Antonio Baldi (singer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Baldi based on a caricature by Anton Maria Zanetti ( Fondazione Giorgio Cini , Venice)

Antonio Baldi (demonstrated 1710-1735) was an Italian old - castrato and opera singers , among others, for three years in London with George Frideric Handel worked.

Life

Little is known about Baldi's youth and education; according to Winton Dean , he came from Cortona .

He had his first verifiable appearance on the stage in 1710 in Foligno in Antonio Caldara's opera La Costanza in amore vince l'inganno , alongside the well-known alto Giovan Battista Minelli and the young Giacinto Fontana (" Farfallino "). From 1714 to 1716 Baldi sang in a few operas in Palermo . He was mostly used as a secondo uomo or in smaller roles.

Apparently he sang for the first time in Venice in 1722 and in Genoa and Milan in 1723 . In the carnival 1723–1724, at the important Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice, he sang alongside stars like Faustina Bordoni and Antonio Bernacchi in Il più fedel tra gl'amici by Michelangelo Gasparini (premiere: December 26, 1723). and in Ipermestra by Geminiano Giacomelli (premiere: February 5, 1724).

Via Owen Swiney , Antonio Baldi received an engagement at the Royal Academy of Music in London for the years 1725 to 1728. He made his debut there in a revival of the pasticcios Elpidia with music by Vinci and Giuseppe Maria Orlandini . For the next three years he was part of the legendary opera ensemble with Senesino and the two prima donnas Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. Antonio Baldi stayed longer with Handel in London than any other castrati who only worked with him as a secondo uomo . He sang in the world premieres of Handel's operas Scipione (the title role), Alessandro (Tassile), Admeto (Trasimede), Riccardo Primo (Oronte), Siroe (Medarse) and Tolomeo (Alessandro). In a revival of Rodelinda he sang Bertarido and supporting roles in revivals of Floridante (1727) and Radamisto (1728).
In London he also appeared in Attilio Ariosti's operas Lucio Vero and Teuzzone , as well as in Giovanni Bononcini's Astianatte and in a pasticcio Elisa .

After the end of the (first) Royal Academy in the summer of 1728, Baldi traveled back to Italy, presumably together with his colleagues Faustina Bordoni and Senesino, with whom he was back on stage at the following carnival in the Venetian Teatro San Cassiano , in Giacomelli's opera Gianguir (premiere: December 27, 1728) and in Orlandini's Adelaide (premiere: February 8, 1729).
In the following years he had engagements at opera houses in Genoa (1730), Florence , Turin (1730–1731), and Rome (1731).

In the years 1733 to 1735 he can be found again in Venice, where he sang small roles in San Giovanni Grisostomo, most recently in Giacomelli's Merope , alongside Lucia Facchinelli and the two star castrati Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) and Caffarelli , as well as in Leonardo Leo's La clemenza di Tito (premiere: January 29, 1735), alongside Antonio Bernacchi, Anna Peruzzi and Gioacchino Conti .

There are no news about his further life or the place and time of his death.

Voice and singing

According to Owen Swiney, Antonio Baldi was “neither good nor bad” as a singer, so mediocre, and a passable actor . Charles Burney , who never heard the singer, later claimed that Baldi was "a singer without great skills" - this seems a bit of an understatement given the fact that Baldi only sang secondo roles, but at least at a theater like this San Giovanni Grisostomo and Handel, and alongside the greatest stars of his time, including Faustina Bordoni, Francesca Cuzzoni, Lucia Facchinelli, and the castrati Senesino, Farinelli, Caffarelli, Bernacchi and Farfallino.

Handel wrote for Baldi in a range from low b to d ''. Even if his arias in complexity and inventiveness do not come close to those for Senesino, Cuzzoni and Bordoni, he had some wonderful moments, such as the poignant aria "Vibra, cortese amor" by Tassile in the first act by Alessandro - its orchestration with octaving violins that the famous rondo “Verdi prati” for Carestini in Alcina (1735) - or Oronte's festive “Dell'onor di giuste imprese” with horns and oboes in the second act by Riccardo Primo .

Anton Maria Zanetti drew a caricature of Antonio Baldi during a performance in Venice , which is now in the Fondazione Cini .

literature

  • Winton Dean: Baldi, Antonio , on Oxford Music online (full access only with subscription; English; accessed July 25, 2020)
  • Francisca Paula Vanherle: Antonio Baldi , in: Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Vocal Phenomenon and a Case Study of Handel's Opera Roles for Castrati written for the First Royal Academy of Music (1720–1728) (dissertation), University of Texas, Austin , December 2002, pp. 118-123

Web links

Commons : Antonio Baldi (singer)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Winton Dean: Baldi, Antonio , on Oxford Music online (full access only with subscription; English; accessed on July 25, 2020)
  2. ↑ a b c Antonio Baldi , short biography online at Quell'Usignolo (French; accessed on July 25, 2020)
  3. ^ La costanza in amor vince L'inganno (Antonio Caldara) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  4. ↑ Il più fedel tra gl'amici (Michelangelo Gasparini) in Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  5. ^ Ipermestra (Geminiano Giacomelli) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  6. ↑ Senesino is listed on Corago with his real name Francesco Bernardi. Gianguir (Geminiano Giacomelli) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  7. ^ Adelaide (Giuseppe Maria Orlandini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  8. ^ Merope (Geminiano Giacomelli) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  9. ^ La clemenza di Tito (Leonardo Leo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  10. ↑ a b Francisca Paula Vanherle: Antonio Baldi , in: castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Vocal Phenomenon and a case study of Handel's Opera Roles for castrati written for the First Royal Academy of Music (1720-1728) (dissertation), University of Texas, Austin, December 2002, pp. 118-123, here: p. 118
  11. ↑ Francisca Paula Vanherle: Antonio Baldi , in: castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Vocal Phenomenon and a case study of Handel's Opera Roles for castrati written for the First Royal Academy of Music (1720-1728) (dissertation), University of Texas, Austin, December 2002, pp. 118-123, here: p. 121
  12. ↑ Sample music from Riccardo Primo in: Francisca Paula Vanherle: Antonio Baldi , in: Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Vocal Phenomenon and a Case Study of Handel's Opera Roles for Castrati written for the First Royal Academy of Music (1720-1728) (Dissertation ), University of Texas, Austin, December 2002, pp. 118–123, here: p. 119
personal data
SURNAME Baldi, Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (Alt-Kastrat)
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Cortona
DATE OF DEATH 18th century