Francesco Antonio Pistocchi

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Antonio Pistocchi

Francesco Antonio Mamiliano Pistocchi , also called Pistocchino (* 1659 in Palermo , † 13 May 1726 in Bologna ) was an Italian composer , librettist , old castrato and singing teacher.

Singing career

Pistocchi was born in Palermo, where his father, Giovanni Pistocchi, was a violinist and singer at the time. In 1661 his parents moved to Bologna because his father found employment as a violinist in the chapel of the cathedral Basilica San Petronio . As a three-year-old, Pistocchi stood out for his beautiful voice and "enchanted the hearts of all listeners in public concerts with his little songs". Even at this young age he appeared regularly in churches, but also in private concerts by cardinals and the Grand Duke of Tuscany , he probably reports in the afterword of the first compositions from his hand, which were printed in 1667, when Pistocchi was eight years old to dispel doubts that a child could have created such compositions.

As a child he was employed at the chapel of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna . At the age of 15, in 1674, he first appeared on the stage in Ferrara. As a result, he was released from the cathedral chapel in 1675, but "the theaters were already fighting over the rising star, and he was greeted with applause and admiration."

However, Pistocchi would soon lose his voice. Unlike the researchers quoted by him, Franz Haböck attributes this to the fact that his father trained him as a soprano and pressed him into soprano roles, even if his natural pitch was old. Pistocchi then went to Venice, where he recovered his voice tone by tone in painstaking detail. It was only after 1687 that Pistocchi can be traced back - now as Altkastrat - in various opera productions in northern Italy.

During his "vocal crisis" Pistocchi made the acquaintance of the composer Domenico Gabrielli in Venice , who also came from Bologna and had worked at the chapel of the Cathedral of San Petronio there. Above all, Pistocchi continued to compose himself and as early as 1679 his first opera Leandro was performed in a Venetian puppet theater, with the singers singing behind the stage.

In 1687 he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna as a singer and only from that year on, first in Parma and later also in Piacenza, Modena and Bologna on the operatic stage. "The sensation, the taste and the unsurpassable grace of his art were particularly emphasized". In December, together with his friend Giuseppe Torelli and Nicola Paris, he was recruited by Margrave Georg Friedrich II of Brandenburg-Ansbach and set out for Germany. There he worked as Kapellmeister from 1696. In Ansbach , in addition to the shepherd's play Il Narciso (March 1697), the opera Le pazzie d'amore e dell'interesse, composed by him, was performed in 1699 , in which he himself took on the role of Rosmiro and with which the Ansbach court theater was opened. During her time in Ansbach, the later famous violinist Johann Georg Pisendel took lessons from Pistocchi and Giuseppe Torelli.

At the end of 1699 he went to Vienna and wrote a small opera for Count Nicolo Minato da Bergamo on his own libretto, entitled La risa di Democrito , which was performed in Vienna in February 1700 "with great success".

Pistocchi left Vienna in May 1700 and returned to Bologna, where he was again employed as a cantante di concerto , i.e. concert singer, at the chapel of the Basilica of San Petronio . A fee of 5 lire was contractually agreed for participating in a church concert, which is comparatively little. However, in the contract Pistocchi was also given the option to appear in other places and on opera stages at his own discretion. He performed in Parma in 1701 and in Milan in 1702. In 1702 he became virtuoso di camera e di capella with the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando de 'Medici .

In 1703 he returned to Bologna and performed an eight-part motet in honor of the saint on October 4th, the feast of the patron saint of the Basilica of San Petronio .

After an engagement as Vitige in La fede tradita by Francesco Gasparini (UA Venice, Teatro San Cassiano 1704) he took leave of the stage with his appearance as Antioco in Il più fedele tra Fassalli by Tomaso Albinoni (UA Genoa, Teatro del Falcone 1705) . Obviously, by then, his own singing skills had sunk considerably. In an admittedly satirical sonnet it says about him: "When Pistocchi makes a trill, it is almost like the noise that it makes when a big sack of nuts is shaken."

The singing school of Bologna

After retiring from the stage, Pistocchi continued to write his own music, since 1692 he had been active in the composers department of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. In 1715 he became a monk and was ordained a priest, now making more and more music for church occasions, including several oratorios.

Finally he founded his famous singing school, which, along with those in Naples and Venice, was one of the most important in Italy. Pistocchi's school was particularly important for the training of castrati .

Luigi Leonesi writes about the peculiarities of his technique of singing training in a footnote in the re-edition of the Opinioni de 'cantori antichi, e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato by Pier Francesco Tosi, which he connotes :

«Il celebre Pistocchi adoperava molto studio e diligenza nell'insegnare ai suoi scolari la perfetta pronunzia, dal che ne veniva che essi facevano intendere tutte le parole agli uditori, con la distinzione, quando occorreva, delle lettere raddoppiate. Non minor cura usava per i dittonghi, e non avveniva l'inconveniente oggi così frequente, di porre l'accento sull'ultima vocale quando è preceduta da un'altra, per esempio: iò, miò, tuò, leì, ecc. »

“Pistocchi went to great lengths to teach his students the correct pronunciation and accuracy of the same, especially when duplicating sounds [two times the same letter / sound in a row], so that the audience could understand every single word sung. He spent no less effort on the (correct pronunciation of) diphthongs and, in particular, on weaning students from the nowadays so common bad habit of placing the emphasis on the last of the two vowels (in a diphthong), e.g. B. to speak mío and not mió. "

The success of his vocal training was terrific, so that his student Antonio Bernacchi , who initially failed the audience after he had completed his training with Pistocchi and had followed his instructions down to the smallest detail, was celebrated as "one of the best singers of his time".

The most famous graduates of his school include:

The most famous castrato of the 18th century, Farinelli , also apprenticed to Pistocchi.

The Bolognese singing school was later continued by his student Antonio Bernacchi . Pistocchi retired to the monastery of S. Filippo Neri near Forli, where he composed arias, cantatas and oratorios.

Pistocchi died on May 13th, 1726. On May 14th, the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna organized a great funeral service with his music in the church of San Giovanni in Monte.

Appreciation

In addition to Pistocchi, the composer, singing teacher and theoretician Pier Francesco Tosi worked at the singing school in Bologna , who also praised Pistocchi as the "most famous singer of all time" in his teaching work Opinioni de 'cantori antichi e moderni, o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato who "made his name immortal by being the sole inventor of a ripe and inimitable taste and having taught all the beauties of art without being against time".

In his German translation of the Opinioni de 'cantori antichi, e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato, Agricola added in a footnote to Pistocchi:

“The art of singing undoubtedly owes him many improvements. Most of the singers who became famous after him in Wälschland [= Italy] were his students. He also had the secret of making everyone sing according to their ability and the special qualities of their voice. Therefore the way of singing of many scholars is very different from one another, but was always good because he knew how to distinguish the accidental from the essential beautiful in the art of singing. "

Stage works

  • Il Leandro (Camillo Badovero), dramma per musica (May 5, 1679 Venice, Teatro alle Zattere; 1682 Venice, S. Moisè as Gli amori fatali)
  • Il Narciso , Pastorale per musica (March 1697 Ansbach, for the opening of the court theater)
  • Le pazzie d'amore e dell'interesse (Pistocchi), Idea dramatica per musica (June 16, 1699 Ansbach), with himself as Rosmiro
  • La risa di Democrito (Nicolò Minato), Trattenimento per musica (February 17, 1700 Vienna)
  • La pace tra l'armi (Pistocchi), Serenata (September 5, 1700 Ansbach)
  • I rivali generosi (Zeno), Dramma per musica (April 1710 Reggio Emilia)

Oratorios

  • Il Martirio di S. Adriano

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 330
  2. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 330
  3. ↑ The compositions were published under the title Capricci puerili variamente composti, e passegiati in 40 modes sopra un basso d'un balletto da Francesco Antonio Massimiliano da Palermo Accademico Filarmonico in età d'anni otto, per suonarsi ne Clavicembalo, Arpa, Violino, et altri stromenti , d. H. in this, too, his childlike age was emphasized.
  4. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 331
  5. ^ Entire paragraph after Franz Haböck: The castrati and their singing art . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, pp. 331–332; there also the other literature mentioned.
  6. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 333
  7. ^ Josef Maier: Residenzschloß Ansbach. Shape and equipment in the course of time. Self-published by the historical association for Middle Franconia, Ansbach 2005, ISBN 3-87707-660-2 .
  8. ^ Giuseppe Torelli: Concerti musicali: opus 6. AR Editions, Middleton, Wisconsin 2002, p. Vii
  9. ^ Alfred Ebert: A contribution to the history of music at the court of King Friedrich I of Prussia . Giesecke & Devrient, Bremen 2012, p. 19
  10. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 333
  11. ^ So Franz Haböck: The castrati and their singing art . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 334, which cites as a comparison a reward of seven hundred ducats for a concert for the castrato Caffarelli .
  12. ↑ In the original it says "Pistocco col fa un trill 'se puo eguagliare / aquel rumor qu'é solito de fare / quando se scossa un gran sacco de nose", quoted from Franz Haböck: The castrati and their singing art . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 335.
  13. ↑ Analogous translation. Quoted from Pier Francesco Tosi : La scuola di canto dell'epoca d'oro: (secolo XVII): Opinioni de 'cantori antichi, e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato . Reprint of the original 1823 edition with comments by Luigi Leonesi. without publisher, Naples 1904, p. 76
  14. ↑ The anecdote is reported in Allatson Burgh: Anecdotes of music, historical and biographical: in a series of letters from a gentleman to his daughter. In three volumes. Volume 2. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme And Brown, London 1814, p. 371. The full anecdote reads in the English original: “Signor Mancini confirms what has been frequently related of his master Bernacchi, that when he first appeared on the fctage , having neither a good natural voice, nor a good manner of singing, he was so ill received, that his best friends advised him, either to quit the profession of a singer entirely, or to place himself wholly under the direction of Pistocchi. Having followed their advice in this last particular, Pistocchi received him with kindness; and marking out a course of study for him, Bernacchi not only followed it implicitly, applying with unwearied diligence for several years, but during this time declined singing, not only in churches and theaters, but even in private parties to his most intimate friends: till, having the full consent of his instructor, he appeared with such eclat, that he was regarded by the best judges, though his voice was originally defective, as the most refined singer of his time. "
  15. ^ Gustav Nauenburg: The Italian Solfeggir art and its relation to the German art of singing. In: Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung, Volume 45 (1843), Col. 625-627
  16. ^ Franz Haböck: The castrati and their art of singing . Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leipzig 1927, p. 340
  17. ↑ Original: “Musico il più insigne de 'nostri, e di tutti i tempi, il di cui nome si è reso immortale per essere stato egli l'unico inventore d'un gusto finito e inimitabile, e per aver insegnato a tutti le bellezze dell'arte, senza openere le misure del tempo “from Pier Francesco Tosi : Opinioni de 'cantori antichi e moderni, o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato . Bologna 1723, p. 102, German translation in Pier Francesco Tosi : Instructions for Singing Art. Translated into German and annotated by Johann Friedrich Agricola. Winter, Berlin 1757, p. 180; see. also the English translation
  18. ^ Pier Francesco Tosi: Instructions for Singing Art. Translated into German and annotated by Johann Friedrich Agricola. Winter, Berlin 1757, p. 180
personal data
SURNAME Pistocchi, Francesco Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pistocchi, Francesco Antonio Mamiliano (full name); Pistocchino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer, librettist, alto castrato and singing teacher
DATE OF BIRTH 1659
PLACE OF BIRTH Palermo
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1726
Place of death Bologna