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Teatro Alibert
The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert (its original name), was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and Via Margutta. In the course of its history it underwent a series of reconstructions and renovations until it was definitively destroyed by a fire in 1863. In their 18th-century heyday, the Teatro delle Dame and its rival, the Teatro Capranica, were the leading opera houses in Rome and saw many world premieres performed by some of the most prominent singers of the time. History The theatre was built by Antonio D'Alibert for the performance of ''opera seria''. It was a project long planned by his father Jacques D'Alibert (1626–1713) who had been the secretary to Queen Christina of Sweden and had managed the Teatro Tordinona. The Teatro Tordinona was Rome's first public theatre but was demolished in 1697 on the orders of Pope Innocent XII who considered public theatres a corrupting influence on the populace. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torlonia
200px, Coat of arms of the House of Torlonia. The House of Torlonia is the name of an Italian princely family from Rome, which acquired a huge fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries through administering the finances of the Vatican. The first influential member of the Torlonia family was Marino Torlonia (Tourlonias; 1725 – 21 March 1785), who rose from humble origins in the Auvergne region of France to become a very rich businessman and banker in Rome. Marino was born with the French name of Marin Torlonias, the son of Antoine Torlonias, a merchant and laborer. Marin's great-uncle was the parish priest of Augerolles, who procured for him a position as aide to an influential abbot. Marin eventually settled in Rome, where he became a cloth merchant and money lender near the Piazza of the Trinità dei Monti. This became the foundation of the family bank established by his son, Giovanni Torlonia. Giovanni, in return for his able administration of the Vatican finances, was cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of the Classical period. Life Piccinni was born in Bari, in the Apulia region. From the age of fourteen, he was educated at the S. Onofrio Conservatory by Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante,. thanks to the intervention of the Bishop of Bari (his father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son following the same career). Piccinni's first opera, ''Le donne dispettose'', was produced in 1755 with the patronage of Prince Vintimille. In 1760 he composed, at Rome, the ''chef d'œuvre'' of his early life, '' La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola'', an ''opera buffa'' with a libretto by Goldoni, which "enjoyed a two-year run in Rome and was played in all the important European capitals. It can prob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Buona Figliuola
''La buona figliuola'' (''The Good-Natured Girl'' or ''The Accomplish'd Maid''), or ''La Cecchina'' (The girl from Cecchina), is an opera buffa in three acts by Niccolò Piccinni. The libretto, by Carlo Goldoni, is based on Samuel Richardson's novel ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded''. This was Piccinni's most successful Italian opera. There was a sequel entitled ''La buona figliuola maritata'' (1761) by the same composer and librettist. ''La buona figliuola supposta vedova'' by Gaetano Latilla followed in 1766. Performance history It was first performed at the Teatro delle Dame, Rome, on 6 February 1760 with an all-male cast. It was given in London at the King's Theatre on 25 November 1766 with Gaetano Guadagni, Savi, Lovattini, Morigi, Quercioli, Piatti, and Michele; and at Covent Garden in English as ''The Accomplish'd Maid'' on 3 December 1766. It was revived as ''La Cecchina'' (with alterations) on 7 February 1928 in Bari (the composer's native city), as part of a celebration of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonardo Vinci
Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on subsequent opera composers such as Johann Adolph Hasse and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was considerable. Life and career He was born at Strongoli and educated at Naples under Gaetano Greco in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. He first became known for his '' opere buffe'' (comic operas) in Neapolitan dialect in 1719; he also composed many ''opere serie'' (dramatic operas). He was received into the Congregation of the Rosary, a lay religious and burial fraternity, at Formiello in 1728. He died in May 1730. Vinci is rumoured to have been poisoned by a jealous husband in the wake of an ill-advised affair, a story which is given by several reliable authorities without evident contradictions. Music Vinci's ''opere buffe,'' of which '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artaserse (Vinci)
''Artaserse'' is an opera (''dramma per musica'') in three acts composed by Leonardo Vinci to an Italian libretto by Metastasio. This was the first of many musical settings of Metastasio's most popular libretto. Vinci and Metastasio were known to have collaborated closely for the world premiere of the opera in Rome. This was the last opera Vinci composed before his death, and also considered to be his masterpiece. It is known among Baroque opera enthusiasts for its florid vocal lines and taxing tessituras. It premiered during the carnival season on 4 February 1730 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome. As women were banned from the opera stage in Rome in the 18th century, all the female roles in the original production were taken up by castrati. However, subsequent 18th-century productions outside Rome included women in the cast.Martha Feldman, ''Opera and Sovereignty'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009, 249. ''Artaserse'' continued to be popular for a while after Vinci's deat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Republic (18th Century)
The Roman Republic () was a sister republic of the First French Republic. It was proclaimed on 15 February 1798 after Louis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had occupied the city of Rome on 10 February. It was led by a Directory of five men and comprised territory conquered from the Papal States. Pope Pius VI was exiled to France and died there in August 1799. The republic immediately took control of the other two former-papal revolutionary administrations, the Tiberina Republic and the Anconine Republic. The Roman Republic proved short-lived, as Neapolitan troops restored the Papal States in October 1799. Annexation of Rome Napoleon's campaign on the Italian peninsula from 1796 to 1797 was one of the reasons for his elevation to supreme commander of the French Army during the Wars of the Republic. After the creation of the First Coalition (Holy Roman Empire, Britain, Prussia, Spain, Naples, etc.) in 1792, Napoleon Bonaparte intended to take the fight to the coalition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luigi Marchesi
Luigi Marchesi (; 8 August 1754 – 14 December 1829) was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century. His singing was praised by the likes of Mozart and Napoleon. Biography Luigi Ludovico Marchesi was born in Milan. He joined the Milan Cathedral choir in 1765 and made his operatic debut in Rome in 1773 at the Teatro delle Dame, cast as a female character, in Marcello da Capua's comic opera ''La contessina''. For several years, Marchesi appeared either in minor roles or minor operatic centers, but he found a valuable ally in the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček after he appeared in the latter's opera '' Ezio'' and oratorio ''Isacco figura del redentore'' in Munich early in the year 1777. Marchesi's singing in both productions was considered to be extraordinary. In a letter written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to his father from Munich on 11 October 1777, it is mentioned that Mysliveče ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Carestini
Giovanni Carestini (13 December 1700 in Filottrano, near Ancona – 1760 in Filottrano) was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johann Adolf Hasse and Christoph Willibald Gluck. Career Giovanni Carestini was born on 13 December 1700 in Filottrano. He was the son of Marco Felice Carestini and Vittoria Costantini. He was baptized two days after his birth by Don Nicola Gentiloni, provost of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Filottrano. In that occasion it was given the name Giovanni Maria Bernardino. The godfathers of his baptism were Felice Lancioni and Olimpia Felice Gentiloni, wife of Alessandro Gentiloni, a noble man of Filottrano. Since he was a child he had an exquisite and sweet voice. Carestini's career began in Milan in 1719, patronised at the time by the Cusani family (hence the alternative name Cusanino). He sang for Alessandro Scarlatti in Rome in 1721. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giacinto Fontana
Domenico Giacinto Fontana (1692–1739), also known as "Farfallino", was an Italian castrato singer active primarily in Rome from 1712 to 1736. He specialised in singing soprano female roles and earned the name "Farfallino" ("Little Butterfly") for his graceful stage appearance. He was born in Perugia and died there at the age of 47. At times he feared ridicule by performing certain roles, such as a pregnant primadonna. Roles created Fontana is known to have created the following roles: *Olimpia in Giovanni Bononcini's ''Crispo'' (1721) *Griselda in Alessandro Scarlatti's '' Griselda'' (1721) *Hippolyte in Vivaldi's '' Ercole su'l Termodonte'' (1723) *Marzia in Leonardo Vinci's ''Catone in Utica'' (1728) *Semiramide in Leonardo Vinci's ''La Semiramide riconosciuta'' (1729) *Mandane in Leonardo Vinci's ''Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farinelli
Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli has been described as having had soprano vocal range and as having sung the highest note customary at the time, C6. Early years Broschi was born in Andria (in what is now Apulia, Italy) into a family of musicians. As recorded in the baptismal register of the church of S. Nicola in Andria, his father Salvatore was a composer and '' maestro di cappella'' of the city's cathedral, and his mother, Caterina Barrese, a citizen of Naples. The Duke of Andría, Fabrizio Carafa, a member of the House of Carafa, one of the most prestigious families of the Neapolitan nobility, honored Maestro Broschi by taking a leading part in the baptism of his second son, who was baptised Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola. n later life, Farinelli wrote: "Il Duca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrati
A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century. Methods of castration used to terminate on the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either severing the vas deferens (similar to a vasectomy), twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
