Diana Vico

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diana Vico in a hero role, perhaps as Quinto Fabio in Pollarolo's Lucio Papirio (1720). Caricature by Marco Ricci

Diana Vico (* in? Venice , active from 1707 bis 1732 ) was an Italian e opera singer ( Alt ) of the Baroque , among other things, with George Frideric Handel in London worked.

Life

Diana Vico was born in Venice, then the glamorous center of Italian opera. There she made her debut in 1707 in Girolamo Polani's opera Vindice la pazzia della vendetta . In addition to engagements in other Italian cities such as Verona (1708), Ferrara (1711) and Padua (1712, 1718), she repeatedly returned to the theaters of her hometown.

It was not unusual in the Baroque and, because of the preference for high castrato voices , not particularly noticeable for women to appear in male roles (e.g. Maria Maddalena Musi , Margherita de L'Épine , Vittoria Tesi, etc.), but Diana Vico seems to be outspoken to have “specialized” in it. It is not known whether this corresponded to a personal preference, or whether she simply had better career opportunities because of her beautiful dark alto voice and perhaps not very attractive appearance in trouser roles. Unlike the castrato Farfallino , who, conversely, specialized in female roles (because only men were allowed to perform in Rome ), the Vico occasionally also embodied female heroines.

In Vicenza she sang the male title role in Antonio Vivaldi's first opera Ottone in villa in 1713, and in 1714 she was in Mantua .

From 1714 to 1716 she went to the King's Theater at Haymarket in London , where she sang for the first time on November 16, 1714 in the role of Ricimero in the pasticcio Ernelinda (including music by Gasparini ). She was a well-respected member of the London Opera and usually had secondo roles, except for the resumption of Handel's Rinaldo on December 30, 1714, when she sang the title role in place of famous audience favorite Nicolino , who later took the part again when he was leaving Italy returned.

Title page of the libretto by Handel's Amadigi di Gaula , London 1715

Handel wrote the role of Dardano in Amadigi (premiere: 1715) for Diana Vico , in which she had to sing the expressive, pathetic aria “Pena tiranna” with obbligato bassoon and oboe - not only one of the most beautiful, but also “one of the best worked and masterful compositions of this opera ”(“ one of the most elaborate and masterly compositions in the opera ”; Charles Burney ).
On August 27, 1715 Diana Vico was one of the singers of a single performance of Francesco Mancini's Hydaspes (or Idaspe fedele ) desired by the king, along with Nicolino and " Margarita " (de L'Épine ). She also took over the roles of Vologeso in Lucio Vero and Segestes in Arminio , and in February-March 1716 Mario in Alessandro Scarlatti's Pirro e Demetrio .

She then said goodbye to London and returned to Italy, where she appeared in theaters in Bologna , Padua, Genoa , Florence , Turin , Reggio and Modena in the following years up to 1721, in addition to Venice .

During the carnival of 1716-17 she appeared in the elegant Venetian Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo alongside Marianna Benti Bulgarelli and the young Faustina Bordoni in Antonio Lotti's opera Alessandro Severo (premiere: January 17, 1717) - probably in a female role as Sallustia.

In Florence in the carnival of 1719 she sang the title role of Diana in Luca Antonio Predieri's opera La finta pazzia di Diana (“The pretended madness of Diana”) - the correspondence between the name of the interpreter and the operatic character was certainly no coincidence.

In 1720 she was in the service of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich.

Her career continued to show numerous highlights in the following decade. At the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Vico performed several times alongside Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni in the 1720-21 season : in Antonio Pollarolo's Lucio Papirio in the role of Quinto Fabio (premiere: December 26, 1720) and in Orlandini's Nerone as Agrippina (premiere : February 11, 1721). There is a caricature by Marco Ricci of Vico as Quinto Fabio (fig. Above).

At the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples she was part of a first-class ensemble from 1724–1725 with stars such as Vittoria Tesi , the young Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) and Anna Maria Strada . Vico embodied the female title role in Nicola Porporas Semiramide (premier: spring 1724) and sang trouser roles in Leonardo Vinci's operas Eraclea (as Decio; premier: October 1, 1724) and Astianatte (as Pirro; premier: December 2, 1725) , as well as in Giovanni Porta's operas Amore e Fortuna (as Ismero; premiere: October 1, 1725) and Lucinda fedele (as Casimiro; premiere: Carnival 1726).

At the Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo in Venice she can be found for the last time in the winter of 1726–1727, alongside Lucia Facchinelli in Nicola Porporas Meride e Selinunte (as Meride; premiere: December 26, 1726). In the same year she performed in Bologna and in 1729 stood in Milan with Vittoria Tesi and the young Caffarelli on stage in the world premiere of Predieris Eurene . In the same city she apparently had her last appearance in 1732 in Portas Gianguir , at the side of Giovanni Carestini and the later famous tenor Angelo Amorevoli .

Diana Vico's date and place of death are not yet known.

A caricature by Marco Ricci , in which she is seen in antique armor with a feathered helmet and sword, probably as Quinto Fabio in the opera Lucio Papirio dittatore in the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in 1720 gives a rough idea of ​​Diana Vico's effect on stage . The drawing is part of an album in the Joseph Smith library that is now in the Royal Collection . Another caricature of Diana Vico can be found in an album by Anton Maria Zanetti ( Fondazione Giorgio Cini , Venice).

literature

  • Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present ... , Vol. 4, Bechet, London, 1789, pp. 250–51, excerpts online on Google Book (English; accessed on 26. June 2020)
  • Winton Dean: Vico, Diana , article in Oxford Music online (accessed June 26, 2020)
  • Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Vico, Diana , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 , Vol. 15 (Tibbett to M. West), SIU Press, 1973, p. 155, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on June 23, 2020)

Web links

Individual proof

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Winton Dean: Vico, Diana , article in Oxford Music online (English; accessed on June 26, 2020)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans: Vico, Diana , in: A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660 -1800 , Vol. 15 (Tibbett to M. West), SIU Press, 1973, p. 155, online as a Google Book (English; accessed on June 23, 2020)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Diana Vico , short biography online at Quell'Usignolo (French; accessed on June 26, 2020)
  4. ^ Ottone in villa (Antonio Vivaldi) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  5. ^ A b Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present ... , Vol. 4, Bechet, London, 1789, p. 250, excerpts online on Google Book (English; accessed on 26 June 2020)
  6. ^ Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present ... , Vol. 4, Bechet, London, 1789, pp. 250-51, excerpts online on Google Book (English; accessed on 26 June 2020)
  7. ↑ WP = world premiere
  8. ^ Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present ... , Vol. 4, Bechet, London, 1789, pp. 25 and 254, excerpts online on Google Book (English; accessed on 26 June 2020)
  9. ^ A b Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present ... , Vol. 4, Bechet, London, 1789, p. 256, excerpts online on Google Book (English; accessed on 26 June 2020)
  10. ^ Alessandro Severo (Antonio Lotti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  11. ^ La finta pazzia di Diana (Luca Antonio Predieri) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  12. ↑ Lucio Papirio (Antonio Pollarolo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  13. ^ Nerone (Giuseppe Maria Orlandini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  14. ^ Semiramide, regina dell'Assiria (Nicola Porpora) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  15. ^ Eraclea (Leonardo Vinci) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  16. ^ Astianatte (Leonardo Vinci) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  17. ^ Amore e Fortuna (Giovanni Porta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  18. ↑ Lucinda fedele (Giovanni Porta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  19. ↑ Meride e Selinunte (Nicola Porpora) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  20. ↑ Eurene (Luca Antonio Predieri) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  21. ^ Gianguir (Giovanni Porta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  22. ↑ Diana Vico on a caricature by Marco Ricci on the Royal Collection Trust website (accessed June 26, 2020) 
  ???
personal data
SURNAME Vico, Diana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (alto)
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH 18th century