From the BBC News website:

   Castrato superstar disinterred
   
   The body of the world's most famous castrato singer, Farinelli,
   has been exhumed to try to find out how his virtuoso voice
   developed.
   
   Scholars in the northern Italian city of Bologna will measure
   his skull and bones and perform DNA tests.
   
   Farinelli was among thousands of boys castrated to preserve their
   high-pitched voices as they grew up.

   Castrati singers were popular in Europe from the 16th Century
   until 1870 when the operation was banned.
   
   Scholars will try to find out more about the vocal mechanism
   
   The castrato's voice was prized for its combination of pitch and
   power - an unbroken male voice able to reach the highest notes,
   delivered by the powerful lungs of a fully-grown man.
   
   In 17th and 18th Century Italy, up to 4,000 boys a year, often
   from poor families, were castrated from the age of eight upwards.
   
   They became opera singers and soloists in church choirs and royal
   palaces.
   
   Very few actually went on to achieve success, but those who did
   became the pop stars of their day, and they behaved as such.
   
   Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi in 1705, was the most famous
   castrato of all.
   
   Notoriously temperamental, he was buried in Bologna in 1782
   dressed as a knight from the days of chivalry.
   
   His remains will be examined at Bologna University by scholars
   who will try to find out more about his vocal mechanism, and the
   effects of his intensive musical training schedule on the shape
   of his body.
   
   The team of scientists includes an acoustics expert, who is
   expected to study remains of vocal chords and larynx to discover
   what gave castrati such vocal range and power.
   
   DNA tests will be conducted to try to determine what he ate and
   what diseases he had.
   
   The project has been organised by the Farinelli Study Centre in
   Bologna, a group of scholars hoping to raise awareness of the
   singer's achievements.
   
   Story from BBC NEWS:
   
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/5171892.stm

Following the link also allows one to download a 1902 recording of the
only known castrato who lived late enough to make a record, Alessandro
Moreschi.

Bill H.