Festivities in Naples. Theater, music and castrates in the 18th century

The book is dedicated to the everyday life and holidays of the musical life of Naples in that incomparable century when the centers of culture, the greatest castrates and the only one of its kind, King Karl Bourbon provided this city with unprecedented greatness.
The study covers the period from 1708 to 1768 - the time of sunset of Baroque, when the vocal art of castrates, the masterpiece of the musical culture of Italy, reaches the climax in order to almost completely disappear by the end of the century. This is the time of Pergolets and Porpora, the castrates of Farinelli and Kaffarelli, the highest take -off of the art of the opera Seria and Buffa.
Patrick Barbier, based on numerous sources, analyzes in detail the connection of music with public life, the royal court, the tribal nobility, the church and the state