Sistine was Domenico Mustafà, himself once a castrato soprano, who realised that Moreschi was, amongst other things, the only hope for the continuation of the Sistine tradition of performing the famous setting of the Miserere by Gregorio Allegri during Holy Week.
A castrato (Italian; pl.: castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity .
In Judaism, castrated animals are deemed unfit for sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem . Castrated members of the priestly caste are forbidden to enter certain parts of the temple, to approach the altar, or to make sacrifices, although they could eat their share of the offerings and receive the priestly and Levite gifts (Lev. 21:16–24).
Charles Burney, a contemporary music historian, described the Florentine castrato thus: "Manzoli's voice was the most powerful and voluminous soprano that had ever been heard on our stage since the time of Farinelli; and his manner of singing was grand and full of dignity. The applause he received was a universal thunder of acclimation."
In 1668, Melani sang publicly for the last time at Palazzo Colonna, and from then on dedicated himself exclusively to politics and diplomacy, writing several books on Rome, advising the King of France, mediating with the German princes, and acting as go-between among the Italian States. He finally died at the age of 88 in 1714 in Paris.
Vittori was born in Spoleto and educated in Rome. He then worked as a singer in Loreto and Spoleto.In 1618 Vittori was placed under the protection of the Medici family. He moved to Rome in 1621, first in the service of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, and in 1632 in the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, nephew of the future Urban VIII.
Monticelli was born in Milan about 1710. He first appeared in public in Venice in 1728, in Le due rivali in amore by Tomaso Albinoni, and then in various cities in Italy, including Treviso, Padua and Verona; there were further appearances in Venice, including in 1731 and 1732 with Giovanni Carestini, Antonio Bernacchi and Faustina Bordoni.