#2 Blog Entry

Farinelli

This film illustrates the life of a castrato, a male soprano who gets emasculated as a boy. The film is based on the historical fact. Indeed, there was a legendary Italian soprano castrato, who was had fame across Europe. Even though the setting of the movie is Spain, and there’s almost no historical background within the movie, it still is closely connected to the reality, not just because it is factual, but in the sense that it tries to show the anguish of Farinelli as an artist.

Carlo Broschi, showed his prodigies as a great singer at a very young age and he was taught singing at a very young age. His brother, Riccado, who does not have any of the ingeniousness in music like his brother does, castrates Carlo as a boy upon their father’s death, to preserve his voice into adulthood. To Carlo, he excuses that it was necessitated by Carlo’s fall from a horse, triggered by the death of his father. Like his father’s will, they were always together, performing in various stages. Riccado’s lack of musical abilities and expression are complemented by the singing of Carlo. Soon, they grabbed the attention of the general public.

However, as they got more and more famous, Farinelli found himself not content with the songs of his brothers, composed only to show off the miscellaneous ornamentation he could do. Then, he found the “music” he was pursuing in the works of Handel. He was come across with the score “Lascia ch'io pianga” and sang the song.

This is not the end of the plot, but my focus is this; what exactly was the ideal music he was pursuing? I came upon the thought that he was looking for the kind of music that he could express his thoughts and feelings, and I believe that this was the reason he could not settle with his brother’s music.

As I am not into the art of music, I do not know what it is like to sing with all one’s might. Thus, I had never taken the job singer seriously. Listening to good music meant that it was tuneful; looking through the artistic anguish of Farinelli, I understood that artists seek for the way to express their ideas and feelings better like I study writing to express my ideology and opinion more efficiently. This movie provided me with an excellent chance to reconsider the value of music.