Voice machines : the castrato, the cat piano, and other strange sounds / Bonnie Gordon.
| Author/creator |
Gordon, Bonnie, 1968- author. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | Chicago, IL ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2023. |
| Description | ix, 416 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | Prologue -- Sounds like ... assembling the sound world. Orfobot: automated Orpheus ; The death of a cicada -- Feedback loops: entanglements of voices and instruments. Intermedio: the cat piano ; Organoscope: telescoping sound ; Organs and organs ; Into the garden -- Roman reverb and sea changes. When in Rome: the castrato as a special effect ; On the cusp ; More than one sex -- Out of synch. Time travel/liquid ecstatics ; Cyborg echoes -- Epilogue: cadential hauntings. |
| Abstract | The castrato phenomenon stretched from the late sixteenth century, when castrati first appeared in Italian courts and churches, through the eighteenth century, when they occupied a celebrity status on the operatic stage. Throughout this time, the voice of the castrato--hailed as uniquely strong, flexible and expressive--contributed to a dramatic expansion of the musical vocabulary and to finding new ways to embody the poetic text. For us today, the castrato also highlights the porous relationship of voices and instruments/machines and the inherent materiality of sound. In her revealing study, the author asks what it meant that the early-modern period produced a caste of technologically altered male singers and she uses the castrato as a critical provocation for asking questions about the interrelated histories of music, technology, sound, the limits of the human body, and what counts as human. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| LCCN | 2022039099 |
| ISBN | 9780226825144 hardcover |
| ISBN | 0226825140 hardcover |
| ISBN | electronic book |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Music Stacks | ML1433 .G67 2023 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |