Many of these poor Castrati were disliked by the masses; they were often taller than most people of the time due to their messed up hormone levels so they stood out wherever they went. People accused them of luring men to homosexuality and others blamed them for being letharios (although modern hormone experts say that any kind of sexual drive is unlikely without your two veg.) The last (known) castrato was Alessandro Moreschi who died in 1922 at the age of 65.

He is the only castrato to have been captured singing solo on a recording device. It’s creepy sounding stuff. Some critics of these things say that his voice is actually a bit crap. Others say that it’s because of his advancing years that the quality of the vocal isn’t the best. I think it sounds like pure sadness *sob*. Remember he is a bloke in his 40’s at this point:

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv-S3uoeTXg’]

So, whatever your current job is, whether you hate it or loathe it; at least you didn’t have to have your lozenge re-calibrated to be considered for the role.