Talk:Alessandro Moreschi

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Contents 1 Big edit 2 Downloading recordings 3 Birthplace 4 Ambiguity

[edit] Big edit

I've done a big edit on this page, expanding it a lot, and adding new photos and other details (I notice that M.'s birthplace only has a cross-reference if spelled as two words, so have reverted to that). Comments, please.--voxclamans 23:43, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Downloading recordings

How do I download his recordings? These must be in the public doomain by now. -- Toytoy 14:13, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

There is a CD available named "Moreschi - The Last Castrato" on Pearl Label ASIN Amazon code B000000WYS. Can also find it on eBay from time to time.

There's a recording on the BBC website, here. 86.136.253.230 03:02, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Birthplace

Despite almost every reference online, it is, and was, Montecompatri (or Monte Compatri: both spellings are correct). See Italian wiki article for the comune of Montecompatri; and I checked it against a good map of Italy just to make sure. 90% of those online refs are parrotings of Wikicrap anyway. Bill 22:07, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ambiguity

It says in the article that Moreschi was a soprano of "extraordinary purity and agility". I could not agree more, but lower down it then says that some critics hold Moreschi(even in his prime) to have been a mediocre singer. It strikes me that we must either have one or the other, but both leaves the reader rather confused.Could someone please clean this up?And if you wish to buy Moreschi's recordings, they are available from HMV or Amazon, and are well worth a listen.

I think he was a rather good singer. How could he otherwise had made a living out of singing? But he sung in a style that people don't like much anymore: it have simply been out of fasion for a very long time. People may not even recognice his singing as that of a professional singer. The poor quality of the recording may also intefer.

Did he realy look that much yonger? Franz Habock might have beed confused by contradicting age signs. Like all castrati Alessandro had a voice similar to that of a pre-pubertal child. Being castraed around the age of seven he probably had no androgenic hair at all. Yet he might have looked like an middle-age man in all other ways. I that case Franz might have underestimated his age with about 15 years. Does anyone have a better photo of him with a statement of when it was taken? The one in the article seem to be a scan of a low quality newspaper photo. All the large dots itches me!

2006-01-29 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.