Pietro Mingotti (born

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, c. 1702; died

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, 28 April 1759) was an Italian

impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...

active across continental Europe. His brother, Angelo, formed an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

company in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

around 1732, consisting of three male singers and five females; Pietro quickly followed suit, and the two troupes achieved European-wide success (though mostly in German and Austrian cities), sometimes performing together. Pietro's company, the more high-profile of the two, at times included

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of th ...

and

Giuseppe Sarti Giuseppe Sarti (also Sardi; baptised 1 December 1729 – 28 July 1802) was an Italian opera composer. Biography He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729 and he passed away on 28 July 1802. Som ...

as members. Most of the works performed belonged to the genre of ''

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...

'', though ''

opere buffe Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

'' were also given. Mezzo-soprano Maria Giustina Turcotti was a member of his company from 1746-1750. After performances at the coronation of Franz I at Frankfurt (

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

's husband) in 1745, and at a royal wedding at Dresden in 1747 (when Gluck's '' Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe'', with the composer conducting, was performed), Mingotti's troupe were invited to

by Queen Louise in the same year. The company's repertory for the Danish court included not only operas but also

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s. Sarti joined the troupe in December 1752 as music director after Gluck left during 1750. Severe financial difficulties forced Pietro to end his contract with the court at Copenhagen in 1755, and he died impoverished four years later in the Danish capital. Little is known of Angelo Mingotti's later career; from 1743 until 1751 the

Oper am Gänsemarkt The Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1678 after plans of Girolamo Sartorio at the Gänsemarkt square. It was the first public opera house to be established in Germany: not a court opera, as in many other towns. ...

was used by Angelo Mingotti, performing Italian operas.Marx, H.J. & D. Schröder (1995) Die Hamburger Gänsemarkt-Oper, p. 502-507.

References

: Diva and Impresario at the King's Theatre, London'', Royal Musical Association Monographs 22 (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013). *K.-H. Viertel: ‘Anmerkungen zum Dresdener Opernpublikum während der Direktionszeit Johann Adolf Hasses’, Dresdener Operntraditionen: Dresden 1985, 208–18 *R. Theobald: 'Die Pressburger Oper von 1741. Zum Spielplan der Truppe Pietro Mingottis', Kleine Schriften der Gesellschaft für Theatergeschichte 25, Berlin 1972, 72-81 *E.H. Müller von Asow: Angelo und Pietro Mingotti (Dresden, 1917) *E.H. Müller von Asow: ‘Gluck und die Brüder Mingotti’, Gluck-Jb 1917, 1–14 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mingotti, Pietro Italian opera managers Italian impresarios 18th-century theatre managers 1700s births 1759 deaths Businesspeople from Venice Year of birth uncertain

References

Further reading