When modern countertenors began emerging on our stages, some audience members would snigger. But times have changed. Shamistha de Soysa traces the history of the soaring male voice from the 18th-century castrati to a reclaiming of some mezzo-soprano roles today.

A 1723 print featuring legendary castrati Francesco Bernardi, known as Senesino, (left) and Gaetano Berenstadt (right) on either side of Italian soprano Francesca Cuzzoni. Image: Wikimedia Commons

It’s a sound that astonishes and thrills, confuses and mystifies. Centuries old, it is savagely beautiful and sweet in its androgyny. The characters associated with it portray power and passion, seducing with heady coloratura and a dizzying range. It is the voice of the countertenor, the high adult male singing voice which reaches into a falsetto, equivalent to the...