Benedetto Baldassari

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Benedetto Baldassari. Engraving by George Vertue after Belluzzi, 1724

Benedetto Baldassari (or Baldassarri ), also called " Benedetti " (proven from 1706 ; † November 1739 in Richmond ) was an Italian soprano - castrato and opera singer , who is particularly known for his collaboration with George Frideric Handel in London .

Life

Baldassari's date of birth is unknown, but he was probably born around 1685. We also have only rudimentary information about his career.

From 1706 he was in Düsseldorf as a chamber singer at the court of Elector Johann Wilhelm and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici , where he participated in operas by Agostino Steffani : 1707 in Arminio in the role of Ermude, and in 1709 as Teodata in Tassilone . In his further career, Baldassari appeared a few times (but not only) in female roles that apparently harmonized well with his voice and appearance.

1710-11 he was in Berlin and tried (in vain) on behalf of Steffani to convert the Prussian couple heir to the throne to Catholicism .

In Düsseldorf in 1711 Georg Friedrich Handel heard him, who probably suggested that he go to London, where Baldassari sang the role of Darius in 1712 in the Queen's Theater at the Haymarket in a revival of Francesco Mancini's Idaspe fedele (instead of Margherita de L'Épine ) and in the pasticcio Ercole . In Francesco Gasparini's Antioco , he again embodied a female role, according to Dean. Then he returned to Italy.

In Rome , where women were strictly forbidden on the stage, Baldassari sang Berenice in Antonio Caldara's Tito e Berenice (premiere: January 18, 1714), and Emilia in Gasparini's Lucio Papirio (premiere: 27 January 1714) at the Teatro Capranica with great success . January 1714). The following years of his life are in the dark. Baldassari was not found again until 1718 when he sang Omiro in Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's Farnace (premiere: January 11th) at the Teatro Tron di San Cassiano in Venice , and appeared in Orlandini's Antigona (premiere: February 13th); in an ensemble with Diana Vico , Valentino Urbani and Giovan Battista Minelli .

In March 1719 he was in London for the second time and sang in two concerts, a "benefit" for his own benefit at the Drury Lane Theater and with Ann Turner Robinson on March 21 at the King's Theater. Benedetto Baldassari was the first castrato to be hired by the newly founded Royal Academy of Music , and sang the roles of Remo in Giovanni Portas Numitore (in whose libretto he was still called “ virt. (Uoso) di S. (ua) A. (ltezza) E. (lettorale) P. (alatina) ”), the Fraarte in Handel's Radamisto and the Cefalo in Domenico Scarlatti's Narciso (in an arrangement by Thomas Roseingrave ).
In March 1720, a newspaper article reported the only known anecdote about the soprano: When he saw that he was supposed to play a military character (“ Captain of the guards ”) in Handel's Radamisto , he complained that he usually never had roles “below a ruler or at least a Prince of the Blood ”. His request was granted and the libretto changed accordingly: Fraarte / Baldassari was from then on "Prince of Armenia and brother of Tiridate". This incident has often been the singer of the former journalist and also in the literature as hypersensitivity and divas designed -Allüren, but in the system of opera seria to understand and had not the least likely to work on his vocal character and his stage persona to do what a princely A lover (or a princess!) Was simply better suited than a captain. After a concert in Richmond in the summer of 1720, he had only a few appearances in the 1720-21 season for unknown reasons, but sang on January 9, 1721 in a benefit concert in his favor in the York Buildings. It was not until the 1721-22 season that Baldassari was fully employed again and sang the role of Timante in the world premiere of Handel's Floridante and in Bononcini's operas Crispo and Griselda alongside the primo uomo Senesino, which had meanwhile arrived .

For the following years only isolated events in Baldassari's life are known. From October to December 1725 he performed with success in sixteen concerts in Dublin and in 1732 he gave concerts in Edinburgh .

According to Pegah, the singer died in 1739. This information probably refers to a copper engraving - portrait of Benedetto Baldassari by George Vertue (fig. Above), where one can read under the portrait of the singer, among other things, that he died in "Shene" in November 1739 - Shene was the old name for Richmond . Vertue's engraving is based on an oil painting by Belluzzi, a copy of which is in the British Museum in London.

Voice and singing

Benedetto Baldassari, along with Valeriano Pellegrini , Matteo Berselli and Gizziello, is one of the few castrato soprano who sang for Handel. He composed for his voice in a range between e 'and a' '. The two parts for Baldassari in Radamisto and Floridante are musically extremely attractive and inspired and require a soprano voice of a more lyrical character with ease and agility (even if they do not achieve the extreme virtuosity of Farinelli ). His arias are of particular charm, charm, grace and beauty and always of musically high quality, with often catchy melodies (e.g. "Dopo il nembo e la procella", Act 1, Floridante ), in fast or moderate tempos and with partly interesting instrumentation (including solo bassoons). What he was apparently less able to achieve was the expression of deep emotions such as pain, sadness and despair or dramatic outbursts, as they appear in Handel's roles for the Primarii Senesino , the Cuzzoni , Anna Maria Strada and some other singers ( Margherita Durastanti , Diana Vico or the old castrati Andrea Pacini or Antonio Baldi ).

literature

  • Irene Brandenburg: Baldassari (Baldassarri), Benedetto, called Benedetti , in: MGG online , 1999/2016 (full access only with subscription; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Winton Dean: Baldassari, Benedetto (Benedetti) , on Oxford Music online (full access only with subscription; English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Baldassari, Benedetto , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 , Vol. 1 (Abaco to Belfille), SIU Press, 1973, pp. 235–236, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Rashid-S. Pegah: Two Steffani studies. Additions to the biography and work of Agostino Steffani , in: Claudia Kaufold, Nicole K. Strohmann, Colin Timms (ed.): Agostino Steffani: European composer, Hanoverian diplomat and bishop of the Leibniz period , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2017, p . 169–183, here: 178, excerpts from online as a Google book (accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Francisca Paula Vanherle: Benedetto Baldassari (Benedetti) , 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. 121-127

Web links

Commons : Benedetto Baldassari  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Benedetto Baldassari dit Benedetti , short biography online at Quell'Usignolo , with list of CD recordings (French; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Benedetto Baldassari (1724), copper engraving portrait of George Vertue in the Fitzwilliam Museum, online at museu.ms (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  • Benedetto Baldassari approx. 1720–30 , caricature by Marco Ricci on the Royal Collection website (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The place and time of death can be found on the copperplate portrait Benedetto Baldassaris (1724) by George Vertue in the Fitzwilliam Museum, online at museu.ms (English; accessed on July 28, 2020). The location is "Shene", the old name for Richmond , according to the Wikipedia article Richmond, London (as of July 29, 2020)
  2. ↑ a b c d e According to Pegah (2017) he is proven from 1706 and died in 1739, older sources give different data and do not give a date of death. Rashid-S. Pegah: Two Steffani studies. Additions to the biography and work of Agostino Steffani , in: Claudia Kaufold, Nicole K. Strohmann, Colin Timms (ed.): Agostino Steffani: European composer, Hanoverian diplomat and bishop of the Leibniz period , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2017, p . 169–183, here: 178, excerpts from online as a Google book (accessed on July 28, 2020)
  3. ↑ a b c d According to Brandenburg in the MGG it is recorded from 1708 to 1732. Irene Brandenburg: Baldassari (Baldassarri), Benedetto, called Benedetti , in: MGG online , 1999/2016 (full access only with subscription; accessed on July 28th 2020)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Winton Dean: Baldassari, Benedetto [Benedetti] , on Oxford Music online (full access only with subscription; English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Baldassari, Benedetto , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660- 1800 , Vol. 1 (Abaco to Belfille), SIU Press, 1973, pp. 235–236, here: 235, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  6. ↑ According to Corago, there was only one (unknown) singer involved in the following productions: Maria Morosi!
  7. ^ Tito e Berenice (Antonio Caldara) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  8. ↑ Lucio Papirio (Francesco Gasparini) in Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  9. ^ Farnace (Carlo Francesco Pollarolo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  10. ^ Antigona (Giuseppe Maria Orlandini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  11. ↑ Benedetto Baldassari dit Benedetti , short biography online at Quell'Usignolo , with a list of CD recordings (French; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  12. ↑ Anthony Hicks: Booklet text on CD: Handel: Radamisto , with Dominique Labelle (Fraarte), Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato u. a., Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis, Virgin Classics / EMI, 2005, p. 33
  13. ^ Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Baldassari, Benedetto , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 , Vol. 1 ( Abaco to Belfille), SIU Press, 1973, pp. 235–236, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  14. ↑ Anthony Hicks: Booklet text on CD: Handel: Radamisto, with Dominique Labelle (Fraarte), Patrizia Ciofi, Joyce DiDonato u. a., Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis, Virgin Classics / EMI, 2005, p. 4
  15. ↑ Francisca Paula Vanherle: Benedetto Baldassari (Benedetti) , 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. 121-127, here: 126 f
  16. ↑ Benedetto Baldassari (1724), copperplate portrait of George Vertue in the Fitzwilliam Museum, online at museu.ms (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  17. ↑ This information can be found in the English Wikipedia article Richmond, London (accessed July 29, 2020)
  18. ^ Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Baldassari, Benedetto , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 , Vol. 1 ( Abaco to Belfille), SIU Press, 1973, pp. 235–236, here: 236, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on July 28, 2020)
  19. ↑ See Baldassari's voice portrait in: Francisca Paula Vanherle: Benedetto Baldassari (Benedetti) , 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. 121–127, here: 126 f
personal data
SURNAME Baldassari, Benedetto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benedetti
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (soprano castrato)
DATE OF BIRTH before 1706
DATE OF DEATH November 1739
Place of death Richmond