On 23 Jul 2005 at 17:02, Mark D Lew wrote: > On Jul 23, 2005, at 3:14 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > >>> I can't think of any where the castrato is specified for a young > >>> man's role. > >> > >> Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo (original version) is one example, > >> but I think you're on to something. . . . > > > > Idamante is not a teenager. He's a young man, no? In his early 20s? > > Right. A young man. That's what you asked for, I thought.
I thought you were talking about teenagers, like Cherubino. I think the difference is between young man as pre-adult and young man as young adult. The former were never, so far as I know, sung by castrati (at least, by design), because the former would never have been heroic roles (at least in none of the seria conventions I'm aware of). Castrati were rare. They were stars (mostly). I don't think they would have been used in secondary roles of the type you're describing. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
