Portrait of a Castrato
Politics, Patronage, and Music in the Life of Atto Melani

A fascinating insight into the life and music-making of the most documented musician of the seventeenth century, castrato Atto Melani.

Roger Freitas (Author)

9781107696105, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2014

452 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.78 kg

'The book includes a survey of Atto's cantatas, polished, efficient exemplars of a fashionable new Italian genre, but in the end far less important to their creator than the wordly advancement their performances brought with it. Richly documented, this whole extraordinary chronicle of the eunuch as self-made man is one of the most absorbing studies in its field to have appeared in recent years.' The Times Literary Supplement

This book explores the fascinating life of the most documented musician of the seventeenth century. Born in 1626 into a bourgeois family in Pistoia, Italy, Atto Melani was castrated to preserve his singing voice and soon rose to both artistic and social prominence. His extant letters not only depict the musical activities of several European centers, they reveal the real-life context of music and the musician: how a singer related to patrons and colleagues, what he thought about his profession, and the role music played in his life. Whether Atto was singing, spying, having sex, composing, or even rejecting his art, his life illustrates how music-making was always also a negotiation for power. Providing a rare glimpse of the social and political contexts of seventeenth-century music, Roger Freitas sheds light on the mechanisms that generated meaning for music, clarifying what music at this time actually was.

Introduction
1. Creating a castrato
2. The politics of patronage: 1638–53
3. In pursuit of prestige: 1653–5
4. The sexuality of the castrato
5. Disgrace and transformation: 1656–71
6. Atto Melani and the cantata
7. Completing the portrait: 1671–1714
Appendices: A. The letters of Atto Melani
B. Letters addressed to or concerning Atto Melani
C. Satires: Sopra Atto Melani musico and Al Signor Atto Melani
D. Excerpt from the Receuil des défenses of Nicolas Fouquet
E. Biographical sketch from Tommaso Trenta's Memorie
F. The cantata texts of Atto Melani, with analyses and translations
G. The Wills: For Italy
For France
H. The cabinet in the 'Salotto dell'Abbate Melani', from the inventory of 1782.

Subject Areas: Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Music [AV]