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hymn to the last castrato

ave maria
gratia plena

it is rather curious, no?
that we humans are never satisfied with what we have
but instead we must
make
it
better
than god already did

artificially

through our own devices
we seem to seek out that which is already good and say
ah
but i could make it so much better

dominus tecum
et benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, jesus

this desire in and of itself seems to stem from our desire to be
divine
it began long ago
with the tower of babel
and it didn’t end there
it couldn’t

how could it?

sancta maria
sancta maria, maria
ora pro nobis
nobis peccatoribus
nunc et in hora
hora mortis nostrae

through our devices we desire to be divine
and have a little bit of heaven to ourselves

too bad their heaven was
l’infère du toi

 

though we see what was done to you

as barbaric

and we see it cast away

we fail to see how we want divinity

in our own lifetime

 

and perhaps we never will.

amen
amen

Author notes

ps i hate all poetry because i just wrote this amazing poem that i can never get back because it decided to be a bastard and timeout before i posted it. and its lost somewhere in cyberspace never to be reclaimed.

so my explanation will be much shorter than last time:

today in survey of music lit we were covering the baroque period, and mostly vocal music. and of course, this lead to discussion of the phenomenon of the castrato in the baroque era. then we listened to a recording of the last castrato, alessandro moreschi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Moreschi). it was really quite moving, despite the fact that moreschi was obviously lacking in some serious training on how to better his voice (poor breath support, control, etc.) but his range was overwhelming and his tone for the most part was breathtaking. it was moving.

then we watched a biopic called farinelli (the picture is from that) about one of the most famous castrati in the 18th cent. it was really quite sad. it began with the suicide of one castrato, and then showed the life and struggles of another. the title character has to deal with the fact that he has an amazing voice, but he's also lacking in his own right. its a good movie, and i'd recommend it if you want to see it (but watch out; its adult!)

so basically, my mind has been thinking about this all day. this juxtaposition of something very beautiful and yet unnatural and all wrong. and my heart went out to them. so i was moved to write this poem. i guess its dedicated to moreschi, farinelli, and all the other castrati who suffered their fate.

the ave maria is just from the recording of moreschi we listened to. it kind of seemed fitting to weave the beautiful hymn in and out of a hymn of my own invention.

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Comments

1 - 5 of 5

  • KenjiStar81
    May 9, 2007
    Edit | Reply
    Wow.. This was breathtaking.. I'm in awe and I don't even know what half the words said.. Must go research the words..

    you have stunned me into silence once again..

    PS - I left you another message on your Voice mail thingy at MySpace.. I was laughing to hard at myself I forgot to tell you it was from me..


    • nanashiamai
      May 9, 2007

      Edit | Reply
      well, the latin was a typical latin liturgical song "ave maria" which is just the hail mary in latin (i'm assuming since you were catholic that you know the hail mary prayer). and thank you. ^_^ i was really very much moved by the whole class yesterday, and um...i felt the need to write this.

      i must check out your message!!!

      • KenjiStar81
        May 9, 2007

        Edit | Reply
        lol.. Message still has me laughing..

        Yeah I know the hail mary.. And others.. And wow it is mcuh prettier in latin..


  • sublimewriter
    May 8, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    i was impressed by the billingual poem. when i was reading this, i was thinking about the catholic mass and how people read traditions out loud in latin.

    • nanashiamai
      May 8, 2007
      Edit | Reply
      hey thanks. the middle (which is explained somewhere in that ass of an author note i have) was a song that we heard today sung by the last castrato. so yeah. catholic mass it is, kind of. ^_^ social commentaries yay!

1 - 5 of 5