Portrait of a castrato

" ... Explores the fascinating life of the most documented musician of the seventeenth century. Born in 1626 into a bourgeois family in Pistoia, Italy, Atto Melani was castrated to preserve his singing voice and soon rose to both artistic and social prominence. His extant letters not only depict the musical activities of several European centers, they reveal the real-life context of music and the musician : how a singer related to patrons and colleagues, what he thought about his profession, and the role music played in his life"--P. [i].