was something of a relief to Monteverdi, who had been forced to overcome a crisis – a shortage of castrati (male sopranos) in Mantua. Monteverdi had to recruit a castrato from Pisa, but he intensified the crisis by arriving late. The composer had to give him a crash course to enable him to memorize words and music in record ...
et Euridice, adding new arias and ballet numbers for dance-mad Paris, but diffusing the dramatic force of the original. In Vienna the hero had been sung by the castrato Gaetano Guadagni. The French deemed castrati an offence against nature, and Gluck duly reworked the role for the celebrated haute-contre (high tenor) Joseph Legros. Composed: 1762; revised 1774 Premiered: ...
featuring Handel’s typically robust yet melodic use of horns, in which the deluded warrior compares himself to Hercules. This was the last role Handel ever composed for his star castrato Senesino, and it is the most astonishing and innovative. Handel’s music for Angelica, the shepherdess Dorinda and the Prince Medoro is also superb, and their trio ‘Consolati ...
operas feature protagonists who use sorcery to manipulate love, usually for evil ends. Most common among these operas is the prima-donna sorceress figure, who attempts to compel a castrato hero away from his true love and military duty. The wicked woman’s plans to entice the hero are always doomed to failure: in these operas, the hero’s eventual disillusionment ...
1690–1756, Italian The Italian mezzo-soprano castrato Antonio Maria Bernacchi earned fame throughout Europe for his impressive technical virtuosity. Bernacchi performed in operas by most of the important composers of his time, including Handel. In 1716 and 1717, Bernacchi sang at the Haymarket, London, in parts previously sung by women, including Goffredo in Handel’s Rinaldo. However ...
1705–82, Italian Carlo Broschi, known as ‘Farinelli’, studied with Porpora, and made his stage debut as a castrato in Naples when he was only 15 years old. By 1723, he was taking lead roles in his teacher’s operas. Farinelli was remarkably successful across Europe, and in 1734 he reunited with Porpora to work in London for ...
1725–92, Italian The castrato Gaetano Guadagni first sang as a contralto, but later retrained as a soprano. Although he had no early training, Handel hired him to sing in his oratorios Messiah and Samson. In 1754–55, Guadagni made up for his lack of training by studying with Gioacchino Gizziello (1714–61) in Lisbon and with the English actor ...
1740–1821, Italian The Italian soprano castrato Gasparo Pacchierotti made his debut in Venice in 1766 in Achille in Sciro by Gassmann. He had joined the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo the previous year and after another six years he moved to the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Pacchierotti made his first appearance at the King’s Theatre, London in 1778, ...
studied in Naples with teachers including Francesco Durante (1684–1755) and Vinci, but his first opera, La Salustia (1732), was a failure due to the death of the star castrato Nicolini. Undeterred, Pergolesi produced his first comic opera Lo frate ’nnamorato (‘The Brother in Love’, 1732), which was enthusiastically received at Naples. Pergolesi specialized in comic works, although ...
1780–1861, Italian Giovanni Battista Velluti, the Italian soprano castrato, created Rossini’s only castrato role, as Arsace in his Aureliano in Palmira (1813), but infuriated the composer with his pretentious and showy ornamentation. After that Rossini wrote his own ornamentation. Velluti also created the role of Armando in Meyerbeer’s Crociato in Egitto (‘The Crusader in Egypt’, 1824); Meyerbeer ...
1653–97, Italian Castrato Siface made his singing debut in Rome in 1672. He enjoyed considerable early success in Italy and created a sensation in Venice as Syphax in Cavalli’s Sciopine affricano (‘Scipio Africanus’, 1685). Siface became so identified with the part that ‘Syphax’ became his nickname. Siface was taken up by many important personalities, including ex-Queen Christina of Sweden ...
was only 10 years old when she made her debut as Cupid in Le ali d’amore by Venanzio Rauzzini (1746–1810). Five years later, in Florence, Nancy outmatched the castrato soprano Luigi Marchesi (1755–1829). Marchesi was one of the greatest contemporary castrati, with a sizeable ego to match, and Storace had to go. In 1783, Storace’s gift ...
A castrato was a male singer whose boyish singing voice was preserved by castrating him before his voice changed during puberty. The castrato had an important part to play in the performance of opera, since women were barred from performing on stage and the male soprano or contralto was employed instead. If anything, a castrato’s voice was the more ...
developed into an independent entertainment, opéra-ballet, with its own stars. Italian Star System The star system dominated opera first in Italy. Throughout the eighteenth century, the Italian castrato (a male singer whose testes had been removed during boyhood, enabling him to continue singing at soprano, mezzo-soprano or alto pitch thereafter) reigned supreme in many European opera ...
could meet publicly or, indeed, illicitly, and it is easy to underestimate the fascination audiences had with discussing the merits and foibles of the most famous singers. Castrato Status In addition to the usual gossip and adulation that surrounded the prima donna, audiences were equally passionate about the leading man, the primo uomo. He was almost ...
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