Angelo wakes up in a nightmare. It looked like his dream had come true.
Even though he is born as a tanner's son, he is chosen to follow vocal
training at the Conservatory in Florence. What he did not know was that
he would be emasculated. The setting is Italy, around 1700, a time when
the well-off in society bathed in luxury, immersed in gold brocade and
burgundy silk, luxuriating in sumptuous meals, and great music. These
are the times when a beautiful boy's voice is deemed invaluable and
people went as far as they could to make sure it stayed that way. This
is the era of the castrati. Castration is irreversible. His voice will
never change. He will never have children. He will never get married.
But Angelo grows into a young man with needs and desires as every other.
He knows that he is leading the life of the privileged. He also knows
that he is worth very much to the conservatory because he is the best
singer they have. Yet this the life he will choose to lead forever?There
seems a way out when Prince Ferdinando de' Medici notices him. Angelo is
invited to the court of the prince, where the composer Scarlatti and the
inventor of the pianoforte, Christofori, also reside. In the long
weekend that Angelo spends with them, a door to a whole new life opens:
a life of wealth, beautiful music and - of course - attractive, smart
and funny Rosa, Scarlatti's daughter. Yet, Angelo realizes that if he
chooses to live that life, he will have to turn himself over, heart and
soul, to the whims of Prince Ferdinando. Will that be worth it if he can
save his sister from poverty that way? If he will be able to see Rosa on
a daily basis? Angelo has to make an impossible choice.
