50 Moments that Rocked the Classical Music World

You might well wonder why on earth the Church, in particular, needed castrati even in the 16th century. The answer to this question is simple: women were banned from taking part in any sacred service, so choirs had to be exclusively male. Consequently, the feminine qualities of the castrato voice were hugely appealing, given that they mimicked a woman’s voice and tone without actually requiring the presence of a female in the choral ranks. Although the practice of castration did thankfully start to die away during the 18th century, castrati still formed a part of the Sistine Chapel choir as recently as 1903.

The only castrato ever to have been recorded was Alessandro Moreschi – an Italian, unsurprisingly, who lived until 1922 and who was still singing publicly at the start of the 20th century. This youthful-looking man was known for being able to perform Caccini’s Ave Maria with beautiful purity, at the age of 55.

Hildegard continued to challenge authority. When she moved with eighteen fellow nuns to form a community in Rupertsberg in 1150, she pushed for nuns and monks to receive equal dowries (at that time, the monks were better remunerated). She also encouraged the nuns to dress differently: wearing their hair unbound, for example, adorned with beautiful tiaras. All this went hand in hand with her spirituality: Hildegard believed such attire brought glory to God because it emphasised the beauty of femininity.

for, in 1223, Francis of Assisi composed the song ‘Psalmus in Nativitate’. Containing accessible music and Latin words, this was probably the first dedicated Christmas carol.

In 1995, Neanderthal skeletons were discovered at Divje Babe in Slovenia. Believe it or not, the leg bone of a young cave bear provided one of the most fascinating insights into the importance of music in the lives of our ancestors. The bone in question had clearly been broken at both ends and contained a series of adjacent separate holes. In other words, it could well have been a very early form of flute.