Domenico Annibali

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Anton Raphael Mengs - portrait of the singer Domenico Annibali
Anton Raphael Mengs - portrait of the singer Domenico Annibali
Domenico Annibali as Demetrio in the opera Antigono by Johann Adolph Hasse (Dresden Carnival 1744)
Domenico Annibali as Attilio Regolo in the opera of the same name by Johann Adolph Hasse (Dresden Carnival 1750)
Domenico Annibali as Plistene in the opera Ipermestra by Johann Adolph Hasse Hubertusburg October 7th 1751 / Carneval Dresden 1752
Title page of the score for Handel's Berenice (London 1737)
Domenico Annibali in conversation with the head of the Teatro di San Cesareo in Rome. Caricature by Pier Leone Ghezzi
Domenico Annibali. Virtuoso di Sua Majestà il Rè di Polonia . Drawing by Pier Leone Ghezzi , etched by Matthias Oesterreich

Domenico Annibali , sometimes also called Dominichino Annibali or Domenico Annibalino (* between 1700 and 1705 in Macerata ; † 1779 or later, probably in Rome ) was an Italian opera singer ( Altkastrat ).

Life

Nothing is known about Domenico Annibali's childhood and youth. His date of birth is also not known exactly. The first time his name appears in connection with the mission of the Envoy Extraordinary of the Saxon King Augustus the Strong , Count Emilio de Villio , who was commissioned by the Elector and later King August III. find four castrati and three female singing talents in Italy, train them at the expense of the Saxon king and then commit them to the royal court and the royal opera in Dresden.

Domenico Annibali was next to the two castrato soprano Giovanni Bindi and Venturo Rocchetti as well as his old castrato colleague one of the four castrati who were selected by Vilio. At the expense of the Saxon state, Annibali was trained by the castrato Pietro Benedetti in Recanti, near his birthplace Macerata . In 1726 he was sent to Venice to “refine” his skills, where he trained on the one hand with the castrato and singing teacher Francesco Antonio Pistocchi , and on the other by attending opera performances. For this purpose, boxes in the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo and in the Teatro Sant'Angelo were rented and paid for by the King of Saxony .

Stage debut in Venice

The repeatedly found statement that Annibali made her debut in opera Germanico by Nicola Antonio Porpora is, as Zórawska-Witkowska has proven, incorrect, since the opera was not performed until 1732. According to her research, his debut with his role as Uranio in L'incostanza schernita by Tommaso Albinoni is to be set. This took place - after letters from Count Emilio Vilio to Dresden - due to his mediation, as he had auditioned at the owners of the San Grisostomo and two other theaters in Venice, the Grimani brothers. In the carnival season 1728/1729 he took part in two productions at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice:

The famous castrato Senesino , who, like Annibali from 1731/1734 in Dresden and, like Annibali in the 1736/1737 season, in London, sang the roles of Primo uomo in both productions , while Annibali still appeared in supporting roles . It was in Adelaide that he met Faustina Bordoni for the first time , with whom he would then be on stage regularly in Dresden in 1731 and from 1734.

In the Carnival of 1729/30 Annibali sang in

Employment and debut in Dresden

In both opera libretti from 1729 Annibali was already announced as "Virtuoso de SM il Rè Augusto de Polonia", that is, as a member of the Saxon court orchestra and singer of the King of Poland. When exactly the employment at the Sächsischer Hof took place, however, the starting salary was, as with the other three castrati, at 792 thalers.

In September 1731 Annibali arrived in Dresden together with the other three castrati and the three singers who had been trained in Italy at the expense of the Saxon state and appeared for the first time in the opera Cleofide as Alessandro on the opera stage.

With the splendid staging of the Cleofide , the court conductor and court composer Johann Adolph Hasse, officially appointed from 1734, and his wife, the soprano Faustina Bordoni, made their Dresden debut.

Intermezzo in Vienna, Rome and Naples

Like Hasse and Faustina Bordoni, Annibali was given another leave of absence and went from Dresden first to Vienna, then in 1732 to Rome and Naples, where she appeared in the following roles:

Annibali sang the title roles for the first time in the two operas in Rome. He also sang here for the first time with Angelo Maria Monticelli (as Rosmonda in Germanico and as Sestia, daughter of Cajo Fabrizio in Cajo Fabricio ), who would later also sing in Dresden, and with Felice Salimbeni (as Ersinda), who after a guest role in Dresden finally became a singer at the court of Friedrich II of Prussia. Also in leading roles, he appeared in both productions together with the famous castrato Caffarelli (Arminio in Germanico and Pirro in Cajo Fabricio ).

Dresden (1734–1736)

In 1734 he returned to Dresden and took part in the opera Cajo Fabricio von Hasse with the following cast:

In the spring of 1736, Handel from London officially asked the Saxon court whether he could borrow Domenico Annibali for a season.

London (1736–1737)

In October 1736 Annibali went to London, where he was announced as a "castrato who was celebrated in Dresden", and became a member of the ensemble in Georg Friedrich Handel's third opera academy, which was run under his own financial responsibility .

“On Tuesday last Signor Dominico Annibali, the celebrated Italian Singer lately arriv'd from Dresden, to perform in Mr. Handel's Opera in Coven-Garden, was sent for to Kensington, and had the Honor to sing several Songs before her Majesty and the Princesses, who express'd the highest Satisfaction at his Performance. "

"Last Tuesday [5. October] the celebrated Italian singer Domenico Annibali, recently arrived from Dresden to appear in Handel's Coventgarden Opera, was sent to Kensington, where he had the honor of performing various chants for the Queen and Princesses, who were most pleased with this performance . "

- The Old Whig , London, October 14, 1736

On December 8, 1736, Annibali appeared on the stage of the Covent Garden Theater for the first time during the revival of Handel's Poro . In this revival, a common practice at the time, but only to be found in one other opera apart from Poro, three of his “suitcase arias” were incorporated into Handel's Poro : two by Giovanni Alberto Ristori and one by Leonardo Vinci . In 1737 Annibali sang the title roles in Arminio and Giustino as well as Demetrio in Handel's new opera Berenice . In addition, he took over Ahasuerus in a revival of Handel's oratorio Esther in Italian. Parts of the revival of Alexander's Feast and the three-part second version of his oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno , composed in Rome in 1707 and performed under the new title Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità , were specially rewritten for Annibali . Finally, Annibali is said to have contributed to Handel's pasticcio Didone abbandonata (HWV A12). After only one season in London, he returned to Dresden.

Dresden (1738–1756)

Apparently during his stay in London Annibali was made a lucrative counter-offer by the Dresden court and his original salary increased from 792 to 1500 Taler. A further increase in the salary took place at the end of 1739 (to 2000 thalers). In Dresden he remained listed among the active court musicians until 1756, but did not leave the city until 1764. In Dresden he sang mainly in the operas of the court composer Johann Adolph Hasse - in the following roles:

During this time in Dresden he also took part in the following operas by other composers:

In probably one of the largest operas ever produced in Dresden, Solimano von Hasse (1753), he was no longer cast.

According to Ortmann, who looked through the parish registers of Dresden, one can assume that Domenico Annibali was a close friend of the Hasses and also dealt closely with them privately. At least he and 1–2 representatives are often the best witnesses or godparents together.

Retirement in Macerata and death (in Rome?)

In 1764 he left Dresden and retired in his hometown Macerata - with a pension of 1200 thalers approved by the Saxon court (according to Kreisig, according to today's standards, 87,000 EUR). Even in retirement he continued to hold the title of court musician . He stayed in Macerata until at least 1776. Three years later, in 1779, Annibali went to Rome.

Singing qualities

According to a statement by Winton, who refers to Burney, which cannot be found in this way, Annibali did not leave a lasting impression in England ("his abilities during his stay in England seem to have made no deep impression"). In contrast, Winton also reports of a Mrs. Pendarves, who saw in Annibali's voice the "best of Senisono's and Carestini's voice". The latter may be evident in the high pitch range of the arias that Hasse had written for him in his early and Handel in London: this extends from a to f '' in Hasse or up to g '' in Hasse's Demofoonte ( 1748), on the other hand, the highest note is a g. In other reports, his “brilliant” and “extremely flexible” coloratura is praised, whereas his acting was rather wooden.

Web links

Commons : Domenico Annibali  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Operas by Hasse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: A Dictionary of Music and Musicians / Annibali, Domenico  - sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Philip H. Highfill, jr., Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans (Eds.): A biographical dictionary of actors, actresses, musicians, dancers, managers & other stage personnel in London, 1660-1800 . tape 1 . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Ill. 1973, pp. 87-88 ( Google Books ).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Winton Dean:  Annibali, Domenico. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ a b Alina Zórawska-Witkowska: The career of Domenico Annibali and his Handel's opera roles. In: Handel-Jahrbuch 58. 2012, pp. 57–71.
  4. ^ Libretto Venice 1729
  5. ^ Libretto Venice 1729
  6. ↑ Fürstenau speaks of 1730, according to Zórawska-Witkowska, the appointment may have taken place as early as 1729.
  7. ^ Johann Adolph Hasse: Cajo Fabrizio. Libretto, Rome 1732
  8. ^ Nicola Porpora: Germanico in Germania. Libretto, Rome 1732 .
  9. ^ Editing management of the Halle Handel Edition : Documents on life and work. In: Walter Eisen (ed.): Handel manual. Volume 4, Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985, ISBN 3-7618-0717-1 , p. 269.
  10. ^ A b Moritz Fürstenau : On the history of music and theater at the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Rudolf Kuntze's publishing house, Dresden 1862, p.  272 f . ( Copy in Google Book Search).
  11. ^ La clemenza di Tito (Johann Adolf Hasse) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
  12. ↑ On the wedding of Charles III, King of Spain with Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony . ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de )
  13. ^ Il Demetrio (Johann Adolf Hasse) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
  14. ^ Libretto Dresden 1740
  15. ↑ a b c d Philipp Kreisig: Domenico Annibali - member of the selected circle of virtuosi di SM il Ré di Polonia, Elettore di Sassonia . In: The Dresden court of the 18th century and its vocal gods (series of articles by students of the TU Dresden in the monthly Semper of the Semperoper Dresden) . Part 3. TU Dresden, Dresden ( tu-dresden.de ( memento from July 23, 2016 in the web archive archive.today ) [ MS Word ]). Domenico Annibali - member of the selected group of the Virtuosi di SM il Ré di Polonia, Elettore di Sassonia ( Memento from July 23, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
  16. ↑ digital.slub-dresden.de Libretto in Italian and German
  17. ↑ Giannambrogio Migliavacca, Johann Adolph Hasse: Solimano. Drama Per Musica, Da Rappresentarsi Nel Teatro Della Regia Elettoral Corte Di Dresda Nel Carnevale Dell'Anno MDCCLIII. (Parallel title: Soliman, a Singspiel, which was performed at the Royal Pohln. And Churfürstl. Sächs. Hof-Theater in Dresden, during the Carneval period in 1753) . Stößel, Dresden 1753, p. 92 f . ( Digitized uni-muenchen.de ).
  18. ↑ Ortrun Landmann: Further sources on the stays of the Hasse couple in Dresden. In: Johann Adolf Hasse. Tradition, reception, present. Report on the symposium from 23-25. April 2010 in the University of Music and Theater Hamburg (= series of publications of the Hasse societies in Hamburg-Bergedorf and Munich special series. Volume 3). Carus Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, pp. 129–142.
  19. ^ Panja Mücke: Johann Adolf Hasse's Dresden operas in the context of court culture . Laaber, Laaber 2003, p. 347 f . ( Google Books ).
personal data
SURNAME Annibali, Domenico
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Annibali, Dominichino; Annibalino, Domenico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (Altkastrat)
DATE OF BIRTH between 1700 and 1705
PLACE OF BIRTH Macerata
DATE OF DEATH after 1779
Place of death uncertain: Rome