Caffarelli (castrato)

Gaetano Majorano (12 April 1710 – 31 January 1783) was an Italian castrato and opera singer, who performed under the stage name Caffarelli. Like Farinelli, Caffarelli was a student of Nicola Porpora.

Caffarelli was born Gaetano Carmine Francesco Paolo Majorano to Vito Majorano and Anna Fornella in Bitonto. His early life is uncertain. His stage name, Caffarelli, is said to be taken from an early teacher Caffaro who taught him music in childhood, others say it was taken from a patron, Domenico Caffaro. There is evidence that he personally desired to be castrated. When aged ten, he was given the income from two vineyards owned by his grandmother, according to the legal document, so that he could study grammar and, especially, music: "to which he is said to have a great inclination, desiring to have himself castrated and become an eunuch". He became the pupil of Nicola Porpora. According to legend, Porpora kept the young Caffarelli working from one sheet of exercises for six years, and then eventually declared: "Go, my son: I have no more to teach you. You are the greatest singer in Europe".

In Carnival 1726, aged 15, he made his debut at Rome in Domenico Sarro's Valdemaro, singing the third female role, and listed with the stage name “Caffarellino.” His fame spread rapidly throughout Italy during the 1730s, with performances at Venice, Turin, Milan, Florence, before returning to Rome for a great success in Johann Adolf Hasse's Cajo Fabricio. His time in London was not particularly successful, public memory of Farinelli being too strong, but at the King's Theatre during the 1737–38 season he created roles in Giovanni Battista Pescetti's pasticcio Arsace and Handel's Faramondo, in addition to the title role in Handel's Serse, singing the famous aria "Ombra mai fù".

...
Wikipedia