Castrate Farinelli Biography

Duration min. Genre: Musical drama Production: France - Belgium - Italy - Germany year of release: a film of summer prescription, which received in G. Why do I remember it today? Is he so undoubtedly good? Good, of course, but not indisputable. It is dramatically inferior to the "weary sun" unconditionally. It is equally unconditionally inferior to the picture of Mikhalkov in terms of acting.

And even more - like a biographical musical drama, like a high movie - he loses to the "Amadeus" Milos Forman. Nevertheless, I think that over this tape Gerard Corbieo is not powerful. Why-I’ll try to explain here, but first you should tell the reader about what the Castrates of the Baroque era represented, as well as briefly recall the plot of the film. Actually, the term “Belcanto” - “excellent singing” - apparently, then arose, since he was primarily related to the unusually strong and beautiful voices of castrates, other of which, like Farinelli, easily covered three and a half octaves.

The widespread and completely ignorant idea of ​​castrates as eunuchs does not correspond to the truth: castrates, unless, of course, the operation to cut the seed rope turned out to be successful, retained the ability to normal sexual relations, but, of course, could not have children. Any such operation was to formally justify the boy’s serious illness or injury. The singers who retained the voiced high voices willingly took to the service of church chapels, later in opera theaters.

Often the angelic voices of castrates were used both there and there at the same time. Castrates performed in the theater with very high stature and often obesity, both female parties were performed because women were not allowed to stage for a long time, and masculine specially composed for them. Opera is generally an extremely conditional form of art, especially since he was conditional during the Castrates.

However, the opera lovers were not at all embarrassed by the whirling busty healthy people who, for example, performing the party of Alexander the Great, as they are not embarrassing them today, the small pot-bellied tenora, swearing in passionate love to the huge carriers of the Mezzo-soprano, which these "lovers" do not reach the shoulder. It's not about growth and age, the point is in the voice.

And starting from the end of the 18th century, also in the composer, in the performance itself, which were not so important during the Castrates. The fact is that the most striking of these artists considered themselves full co -authors, or even the main people in the opera. Often, during the performance of some aria, the orchestra generally fell silent for long, long minutes, and the prime minister spilled a nightingale without any accompaniment.

And the audience faded, the ladies fainted, the men lost wigs-because it was the singer-Castrat, the bearer of the male soprano or high Alta, was their idol, on him, and not for the opera itself, in general, and burst into the theater. One of the best, if not the best of all the famous castrates was Carlo's throws -, nicknamed Farinelli, who lived a long and for the most part quite prosperous life, not only because he had divine beauty and strength in a voice that was the shore, but also because, unlike others, he was a very smart person who knew how to fight his own passions.

Farinelli made a magnificent artistic career, but also a political career of a political one. For decades, he, leaving the scene on the take -off of creative opportunities, sang for one listener - the Spanish king Philip V, gradually pushing other courtiers in his not entirely healthy mind. With the death of the king, the singer did not lose the location of the heirs, under Ferdinanda VI rose to the minister and only when Charles III ascended the throne, left Spain and returned to his homeland, where he lived until a very old age in full pleasure, only for his own pleasure giving the lessons to young talents.

By that time, however, the demand for castrates had come to naught, and the opera itself has already gained other, familiar features. The last singer-cabin of Alessandro Moreski passed away in the early xg. More detailed information about the art of Farinelli and other castrates can be obtained from the book of the modern French art critic Patrick Barbier "History of Kazastrates", which in the Russian publishing house Ivan Limbach this year, see the named study, does not give detailed biographies of opera stars, therefore it is difficult to judge how far from the historical truth is the audience of the Corbieu brothers in their own in their own film.

I have no doubt, however, that the entourage of the era is shown quite truthfully. In general, the work of the artist, costume, make -up artist, operator is performed extremely carefully and unconditionally talented. And in musically, the film is simply magnificent. Not to mention the stunning harmony of Handel and Pergolets, to hear the much less famous Riccardo throws - in itself, as the classic said, the name of the heart.What can we say about the nightingale of the “Farinelli voice”, designed by computer combination of the famous soprano of the Eva Godlevskaya and counter-tenor Derek Lee Ragin!

.. I don’t think that cinema will dare to repeat a similar experiment in the foreseeable time. But what about the film actually, what does he talk about? The film tells a somewhat melodramatic story of two inseparable brothers: a Castratus singer and a composer, one of which cannot forgive another of his ugliness, while the second envies the glory of the first.

This friendship-loving, this is a strange, painful, almost Siamese fate, when not only labor and glory, but even a meeting with the same women, the brothers have to divide into two, this fate that does not allow two close people, two artists endowed, in essence, unequal and even polar talent, to break away from each other. "Mozart and Salieri", where each of the heroes and Mozart and Salieri.

Moreover, in the history of the friendship of the brothers, the brothers, the throws is wedging the genuine drama giving the picture the story of their first visibility of the victorious, but, in fact, originally doomed to defeat the struggle for championship with Handel. I don’t know what the real relations of Handel and the brothers were shots if such a relationship was at all, but I did not meet any serious confrontation between the great composer with castrates in the musical press.

Most likely, this is a successful, giving the film an acute conflict, an invention of the director and screenwriter, quite, however, justified and historically, if we recall the main trends in the development of European opera and indeed musical art of the second half of the 18th century. The main technique used by storytellers is a retrospective. The whole story is the memoirs of Farinelli, who finally won himself and broke with his brother after the singer accidentally found out that he, the older brother of Riccardo, who composes the opera from his youth, gave the younger, Carlo, to be preserved, in order to preserve his marvelous boyish voice for his own future fame.

And he, Farinelli, believed for so many years Bratnin inventions that he took such a step, saving him, who had fallen from a horse, life!

Human memories are usually intermittent, memory resurrects not so much a consistent story as the most vivid images or episodes. So the film of the Korbyo brothers is built. Moreover, in accordance with how human memory works, the memories are not replaced sequentially, but as if kaleidoscopically, showing us either victory, then the defeat of heroes, then love dates, then pictures from childhood.

However, this kaleidoscopicity is invariably subordinated to the internal logic of development, and therefore it is not difficult for the viewer to monitor the action. All of the above refers to the positive qualities of the picture. What are its shortcomings? This, in my opinion, is, first of all, not too convincing the game of actors. If Enriko Labo, who plays the role of Riccardo, at least understands that he plays a sort of tiny Salieri, besides Salieri, who is more likely loving his Mozart, taking care of him than his sincere bewilderment, his human pain, when his brother diverges with him, hence his decisiveness - his determination to redeem his own.

It’s a sin, forever to leave the theater and brother, then Stefano Dionizie Farinelli, it seems, decisively does not know how to relate to his hero, who is he, his character: a hero or a squelch. And if the hero, as on the stage, is why he is so indecisive, even impenetrable in everyday life? Why, and all that we know about Farinelli testifies just about the opposite: it was a very strong, decisive, independent and intelligent person.

Thus, unsatisfactory, in my opinion, with the exception of episodes, where he imitates the singing of Farinelli, the game of Dionizi is a consequence of the shortcomings of the playwright and director who made a bet on the equipment, who considered that the artificial Farinelli's really wonderful voice will make up for what the dramatic character lacks. This did not happen, and it should not have happened.

The role of Handel is better spelled out. And played by nonsense Crabbe as a whole is very good. However, his last appearance in the frame destroyed this favorable impression, unexpectedly lowering his courageous, wise, insightful, knowing the price of the hero in some white clown, who lost consciousness from the particularly colorful Farinelli's firing, which, I recall, was a great, but the only great singer-custrus.

And this is the largest and most influential composer Gandel, who has seen in his lifetime not the same species! .. More about the shortcomings. The film, in my opinion, is too much not too dramaticly justified eroticism. The feeling is that the authors were afraid of the reaction of the viewer, who was not used to listening to classical music for two hours, and decided to compensate him with inconvenience at the expense of bed scenes.The latter may not spoil the general impression, but with their abundance, they are somewhat bored with another spectator group - the one that the almost three -hour listening to Mozart’s music, which sounds in the picture of the formamine, was not at all averted, which the authors of the “pharynia” could not be equal in brackets that in his next film dedicated to the fate of the French composer Jean -Batter Lully, “King Dancing ", the Corbieo brothers did not repeat this mistake.

In conclusion, I will explain how I promised, why I think that the time over the film "Farinelli-Castratus" is not powerful. Because, despite the noted shortcomings, in 12 years the picture did not grow old. I reviewed it under the impression of the study read in the summer of P. in order to compare whether to change anything in the general impression of new knowledge about the cultural phenomenon gleaned from the book.

So, they change little, you forget about them almost immediately - and watch the film with the same joy as for the first time. How many films can withstand such a test? ..