Martha Feldman, "Castrato Phantoms: Moreschi, Fellini, and the Sacred Vernacular in Rome" (Zone Books, 2026)

In this episode of New Books in Biography & Memoir, Dr. Miranda Melcher interviews Professor Martha Feldman about her 2026 book, *Castrato Phantoms: Moreschi, Fellini, and the Sacred Vernacular in Rome*. The conversation explores the life and legacy of Alessandro Moreschi, the last known castrato singer, whose voice was preserved in rare early recordings—making him a unique sonic phantom from a vanished world. Feldman traces Moreschi’s journey from a poor village in Lazio to the Sistine Chapel, examining the secretive, church-sanctioned castration practices that enabled his extraordinary voice, while also confronting the paradoxes of his existence: celebrated yet abjected, biologically sterile yet socially reproductive, a relic of the past who lived into the 20th century. The book extends beyond Moreschi’s biography to explore the intergenerational trauma and cultural memory within his family, particularly through his son Giulio and granddaughter Rita Fellini, who was married to a brother of filmmaker Federico Fellini. Feldman uses archival materials, oral histories, film, music, and psychoanalytic theory to argue that the 'phantom' is not just a ghost of sound, but a metaphor for the enduring, unspoken legacies of silence, secrecy, and affect in history. She emphasizes that what is unseen or unspoken—latencies, submergent traces, and emotional residues—can be as meaningful as what is documented. Feldman also reflects on her broader scholarly project, which investigates how voice, memory, and desire shape historical narratives across Italy, France, Greece, and Black American music. She previews her current four-year international project, *Love / Music*, funded by the Neubauer Collegium, which seeks to critically examine the undertheorized relationship between love and music. The episode underscores the power of interdisciplinary, affective history and the profound significance of listening—not just to sound, but to silence, inheritance, and the haunting presence of the past.