Is castrating young boys ethical?
February 3, 2013 at 8:20 pm
(This post was last modified: February 3, 2013 at 8:23 pm by Tea Earl Grey Hot.)
The last castrato singer died in 1913. It was a practice mostly during the rennasiance and baroque (but continued into the 19th century) to castrate young male singers before puberty to preserve their voice. Into adulthood they had a wide vocal range and could do things normal male and female singers couldn't do.
This practice was done a lot. It wasn't minor.
Put into historical perspective, they'd have a better chance of having their vocal career continue into adulthood.
Nowadays we don't have any castrato singers left and there's a large repretore of music that we can't authentically perform because of that. Would it be ethical to bring the practice back if it were voluntary? Or can children really make such decisions fairly?
Here's a recording of the last castrato:
Here's a synthesized approximation of a castrato:
This practice was done a lot. It wasn't minor.
Put into historical perspective, they'd have a better chance of having their vocal career continue into adulthood.
Nowadays we don't have any castrato singers left and there's a large repretore of music that we can't authentically perform because of that. Would it be ethical to bring the practice back if it were voluntary? Or can children really make such decisions fairly?
Here's a recording of the last castrato:
Here's a synthesized approximation of a castrato:
My ignore list
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
