Tonio Treschi - suddenly, at the verge of manhood, is plunged into a nightmare, trapped in a murderous family plot, drugged, kidnapped, castrated...

Guido Maffeo - too young to consent, too young to fight, is ruthlessly sold to the marestros, and „cut“ at the age of six...

They were castrati! Those male sopranos whose glorius voices brought them adulation throughout Europe...