Music and Time Annotation << Back Farinelli’s Art: On the Role of Castratos In the Italian Opera of the 18th Century E. Sbytova The paper deals with an outstanding Italian castrato singer Carlo Broschi named Farinelli and bel canto vocal style. The Italian vocal art underwent a very thorough change at the turn of 18th–19th centuries with the result that bel canto could be divided into two periods: earlier and later. The castratos played an important role in this evolution. Farinelli was the most celebrated among them. He became a master of the belcanto style because of his phenomenal vocal workmanship. Keywords: Farinelli, C. Broschi, Italian opera Contacts: E-mail: pastoral2007@mail.ru Pp. 58-62.