Caterina Galli

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Caterina Galli (* around 1723 in Italy ; † December 23, 1804 in Chelsea (London) ) was an Italian-English opera and oratorio singer ( mezzo-soprano ) who sang works by George Frideric Handel in London .

Life

Galli may have been from Cremona .

She sang in Bergamo in 1742 and went to London in 1742 with Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio and her friend, the soprano Giulia Frasi . Her career began there. She often played trouser roles. In 1753 she sang the spirit in Alfred von Thomas Arne . Like Frasi, she came under the influence of Handel, who used them both in his oratorios. In 1749 she sang the title role in Solomon . She also sang in the premieres of Judas Maccabaeus , Susanna , Theodora and Jephtha .

In 1754 she returned to Italy and performed in major opera houses in Genoa , Naples and Venice . She participated in several world premieres at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, such as Valentinian III. in Ezio by Gaetano Latilla or in Achille in Sciro by Johann Adolph Hasse . In 1762 she sang Giulia Mammea in the world premiere of Alessandro Severo by Antonio Sacchini at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice and in 1766 she sang the title role in the world premiere of Josef Mysliveček's Semiramide at the Teatro di Cittadella in Bergamo .

In 1770 she returned to London, where, like her debut, she appeared mainly at the King's Theater on the Haymarket . In 1773 she had success in performances of the Messiah (alto solo) and in the opera Lucio Vero by Antonio Sacchini. She sang in serious and comical roles and gave her farewell concert on May 30, 1777. When she was already in her sixth decade, financial reasons forced her to appear again in operas and oratorios (she performed in Covent Garden in 1797).

She was a close friend of the singer Martha Ray and was there when she was murdered in 1779 after attending the opera.

Documents about her finances, which provided insight into the pay of singers in the Handel area, surfaced in 2011. They make it likely that she left England in 1754 after getting into financial difficulties due to her extravagant lifestyle.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cheryll Duncan, David Mateer: An Innocent Abroad? Caterina Galli's Finances in New Handel Documents. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society. Volume 64, 2011, pp. 495-526, abstract
personal data
SURNAME Galli, Caterina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-English opera and oratorio singer (mezzo-soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Italy
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1804
Place of death Chelsea (London)