Farinelli

Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi was born on 24 January 1705 and took the stage name Farinelli. Trained as a castrato, he developed a soprano range spanning approximately F3 to D6 — nearly three octaves of control that set him apart in an era when such voices commanded operatic stages across Italy and beyond. His technique and power made him not just famous but definitively great: historians still regard him as one of the finest singers opera has ever produced. He also composed and played instruments, though it was the voice that defined him. Farinelli died on 16 September 1782, seventy…