Gaetano Majorano (12 April 1710 – 31 January 1783) was an Italian castrato and opera singer, who took his stage name Caffarelli from Domenico Caffaro, his patron. Like Farinelli, Caffarelli was a student of Nicola Porpora.
Caffarelli was born in Bitonto. He was one of the rare documented cases of a child so enamoured of singing that he asked to be castrated. When aged ten, he was given the income from two vineyards owned by his grandmother, so th...
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Gaetano Majorano (12 April 1710 – 31 January 1783) was an Italian castrato and opera singer, who took his stage name Caffarelli from Domenico Caffaro, his patron. Like Farinelli, Caffarelli was a student of Nicola Porpora.
Caffarelli was born in Bitonto. He was one of the rare documented cases of a child so enamoured of singing that he asked to be castrated. When aged ten, he was given the income from two vineyards owned by his grandmother, so that he could study grammar and, especially, music: "to which he is said to have a great inclination, desiring to have himself castrated and become an eunuch". He became the favourite pupil of his master Porpora, of whom it is said that, having kept the young Caffarelli working from one sheet of exercises for six years, he eventually declared: "Go, my son: I have no more to teach you. You are the greatest singer in Europe".
In 1726 he made his debut at Rome in Domenico Sarro's Valdemaro, singing in a female role (as did many castrati at the...
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