Giovanni Gentiluomo

Giovanni Gentiluomo, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1844

Giovanni Gentiluomo ( June 9, 1809 in Vienna - March 21, 1866 there ) was an Austrian academic painter , opera singer and singing teacher . He directed a widely recognized opera school in Vienna.

life and work

Gentiluomo was born as the son of the academic portrait painter Johann Gentiluomo in Vienna and trained there as a painter. In addition to numerous portraits, he also designed the main altar of the Evangelical Church in Cluj , now in Romania. So far, no information is available about his musical training. He played the piano and quickly developed into a sought-after singing teacher. His pupils also included the sisters Louise (born 1820) and Antonia Spazzer (born 1823), daughters of a captain. In 1835 he married the older of the two, who was now called Louise Gentiluomo-Spazzer. Both sisters made their debut at the Kärntnertortheater , the then k. u. k. Court Opera, where Gentiluomo worked as a singing teacher. You could also achieve both successes. In 1839 both sisters were committed to the Hanover Court Theater . Gentiluomo is likely to have accompanied them or followed them, since he was mentioned as choir director in Hanover in 1841. In 1841 the couple separated, Luise Gentiluomo-Spazzer broke the contract and left Hanover. She continued her career at the Dresden Court Opera and other stages until 1847.

In 1843 Gentiluomo found himself again in Vienna, because the Austrian daily Der Adler wrote appreciatively about his “great musical knowledge, combined with an easily comprehensible methodical system”. Several of his students obtained engagements at the k. u. k. Court opera in Vienna and at other renowned opera houses of the monarchy and abroad. In 1851 he was a founding member of the Academy of Music and Music and led the singing class and the evening entertainment together with the conductor and composer Gustav Barth . In November 1853 he went to Pest , where he took over the management of a singing school until the end of April 1855, the students of which were taught free of charge. The costs were borne by the patron Edmund von Horváth. He returned to Vienna, again as a teacher at the Academy of Music , which now concentrated on running a singing and opera school in Riemergasse in the first district of Vienna. The academy, headed by Matteo Salvi and Gentiluomo, had a good reputation and in 1858 the Neue Wiener Musik-Zeitung "still regarded it as the best planting place for opera talents". In 1860 he was responsible - together with Franz von Suppè - for the rehearsal of the choirs of a Norma production at the Theater an der Wien , which, according to the ÖML, suggests that he may have worked there for a longer period.

From January 1863 Gentiluomo taught at the newly founded Imperial Court Opera School in Vienna. According to ÖML is considered to be an essential representative of the "Vienna School of Singing Art".

student

Among his students were

the sopranos Magdalena Behrendt-Brandt , Antonie Erhartt , Louise Gentiluomo-Spazzer, Babette Gundy , Leopoldine Herrenburg-Tuczek, Louise Liebhardt , Mathilde von Marlow , Antonia Palm-Sparer, Katharina Schiller and Jetty Treffz
the tenors Eduard Bachmann , Heinrich de Marchion , Siga Garsò , Ferdinand Groß , Alexander Reichardt and Josef Reichel
the baritones Louis von Bignio and Karl Ueberhorst
the basses Eduard Decarli and Emil Scaria as well
the later singing teacher Josef Gänsbacher .

literature

Monika Kornberger: Gentiluomo, married couple. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 .

Web links

ZVAB : 2 autograph letters signed , handwriting and excerpt from Giovanni Gentiluomo

Individual evidence

Remarks

↑ According to the Austrian Music Lexicon (ÖML), the generally stated date of death March 22nd is incorrect. The DNB gives 1897 as the year of birth, Kutsch / Riemens give 1886 as the year of death. In all cases, the version of the ÖML was chosen because the description there is more detailed. A Wilhelm Gentiluomo is also said to have worked as a singing teacher in Vienna in 1859.

personal data
SURNAME	Gentiluomo, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian academic painter, opera singer and singing teacher
DATE OF BIRTH	June 9, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vienna
DATE OF DEATH	March 21, 1866
Place of death	Vienna

[2] Louise Gentiluomo-Spazzer at Operissimo based on the great singer lexicon

[3] Antonia Spazzer palm Antonia at Operissimo based on the Great Singer lexicon

[4] German Biographical Encyclopedia , ed. by Rudolf Vierhaus : Reichel, Josef, also Reichl, Austrian singer , Walter de Gruyter 2005, p. 261, accessed online on October 29, 2016.

[1] According to the Austrian Music Lexicon (ÖML), the generally stated date of death March 22nd is incorrect. The DNB gives 1897 as the year of birth, Kutsch / Riemens give 1886 as the year of death. In all cases, the version of the ÖML was chosen because the description there is more detailed. A Wilhelm Gentiluomo is also said to have worked as a singing teacher in Vienna in 1859.