Discord in the Papal Choir: Politics, Sexuality, and Irrationality in 1558

In March 1558, Pope Paul IV ordered his College of Singers to consider two Spanish sopranos, then in Naples. Called to Rome for an audition, they were accepted according to the normal procedure. However, two Italian members aggressively abstained. For this they were severely fined, which they avoided paying through the intervention of their patron, the papal nephew Cardinal Carlo Caraffa.  A year later, Paul IV demanded that the abstainers be dismissed, but their colleagues convinced him to allow them to remain. Three years after that, the most recalcitrant singer resigned from the choir for reasons that defy explanation.

Though minor itself, this curious tempest raises questions of greater import: Given the chronic hostility between the Pope and the Habsburgs, and given the abundance of Italian singers, why would the Pope insist upon Habsburg Spaniards over the objections of the Italians?  Why would the pope micromanage the voice parts within his choir? How easily could his authority, even within his own familia, be thwarted?  Did this incident add to the growing distrust of Paul for Carlo that led to his banishment?  Under the next pope, Pius IV, that nephew was executed.  The sexuality of the rival singers may also have played a role.  One of the Spaniards was likely a castrato.  In fact he was probably the first castrato to join the College of Singers, whose sopranos eventually became all castrati.  One of the Italians was a falsettist, male soprano.  Was the opposition of the Italians rooted in sexual tensions between two different kinds of male identity?  Did this sexual conflict precipitate the inexplicably sudden resignation of the temperamental soprano Niccolò Clinca, called  Il Rosso ("Red"), the chief opponent of the Spaniards?  This paper proposes to explore the many meanings of this story.