Gaspare Pacchierotti (21 May 1740 – 28 October 1821) was a
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
castrato
A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...
, and one of the most famous singers of his time.
Training and first appearances
Details of his early life are scarce. It is possible that he studied with Mario Bittoni, ''maestro di cappella'' in
the cathedral of his home city,
Fabriano
Fabriano is a town and ''comune'' of Ancona province in the Italian region of the Marche, at above sea level. It lies in the Esino valley upstream and southwest of Jesi; and east-northeast of Fossato di Vico and east of Gubbio (both in U ...
. Under the stage name of Porfirio Pacchierotti, he made his début in
Baldassare Galuppi
Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was a Venetian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C.&nbs ...
's opera ''Le nozze di Dorina'' at the Teatro dei Nobili in
Perugia
Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...
during the carnival season of 1759, playing, as young castrati often did, a female role: Livietta. He made further appearances under his assumed name in Venice (1764) and Innsbruck (1765). On this latter occasion he sang Acronte in
Hasse's ''Romolo ed Ersilia'' on the occasion of the marriage of
Peter Leopold of
Habsburg-Lorraine
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine () originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Habsburg monarchy, Austria, later successively List of Bohemian monarchs, Queen ...
, future
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma, USA
* Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre
* Grand County (disambiguation), se ...
and
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
, and the
Infanta
Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...
Maria Luisa of Spain
Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain ( Spanish: ''María Luisa'', German: ''Maria Ludovika''; 24 November 1745 – 15 May 1792) was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the spouse of Leopold II, ...
. Here, for the first time, he encountered the famous castrato
Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni (16 February 1728 – 11 November 1792) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in 1762.
Career
Born at Lodi, Guadagni ...
, then at the height of his career.
Early career
By the late 1760s Pacchierotti was well established in Venice, both as an opera singer and member of the choir of St Mark's, where Galuppi was Director of Music. His first success as ''primo uomo'' (lead male singer) was in that composer's ''Il re pastore'', in which he first sang the role of Agenore at the
Teatro San Benedetto
The Teatro San Benedetto was a theatre in Venice, particularly prominent in the operatic life of the city in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It saw the premieres of over 140 operas, including Rossini's ''L'italiana in Algeri'', and was the th ...
, Venice, in the summer of 1769. In that city he also received further vocal tuition from
Ferdinando Bertoni, the composer and singing teacher, who became a lifelong friend.
In 1770, he was at Palermo, where he sang alongside the famous and notoriously capricious soprano,
Caterina Gabrielli
Caterina Gabrielli (12 November 1730 – 16 February or 16 April 1796), born Caterina Fatta, was an Italian coloratura singer. She was the most important soprano of her age. A woman of great personal charm and dynamism, Charles Burney referred to ...
, whose every feat of virtuosity he not only equalled but so far surpassed that he earned that redoubtable lady's admiration. The following year saw him performing at the
Teatro San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and a ...
in Naples, perhaps the most famous opera house in Italy at this time. Here he remained for some five years, performing in twenty operas. His ''prima donna'' was often
Anna de Amicis
Anna Lucia de Amicis (c. 1745–1816) was an Italian soprano.
Life and career
The daughter of tenor Domenico de Amicis and soprano Rosalba Baldacci, Anna Lucia de Amicis was born in Naples, Italy in c.1745. She had her initial vocal training ...
, and soon their respective adoring fans caused the sparks to fly. One supporter of the soprano, an officer in the Royal Guard called Francesco Ruffo, saw fit to insult Pacchierotti publicly, and a duel was fought as a result. Because of Ruffo's royal connection (and also because, as a nobleman, he was immune from prosecution), the poor singer spent several days in prison, but apparently the noble youth himself obtained his release. There is another version of this story in which Ruffo was the lover (''
cavalier servente'') of a certain Marchesa Santa Marca, who had become infatuated with Pacchierotti on hearing him sing in Schuster's ''Didone abbandonata''. His honour insulted, Ruffo again challenged the singer to a duel, and this time it was none other than the King of Naples who ordered Gaspare to be released from prison.
Career in northern Italy
After such adventures, it is hardly surprising that Pacchierotti left Naples in 1776, never to sing there again. For the next fifteen years he worked in northern Italy, especially Milan, Venice, Genoa, Padua and Turin. In Milan, he famously appeared at the inauguration of the
Teatro alla Scala
La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...
on 3 August 1778, taking the protagonist's role of Asterio in ''
Europa riconosciuta
''Europa riconosciuta'' (; meaning "Europa revealed" or "Europa recognized") is an opera in two acts by Antonio Salieri, designated as a ''dramma per musica'', set to an Italian libretto by Mattia Verazi.
The opera takes place in Tyre, Lebanon, T ...
'' by
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period (music), classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subje ...
. While appearing at Venice in 1785, he sang at the funeral of his old patron Galuppi, remarking that "I sang very devoutly indeed to obtain a quiet for his soul".
Visits to London
Pacchierotti also visited London on several occasions between 1778 and 1791. There he was universally adored, perhaps even more by real opera ''cognoscenti'' than by the public in general. One of the former,
Lord Mount Edgcumbe, left a detailed description of the singer's many merits:
Pacchierotti's voice was an extensive soprano, full and sweet in the highest degree: his powers of execution were great, but he had far too good taste and good sense to make a display of them where it would have been misapplied, ... conscious that the chief delight of singing and his own supreme excellence lay in touching expression and exquisite pathos. Yet he was so thorough a musician that nothing came amiss to him; every style was to him equally easy, and he could sing, at first sight, all songs of the most opposite characters, not merely with the facility and correctness which a complete knowledge of music must give, but entering at once into the views of the composer, and giving them all the spirit and expression he had designed. Such was his genius in his embellishments and cadences, that their variety was inexhaustible. ... As an actor, with many disadvantages of person ... he was nevertheless forcible and impressive ... His recitative was inimitably fine, so that even those who did not understand the language could not fail to comprehend, from his countenance, voice and action, every sentiment he expressed. As a concert singer, and particularly in private society, he shone almost more than on the stage ... he was a worthy and good man, modest and diffident to a fault ... He was unpresuming in his manners, grateful and attached to all his numerous friends and patrons.
During his visits to London, Pacchierotti mainly performed in operas by his friend Bertoni, now well known as a composer in the genre. In spite of the "many disadvantages of person" remarked on by Mount Edgcumbe, the singer continued to have ladies fall in love with him, notably
Susanna Burney, daughter of the music historian
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicis ...
, who described his singing as "divine". Known as "sweet Pacc" to Susanna and her sister Fanny (herself a well-known author and later
Madame d'Arblay), he also earned their respect during the anti-Catholic
Gordon Riots
The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days' rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...
of June 1780 by refusing to remove his name from his door and, though an Italian Catholic, insisting on walking the streets openly while the mob yelled "No Popery!" As to further emotional entanglements, the notorious
William Beckford wrote of one noblewoman, Lady Mary Duncan, that she was "more preciously fond" of the singer "than a she-bear of its suckling". Pacchierotti had met Beckford in 1780 at Lucca, during the young aristocrat's
grand tour, and the following year he became involved in a performance marking that dissolute young nobleman's twenty-first birthday. This was of a cantata entitled ''Il tributo'', by a fellow castrato, Venanzio Rauzzini, long settled in England, and took place at Beckford's mansion
Fonthill Splendens, near Bath. The third soloist was another castrato,
Giusto Fernando Tenducci, a friend of
Gainsborough
Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...
. On 27 May 1784 Pacchierotti sang various arias by Handel at the centenary celebrations of the composer's birth held in the London Pantheon. His last visit to London in 1791 has become famous to posterity for his numerous performances of
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's cantata ''Arianna a Naxos'' to the composer's own piano accompaniment.
Return to Italy
His first appearance on his final return to Italy was for the inauguration of another opera house: the new
Teatro la Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especial ...
in Venice, where on 16 May 1792 he sang the leading role of Alceo in ''I giuochi d'Agrigento'' by
Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini.
Life
Paisiello was born in ...
alongside
Brigida Banti. The following season he made his last operatic appearance in the same theatre, in the premiere production of
Giuseppe Giordani's ''Ines de Castro'', which opened on 27 January 1793, during the Carnival season.
Pacchierotti retired to Padua, but on 2 May 1797, in the Teatro Nuovo of that city, was obliged to perform again at a concert for the all-conquering
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
. Never reconciled to the destruction of his beloved Venetian Republic by the French, Pacchierotti's patriotism got him into trouble. In a letter to his colleague
Angelica Catalani he referred to "the splendid miseries of victory." This was unfortunately intercepted by the French police, and the singer was once more imprisoned.
Retirement and old age
Famous even in retirement, Pacchierotti was visited by many well-known figures, including
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...
. On the singer's complaining that the latter's music was too noisy, the composer retorted: "Give me another Pacchierotti and I will know how to write for him!" Another visitor was
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...
, who remarked that: "I learned more about music in six conversations with this great artist, than from any book; it was the soul speaking to the soul." Though now out of the limelight, Pacchierotti continued to practise, being particularly devoted to the Psalm settings of
Benedetto Marcello
Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.
Life
Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of the noble Marcello family and in his composit ...
, from which he averred "to have learned the little that he knew". On 28 June 1814, he underwent the emotional experience of singing in
Saint Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica (; ), is the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Venice; it became the episcopal seat of the Patriarch of Venice in 1807, replacing the earlier cathed ...
in Venice at the funeral service held in honour of his old friend and favourite composer, Ferdinando Bertoni. He last sang in public on 19 October 1817, at the age of seventy-seven, performing a motet in the church of Mirano, a few miles west of Venice. Famous for this remark that "he who knows how to breathe, knows how to sing", he also taught singing, and it is likely that a treatise by Antonio Calegari, entitled ''Modi generali del canto'' and published in Milan in 1836, is at least partly based on Pacchierotti's own methods.
In and around Padua, the singer bought several properties, the best known being the Ca' Farsetti, said to have been once owned by
Pietro Bembo
Pietro Bembo, (; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was a Venetian scholar, poet, and literary theory, literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Re ...
. He also built an extraordinary neo-Gothic mansion, the Castello Pacchierotti, the ruins of which were much later (1881) described by the English writer
Violet Page (alias Vernon Lee): " ... in this remote corner of Padua we stumbled one day into a beautiful tangle of trees and grass and flowers ... and were informed by a gardener's boy that this garden had once belonged to a famous singer, by name Gasparo Pacchierotti ... The gardener led us into the house, a battered house, covered with creepers and amphorae, and sentimental inscriptions from the works of the poets and philosophers in vogue a hundred years ago ... He showed us into a long narrow room, in which was a large slender harpsichord ... which had belonged to ... the singer. It was open, and looked as if it might just have been touched, but no sound could be drawn from it. The gardener then led us into a darkened lumber-room, where hung the portrait of the singer, thickly covered with dust: a mass of dark blurs, from out of which appeared scarcely more than the pale thin face – a face with deep dreamy eyes and tremulously tender lips, full of a vague, wistful, contemplative poetry..."
Stricken by
dropsy
Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...
, Pacchierotti died at the age of eighty-one. His grave was recently discovered in an ancient oratory adjoining Villa Pacchierotti-Zemella in
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
.
In his still seminal work, ''The Castrati in Opera'', Angus Heriot wrote: "Today we can but guess what the great singers of the past can have sounded like; but one might hazard a guess that of all the castrati, could we hear them, Pacchierotti would please us most …"
Roles created
The following list
is not complete (it misses out, for instance, Pacchiarotti's performances in Palermo, the première of Bertoni's ''Artaserse'', etc.), but is indicative of the wide extent of the singer's career.
Notes
References
Further reading
*
Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell: "Pacchierotti, Gaspare", ''
Grove Music Online
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...
'', ed L. Macy (Accessed 22 February 2007)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacchierotti, Gaspare
1740 births
1821 deaths
Castrati
18th-century Italian male actors
Italian male stage actors
18th-century Italian male opera singers
19th-century Italian male opera singers