Who were the first musical celebrities of the Baroque era?
Baroque opera stars known as castrati earned salaries comparable to modern-day CEOs.
To preserve their high-pitched voices, these male singers were castrated before puberty. This prevented their vocal cords from thickening, giving them a soprano's range with a man's lung power. The most famous castrato, Farinelli, became an international superstar in the 1700s and earned the equivalent of millions of dollars today. King Philip V of Spain even hired him to treat his chronic depression through nightly private performances.
Nerd Mode
The castrati were a phenomenon of the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly in Italy, where an estimated 4,000 boys were castrated annually at the height of the practice. By preventing the surge of testosterone during puberty, the larynx did not descend and the vocal cords remained short and flexible. This allowed the singers to maintain a prepubescent vocal range while their adult lungs and rib cages developed fully, providing extraordinary breath control and power.Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli (1705–1782), was the most celebrated of these performers. During his career, he commanded fees that would exceed $5 million annually in modern currency. His influence was so great that in 1737, Queen Elisabetta Farnese invited him to the Spanish court. For the next two decades, he sang the same four songs every night for King Philip V to alleviate the monarch's severe melancholia.The practice was driven by the Catholic Church's ban on women singing in church choirs and on stage in certain regions. This created a massive market for high-voiced male singers in both sacred music and opera seria. The last known castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, died in 1922 and was the only one ever recorded. His 1902 and 1904 recordings for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company provide the only surviving evidence of this unique vocal timbre.
Verified Fact
FP-0004788 · Feb 19, 2026