Gioacchino Conti (28 February 1714 – 25 October 1761), best known as Gizziello or Egizziello, was an Italian

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

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 ...

opera singer. Gizziello - Gioacchino Conti

Biography

Conti was born in

Arpino Arpino (Southern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the ...

in 1714, possibly the son of the composer Nicola Conti. After studying in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

with Domenico Gizzi, after whom he would later be nicknamed, he made his debut in Rome at an early age, around 1730. According to some modern encyclopedic sources, it took place in

Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian Baroque 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 ...

's '' Artaserse'', which premiered on 4 February at the

Teatro delle Dame 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 reconstr ...

. However, his name does not appear in the cast of the original libretto, and his theatrical debut ought probably to be dated instead in 1731, in revivals of ''Didone abbandonata'' and of the same ''Artaserse'', both by Vinci. A colourful anecdote relates how another overweening castrato star,

Caffarelli Caffarelli may be * Caffarelli (castrato), stage name of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (1710-1783)Carmela Cafarelli(1889-1979) was proprietor of Cleveland Ohio's Cafarelli Opera Company *Luis Caffarelli (born 1948), Argentine mathematician *A family ...

, rode post-haste to Rome from Naples just to attend incognito his debut; and full of enthusiasm eventually yelled at him: "Bravo, bravissimo Gizziello, it’s Caffariello who's telling you!" Whatever the case, at the beginning of 1732 he was urgently called upon to replace the castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (Nicolini), who suddenly died on 1 January during the rehearsals of

Pergolesi Pergolesi is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, (1710–1736), Italian composer, violinist, and organist * Michael Angelo Pergolesi, 18th-century Italian decorative artist {{Surname Italian-langu ...

's first opera ''

La Salustia ''La Salustia'' is a 1732 opera (''dramma per musica'') in three acts by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi to a revised text, possibly by Sebastiano Morelli, after Apostolo Zeno's famous 1716 libretto ''Alessandro Severo'', which was also later adapte ...

'' at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in

. Having become a member of the theatre's company, later that year he performed in new operas by

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque music, Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of ...

and Francesco Mancini, and in revivals of Vinci's ''Catone in Utica'' and ''Artaserse''. His subsequent career led him throughout Italy, as well as abroad. In 1736–37 he was in London, where he had been engaged by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

, with whom he would build a profitable collaboration. Conti performed in many of his works, such as ''

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

'', '' Giustino'', ''

Berenice Berenice (, ''Bereníkē'') is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name ''Pherenikē'', which means "bearer of victory" . Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. The Latin variant Veron ...

'' and ''

Arminio ''Arminio'' ( HWV 36) is an opera composed by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is based on a libretto of the same name by Antonio Salvi, which had been set to music by Alessandro Scarlatti. It is a fictionalisation of events surrounding the ...

'', as well as in revivals of ''

Ariodante ''Ariodante'' ( HWV 33) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 4, 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's ''Orlando Furioso''. E ...

'', ''

Partenope ''Partenope'' (''Parthenope''), HWV 27, is an opera by George Frideric Handel, first performed at the King's Theatre in London on 24 February 1730. Although following the structure and forms of opera seria, the work is humorous in character ...

'', and ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', a work set to music in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he had acquired a year later during his t ...

''. He sang at many premieres for the best and most famous musicians of his time, including

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

(''Manlio'', 1746),

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 ...

('' Artaserse, 1751'') and Johann Adolph Hasse (''Demetrio'', 1747). After 1759, Conti left the stage and settled in Rome, where he spent the last two years of his life. Being a very sharp soprano for his time (Handel got him repeatedly to reach up to C6), Conti was not quite well disposed towards abuse of

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

and he chose rather to turn to better account his fluent and smooth style of rendering and expression: he has thus remained famous as a sentimental and gentle singer, but he also always kept a condition of absolute excellence at vocal virtuosity, even though not so acrobatic as, for instance, that of his contemporary (and friend)

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 ...

.Caruselli, I, p. 295. Conti always remained in good terms with Farinelli, who repeatedly invited him to Spain, terming him "Antiguo amigo" (longtime friend) (Sandro Cappelletto, ''La voce perduta: vita di Farinelli, evirato cantore'', Turin, EDT, 1995, p. 108. )

References

Sources

Rodolfo Celletti Rodolfo Celletti (1917–2004) was an Italian musicologist, critic, voice teacher, and novelist. Considered one of the leading scholars of the operatic voice and the history of operatic performance, he published many books and articles on the subje ...

, ''Storia del belcanto'', Fiesole, Discanto Edizioni, 1983, pp. 105–106, 125. * Salvatore Caruselli (ed.), ''Grande enciclopedia della musica lirica'', Rome, Longanesi &C. Periodici S.p.A. (article: ''Conti, Gioacchino, detto Gizziello'', I, p. 295). *

Winton Dean Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his bo ...

, ''Conti, Gioacchino Egizziello', 'Gizziello'', in

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

(ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997, I, pp. 927–928. . *

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, critic, teacher and composer. He was among the most influential music intellectuals in continental Europe. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ...

, ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique'' (second edition), Paris, Didot, 1866, II, pp. 350–352 (article: ''Conti (Joachin)''; accessible for free online a
Gallica - BNF
. * Corrado Lisena, ''Conti, Gioacchino'', in ''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' () is a biographical dictionary published in 100 volumes by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1960 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biographies of distinguished Italia ...

'', Volume 28, 1983, accessible online a
Treccani.it
* Carlantonio di Villarosa, ''Memorie dei compositori di musica del Regno di Napoli raccolte dal Marchese di Villarosa'', Naples, Stamperia Reale, 1840, pp. 53–54 (article: ''Conti Gioacchino''; accessible for free online a
Books Google
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Conti, Gioacchino 1714 births 1761 deaths People from Arpino Italian opera singers Castrati 18th-century Italian male actors Italian male stage actors Musicians from the Papal States