Giovanni Battista Rubini 17941854 was a legendary tenor and the first 19thcentury noncastrati male singer to become an international star of opera. The previous two centuries had been the era of the castrati with tenors and basses relegated to character and supporting roles in the operas of their time. Rubini stood apart because he not only matched the castrati in coloratura and pathos but he also had an extraordinarily high voice. With Rubiniamprsquos rise and in his wake several tenors came to sing roles written specifically for them by Rossini Bellini Donizetti and many other lesserknown bel canto composers. Signaling the end of the dominance of castrati on stage this period would last some 40 years until the advent of Grand Opera Wagner and Verdi and the appearance of the first socalled High C from the chest by GilbertLouis Duprez in 1837. Since then the accepted tenor sound has followed the tradition epitomized by Enrico Caruso and in our own era Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.