As a result, themechanism of singing remains the same as in boyhood. He notes further: “Although the voice of the castrato had a high pitch, the quality was of a characteristic type and did not necessarily conform closely to that of a boy. The rest of the body apart from the larynx shows a greater develop- ment in eunuchs than in normal men. The capacity of the lungs and the force of expiration are equal to, if not greater than, that of a mature man, so that the power of the voice of the castrato was very great.”'' The stringent and taxing musical training to which castrati were sub- jected undoubtedly was a major contributing factor to the quality and nature of their singing. Because the castrato did not undergo the vocal breakdown that normal males do at puberty (although allegedly there was some change), their training was not interrupted in adolescence.Moreover, the training of a castrato as a boy was undertaken with the intention of the subject's being turned into a starring singer.