Extraordinary Voices. The Legacy of the Italian Castrati
Professor Tiina Rosenberg explores the castrati, the gender-nonconforming vocal tradition that dominated Baroque opera and foreshadowed the celebrity culture of today’s music industry, in a new article.
Italian singer Farinelli, Carlo Broschi, (1705-1782). By Corrado Giaquinto (1703–1766).
Renowned for their extraordinary vocal range, these male singers – whose voices resembled female sopranos or altos – challenged traditional gender norms both physically and artistically. Using Sweden as a case study, the chapter examines the introduction of Italian castrati to the Swedish court by Queen Christina and Queen Lovisa Ulrika in the 17th and 18th centuries. It traces the cultural exchange that shaped Sweden’s national opera tradition and highlights the complex relationship between gender, voice, and cultural transmission. By exploring the castrati’s roles within European performance practices and their impact on Sweden, the chapter delves into the intersections of voice, gender, and opera in early modern Europe.
The text is a chapter of the anthology Stimme – Kritik – Emotion. Festschrift für Doris Kolesch, Neofelis Verlag (2025).
Tiina Rosenberg is Professor Emerita of Theatre and Performance Studies at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics. She conducts research on feminist theatre and theory, performance studies, gender studies, queer studies, and critical theory.
