Ceci Drops the [Castrati] Bomb! Cecilia Bartoli's New CD to Unearth the Baroque Splendor of Castrati

(Photo: Decca/Uli Weber)

Her voice might or might not heal the sick, as other, minor singers like to unironically think of themselves, but the true miracle of Cecilia Bartoli is that for all her fame and power in this business, she's still investing months and months and work to personally research lost arias, forgotten scores, underrated composers. She could afford sleepwalking through the same four or five barnburners, content to do the occasional recital with the mon$ter fee and then go shoe-shopping at Louboutin, instead she studies, and works hard.

That's one of the reasons -- some of the other reasons being her magic coloratura, her charisma, her stage presence, her way of waving happily to the crowd after each performance, her amazing hair, her bewbs -- that her dedicated fan-core waits for her new CDs with throbbing anticipation. Cecilia Bartoli will drop a new CD this Fall, dedicated to the fascinating legacy of castrati. Titled "Sacrificium", it drops on October 13, 2009 in the USA (while it launches roughly a month earlier in Europe Internationally on October 2 because we're cooler like that).

The track list collects arias of the Baroque masters from (Opera Chic's Italian idol) Caldara to Giacomello, Araia to Porpora -- all works sung by noted castrati of the time -- and is led by Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico for Decca.

The CD will be given the expected Ceci thoroughness, and will tout a 100-page booklet all about castrati (insert joke about editorial cuts here).

Complete tracklist after the jump...

Disc I

1. Come Nave in mezzo all'onde
2. Profezie, di me diceste
3. Cadrò, ma qual si mira
4. Parto to lascio, o cara
5. Usignuolo sventurato
6. Misero pargoletto
7. In braccio a mille furie
8. Qual farfalla
9. Nobil onda
10. Deh, tu bel Dio d'amore...Ov'è il mio ben
11. Chi temea Giove regnante
12. Quel buon pastor son io

Disc II

1. Son qual nave
2. Ombra mai fu
3. Sposa, non mi conosci

Comments

[Willy]

Preordered!!!! And waiting for the concert listings!!!!

[Antony Thompson]

ceci looks sexy

[Purity]

Oh god you just made me so happy... Thanks so much for the news, and the photo! Roll on September.

[Furst]

We cannot help but cheer Ceci's choice of repertoire which is best both for her and for us. OC says she could slide by with a menu of warhorses and a few recitals but it seems to us that doing so would make her much less distinctive and prove much less remunarative. Surely even the highest opera fees can't match what she gets for the numerous recitals and concerts of her unique repertoire and surely her CD sales would drop substantially.

Further, we must confess that while we have always greatly appreciated her work in the standard repertoire (Rosina, Angelina, Despina, Susanna - at he Met, Elvira on DVD) we have never felt any great enthusiasm for it. Certainly there is no question of vocal beauty, superb technique and considered, forceful interpretation, but even in the presence of these we would find it difficult to place her among our 3 favorite interpreters of any of these roles, and (in the case of Elvira) even in the top 6 or 7.* Contrastingly, the uniqueness of her repertoire, the enormous and multiple talents she brings to it and the absence of comparison make our rare opportunities to hear her genuinely treasured occasions for which we unhesitatingly pay the obscene fees (more for La Ceci than BRSO in LvB 9 with 4 eminent soloists) and have yet to regret a penny.

* Obviously we would go to considerable lengths to hear her in any of these if it were at all feasible to do so. When we speak of enthusiasm we mean to say that we would not wish to hear her in any of these a dozen times or more and then regret not having had the opportunity to do so more often (e.g. Garanca Cherubino, Rosina - probably most anything she would sing, Frittoli Fiordiligi, etc...)

[Barbara]

Nice picture. I have a ticket for the concert already.

[alejandra]

I am counting the days for this release... Cecilia rules!!!!!!!

[Constantine A. Papas]

Bravo Cecilia! Countertenors- falsetto head voice, tedious, monochromatic timbre- do not do justice to casrati. Anatomically and physiologically a mezzo's vocal cords look thinner and shorter in comparison to countertenors'. Castration stops growth of vocal cords, and they remain shorter and thinner, thus keeping their higher pitch. I'll take any exceptional coloratura mezzo, like Horne and Bartoli, in castrato roles.

[A Real Cad]

Please tell me she's naked under that trench coat...

[iphigenie]

Oh My GOD! I can't even wait for September to arrive. It's like waiting for Christmas!

[Dork Chester]

Looks like she's got another hit on her hands. So I'm assuming they'll turn this into another touring phenomenon like they did with the Maria Malibran CD? If so, I'm all for it!

[Rodarte]

Bartoli is untouchable. But we still have to roll our eyes at those vulgar heathens who criticize her for her uncanny vocal techniques, and prefer to worship blindly at the smoke and mirrors pedestal of Gheorghiu. Get a clue, please.

[Sarah]

I first heard something by Caldara on Cecilia's "Opera Proibita" - track 4, IIRC. It is the saddest and yet most beautiful song. Then I found out that OC adores Caldara as well. Brava to Ms. Bartoli for unearthing these wonderful gems (and to OC for championing her and them).

[Parsifal]

Yipi!! Ceci's back!

R u sure about the release dates? Checked a couple of major european sites and both mentioned October as release month, one was October the 2nd and the other October the 12th...

[Chris]

JD FLorez in a recent interview implied that there isn't any money anymore in doing CDs because of You Tube. I can't say if he is right or wrong, but I am a bit surprised at her persistence in doing so.

[-Ed.]

Cecilia seems to have found her place in the world of opera, and what a place it is!

[Casual Opera Fan]

Whether someone likes her, loves her, hates her or is lukewarm about her, really, you just have to respect her.

She has found a niche / venue that works beautifully for her and she pursues it with great committment and dedication, bringing many interesting works to a wide audience. She does a lot of serious work and study on these pieces and in the modern craziness that alone has merit.

I personally happen to like her a lot and look forward to her releases and tours.

Other artists could do this too

[Kieran]

Ah yes, the infamous castrato singers.
If we look at this from a theological or legal viewpoint what do we see?

Well in the legal system of the Catholic Church, Canon Law, the punishment for those involved in the castration of a little boy was excommunication.
I’m not sure “Sacrificium” is the right title for her new album; it should be “Heresy” or “Blasphemy.”

In the Civil Codes of the Italian states of the time, this crime was considered so enormous, the only suitable punishment for those involved in such a crime was death by hanging.

Of course, the Catholic Church didn’t practice what it preached…..neither did the Civil States, incidentally.

[El Cajon]

O.C. and Cecilia... an entry from the celestial blogosphere.

[Dean Smith]

I can only hope that the most famous castrati of all time, Michael Jackson, finally get his recognition.

[David]

Ceci rules, and this for me will likely be her most exciting recital disc yet. I absolutely love this singer, and hope I get to see her in the house live one of these days!

[Irina]

Counting the days to her concert in London, in November...

[Purity]

"JD FLorez in a recent interview implied that there isn't any money anymore in doing CDs because of You Tube."

Oh good god!! When will these people wake up and smell the marketing winds a-shifting! Goodness knows how many times I have been browsing some of the absolutely fantastic Youtube opera channels and found something I would never have found otherwise (let's face it traditional media hardly give 24 hour coverage of the opera world). And immediately headed off to iTunes, Amazon, Arkivmusic et al to buy it. Or hunt down the next performance and buy a ticket. I mean, how many advance orders has this OC post generated? Someone really ought to set up a training course for opera singers - "Welcome to the 21st Century... How Real World Business Works".

I can only conclude that JDF doesn't get out very much! CDs are not *as profitable* because they were obscenely priced and today's opera lovers are too smart to pay through the nose. In the past they could make money shipping low numbers and high profit margins. Now to do that you have to be someone (like Cecilia Bartoli) who works like hell to bring us interesting, well researched, engaging CDs that reward the listener on many levels. Not churning out yet another "Favourite Arias" with little thought put into the CD as a whole experience. And there are people who can make a nice living (perhaps not the stupid wealth that some are used too...) out of less high volume stuff by tapping into the fan networks more effectively. Youtube lets the opera lover with money find and buy stuff they never would have known about. And keeps the opera lover on a tight budget 'in the gang' until their fortunes permit them to become enthusiastic purchasers again.

People should be figuring out how to support these people (really just consider the amount of time it takes to create a good Youtube channel, its crazy - these people are the Peace Corps volunteers of the opera world). The recording companies and marketing people in the opera world are the main culprits though, stubbornly refusing to wake up to the new (media) realities. But as Bartoli shows - hard work, thought, talent and good marketing will still turn over a hefty profit... She has a great website, fan email-list, even txt messaging! This is a marketing team that knows how to hawk talent, combined with talent that knows how to delight and intrigue and enthuse her audience. Sure fire winner...

[The Empress]

I worked on "Sacrificium", and I have to say it is... *drum roll* absolutely excellent. And not just because I'm biased towards the record label, but because the sheer amount of hard work and research that Bartoli puts into every one of her CDs is insanely diligent. She deserves every single one of the awards that this release will surely garner.

[Linda Smith]

Each singer has his or her own niche. It is very nice that Bartoli has dedicated herself to "forgotten" composers and is bringing them to the public's attention. This should not mean, however, that every singer should be doing this. A great Puccini singer should be singing Puccini (and some other suitable parts). From what I've observed, that is exactly what Gheorghiu is doing. (She also has a way with Romanian folk songs:)

[Furst]

@Linda Smith

Precisely. Indeed, some singers branch out too much and set aside roles for which they are absolutely perfect and leave us with, very often, inferior alternatives. We understand considerations of age and vocal development but these are by no means present in all cases to which we allude.