The Hustler
A boy-man leans against the brick,
one knee bent, one hand on a hip,
offering youth for coin of the realm.
His eyes are green as ocean swells.
I yearn to plumb their mysteries.
He searches my face to see what I want.
I shake my head. I will not pay
for grappled sex in a bathroom tiled
with puddled semen and weary lust.
He shrugs. His eyes glaze with boredom.
He turns to search the passing crowd.
I leave him there. I will not watch
some casual trick buy time with those eyes
not caring what self may swim in their deeps.
Marcantonio Pasqualini Crowned by Apollo -- Andrea Sacchi
A boy-man leans against the brick,
one knee bent, one hand on a hip,
offering youth for coin of the realm.
His eyes are green as ocean swells.
I yearn to plumb their mysteries.
He searches my face to see what I want.
I shake my head. I will not pay
for grappled sex in a bathroom tiled
with puddled semen and weary lust.
He shrugs. His eyes glaze with boredom.
He turns to search the passing crowd.
I leave him there. I will not watch
some casual trick buy time with those eyes
not caring what self may swim in their deeps.
Marcantonio Pasqualini Crowned by Apollo -- Andrea Sacchi
Castrati were created by castrating boys before puberty to retain their high vocal range since the process prevented the larynx from reaching maturity. Their lack of testosterone also led to unusually long ribs, giving them enhanced lung-power and breath capacity, and their small vocal cords gave their voices more flexibility than adult females. The Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia (Sistine Choir) contained castrati as early as 1558, and Sixtus V's 1589 reorganization of the choir specifically included them. By 1680 they had supplanted male voices in lead roles and retained their position as primo uomo for about a century. In the 1720s and 1730s upwards of 4,000 boys were castrated annually in the service of art. “Evviva il coltello!” (“Long live the knife!”) was a popular cheer among opera aficionados. Marc'Antonio Pasqualini was a famous castrato who performed under the stage name "Malagigi," the wizard who gave Orlando his indestructible sword Durendal. He joined the papal choir in 1630, at 16, and, due to the patronage of the Barberini family, starred in many operas produced at the Palazzo Barberini and Teatro delle Quattro Fontane (Theater of the Four Fountains); the Teatro opened in 1652 with an opera, the libretto of which was written by Giulio Rospigliosi, a close ally of the Barberini who himself became pope Clemens IX in 1667. (Pasqualini also composed more than 250 arias and cantatas.) Pasqualini had an ongoing homosexual relationship with cardinal Antonio Barberini and lived in his palace (as did the painter Andrea Sacchi). Barberini's uncle Maffeo became pope Urbanus VIII on 6 August 1623, the day after Antonio's 16th birthday, and immediately made Antonio's brother Francesco a cardinal, his younger brother Antonio Marcello Barberini a cardinal in 1624, and Antonio himself a cardinal in 1627, less than a month after his 20th birthday. During Urbanus' 21-year pontificate, Antonio amassed more than 63 million scudi in personal wealth. He was a noted art collector, with many works by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio -- he died when Antonio Barberini was only 3 years old, but Urbanus purchased a number of works directly from the artist which Antonio inherited. However, Sacchi deplored the artistic depiction of low or genre subjects and themes that were championed by the Caravaggisti (the followers of Caravaggio) and insisted that high art should focus on Biblical, mythological, classical, or other exalted themes.
ReplyDeleteSacchi portrayed the well-dressed castrato on the left, a man whose testicles had been sacrificed to the glory of God. He placed a naked Apollo, the god of prophecy and the arts, in the center, representing Barberini, who commissioned the painting. At the right he put Marsyas, a satyr who invented augury and challenged divine Apollo to a musical contest and was then flayed alive for his effrontery and his skin was nailed to a tree. He was the opposite in every way to Pasqualini: like Apollo he was naked while the castrato was elaborately clothed; he had red skin and a wild, angry expression, while Pasqualini had a peach complexion and perfect composure. Marsyas possessed a rustic Italian bagpipe called a zampogna, while the opera singer played a sort of clavichord, basically an upright lyre (Apollo’s invention), which was decorated with the figure of Daphne turning into a tree to avoid being raped by Apollo. in addition, a statue of the satyr in the Roman Forum had been associated with political demonstrations by the plebs (commoners), while Malagigi embodied aristocratic art. Marsyas thus represented the Caravaggisti, and Pasqualini the ordered, classical tradition. Apollo crowned the latter with a laurel wreath, while the former was a bound captive.