Farinelli Sings a King Back to Life

“Music hath charms,” the saying goes, “to soothe the savage breast.” One famous example is David calming King Saul with his playing. Another is the effect of Farinelli, the celebrated tenor, on Philip V of Spain.

Philip had fallen into a mild kind of madness. He refused to be properly dressed or shaved, and he would not transact affairs of state. He looked unkingly and, worse, was useless in his royal capacity. Remedies and schemes were tried without success.

At last someone suggested music, for the King was unusually susceptible to it. A messenger was sent for Farinelli. The plan was simple: he would sing in a room adjoining the royal apartments. By the end of the second song, the King was visibly moved and ordered that the singer be brought to him. Philip overwhelmed him with compliments and offered to grant whatever he might ask.

Farinelli asked for only this: that the King allow himself to be properly cared for, and that he return to his duties. Philip agreed. Delighted, he engaged the singer to perform four songs every night and paid him the equivalent of £2,000 per year for life.

For ten years Farinelli remained in Philip’s service, singing the same four songs each evening. Under Philip’s successor, Ferdinand VI—who suffered from the same infirmity—Farinelli kept his position, became the King’s favorite, and accumulated power and riches. Under the next monarch, however, he was ordered to leave the kingdom.