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Smooth criminal

by | 10:33 am | Dec 10, 2009

jackson_castrato“Michael Jackson was the true postmodern castrato,” says Cecilia Bartoli. [El País]

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6 Comments

6 comments

  • Gualtier M says:

    How does she know, did she “go there”?!?!?!

    on December 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
  • manou says:

    It seems that she is quoting Muti and says that we now go under the knife for vanity reasons (hence the Jackson quote) and no longer for the sake of art.

    on December 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
    • manou says:

      Quick translation of relevant passage :

      Q. “Where are the castrati of today?

      A. The last one we know of is Moreschi, who lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. There are some recordings on the Internet (Schubert’s Ave Maria). He had a plangent voice, a sad voice. This is now history, but today we do absurd things for the sake of caprice or fashion. Riccardo Muti was once asked about this and he answered that Michael Jackson is nowadays an example of castrato. I believe this, that he was an authentic postmodern castrato. You can see it in his face. The nose he had, the rest…who knows?”

      on December 10, 2009 at 11:28 AM
  • Reggiani says:

    Next, you’ll be telling us that those white kids are not his!!!!

    on December 10, 2009 at 1:08 PM
  • NYCOQ says:

    I get where Muti was going with this thread. MJ certainly was not allowed to behave like a “normal, mature, adult male”. That whole neutered out Peter Pan child-man thing must have been just as psychologically crippling as having ones balls cut off. The self-mulitlation of his face was there for all to see. I mean, my god, the man had 2 diffferent speaking voices – his high puclic falsetto and his “real” voice. You could certainly look at a superstar like MJ and see all of the effed up things in his life and extrapolate that onto a 17th century castrato. it all boiled down to them being incredibly talented freaks. I can only imagine the level of obsession towards their lives. Loof what we do to our modern day celebrities.

    on December 10, 2009 at 6:14 PM
  • Constantine A. Papas says:

    There only one “real” castrato voicewise today: Michael Maniaci. He’s a normally functioning male born with a woman’s vocal cords-short and thin. He did not need castration to arrest the developement of vocal cords.

    on December 10, 2009 at 9:28 PM