Music and Sensuality

A Prose

Yukio Mishima(三島 由紀夫 Mishima Yukio)1925–1970 is one of the most famous Japanese authors. I am not a big fan of his, but I accidentally read one of his works; “Music (音楽),” published in 1964. It is a relatively short story compared with his other books, and it’s a kind of entertainment book.

One day, a therapist had a visit from a patient who was a young lady. She said that she could not hear the music. Her ears worked properly, but when the music started, even when it was a radio, she couldn’t hear the music part. As the therapist had had conversations with her, he realised that it was related that she could not feel the sexual orgasm.

In that book, music is an obvious symbol of sexual ecstasy, but the connection between the two of them is not something new.

It seems that people universally have felt sexuality in music in history. I believe that’s why women were not allowed to sing in church in Medieval Europe. Consequently, castrati were born. A castrato (Italian, plural: castrati) is a type of singing voice produced by castration of the singer before puberty.

Since women were not allowed to sing in the church choir, the highest part of the music was sung by a boy soprano (or treble). However, a boys’ high pitched voice changes after puberty, and then castrati appeared.

Because of their castration, they kept their high voice all their lives. They didn’t only sing in the church choir, but also started singing in opera. They attracted lots of audiences with their soprano equivalent pitch extent and the powerful voice generated from adult male bodies.

The existence of castrati was the extension of boy sopranos which came from the movement that tried to keep the holy music from eroticism, if I’m allowed to speak frankly. Ironically, castrati were also popular as secret lovers of aristocratic women because they never made women pregnant.

I used to sing in a choir and I have had a chance to sing a solo-part of an a cappella Mass. “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi” — Lamb of God …it’s a sacred part.

In front of nearly fifty members of my choir mates, the conductor, who was about sixty years man, told me with his gentle voice; “Hana-san, do not be sexy, please. We need a voice like a boy soprano, so, you do not have to be glamorous.” It was a serious session. Nobody laughed. I said, “Yes, sir!” It was not difficult for a twenty-year-old like me not to be sexy.

I believe that all of the creative work must be related to sexuality. That’s why we love art so much and we never stop creating something. People tried to keep music away from sensuality, but is it possible?

To me, it looks like the more they want to avoid sexuality, the more seductive it becomes. Because it is our natural instinct and people love the taboos as well. And furthermore, we all love listening to music, don’t we?

References (English is not available): 三島由紀夫 著『音楽』(Yukio Mishima “Music”) 野村 正人 翻『カストラートの歴史』 — Patrick Barbier “Histoire des castrats”