Gaetano Berenstadt

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The castrato Gaetano Berenstadt (or Baerenstadt) was also known as the singing elephant because of his massive appearance. The depiction comes from the Italian painter and caricaturist Pier Leone Ghezzi
John Vanderbank: Caricature of a performance of Handel's Flavio (3rd act, scene 4). The drawing shows the castrato Senesino on the left, the prima donna diva Francesca Cuzzoni in the middle and on the far right the castrato Gaetano Berenstadt, who played the title role.
William Hogarth : The Bad Taste of Town (alternative title: Lame Theater ) caricature, in the banner above the entrance of the building on the left the modified scene from Flavio (see caricature above) with Cuzzoni in the foreground and the two castrati Senesino and Berenstadt behind her, In the front right, nobles kneel and "beg", as the written banner above them reveals, for the singers (or just the Cuzzoni?) to please accept 8,000 pounds.
Title page of the excerpt from Handel's opera Flavio (London 1723)

Gaetano Berenstadt (born June 7, 1687 in Florence , buried December 9, 1734 there ) was an old castrat of German descent who became better known through his participation in operas by George Frideric Handel .

Alternative names

In addition to the chosen form of the surname, which is based on the librettos produced in Italy and the preferred spelling in English-language literature, the following name forms have been handed down:

  • Gaetan Bärenstadt (older German-language literature about him)
  • Gaetano Baerenstadt
  • in a few librettos too
  • Gaetano Bernstad
  • Gaetano Bernstatt

Origin and musical training

An exact date of birth is not known, but Gaetano Berenstadt states in his own will that he was born in 1690. Berenstadt's parents were German and came from Bernstadt in Silesia, today's Bierutów. His father, whose name was already Italianized, Giorgio Berenstadt, was employed as a timpanist in the chapel of the Grand Duke of Tuscany . He received his vocal training at the well-known singing school of (and with) Francesco Antonio Pistocchi in Bologna and is one of the most famous graduates of this school.

The beginning of his singing career

He probably made his stage debut as Orondate in the opera Le regine di Macedonia by Marc'Antonio Ziani , which premiered in 1708 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. In it he played the role of Orondate. In the libretto he is announced as Gaetano Beynstetter.

For this reason it was assumed that Berenstadt was initially trained at one of the orphanage conservatories in Naples. In any case, he went to see Francesco Antonio Pistocchi in Bologna .

His next appearances are his participation in a festival in honor of St. Gaudentius in Novara in 1711, at which his singing teacher Pistocchi sang the role of primo uomo, and also in 1711 in Predieri's La virtù in trionfo, o sia La Griselda in Bologna. In 1712 he appeared in two pasticcios in Florence.

In Florence he made the acquaintance of the Palatinate Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz , who signed him as a court singer at the court of Düsseldorf. For Düsseldorf, participation in the Amalasunta of the Düsseldorf court conductor Johann Hugo von Wilderer in 1713 as well as in an opera with the title Annibale pacificatore by an unknown composer in 1715 has been proven.

In June 1716 the Palatine Elector died and Berenstadt lost his post. Nevertheless he appeared in some librettos before 1720 as chamber singer for the Elector of the Palatinate.

Debut in London: 1717

In 1717 Berenstadt went to London for the first time, where he took on the role of Argante, who made a deal with the evil sorceress Armida, in the revival of Georg Friedrich Handel's opera Rinaldo . For his resumption of Rinaldo , Handel transposed the role originally written for Berenstadt , as usual for villains, for bass Giuseppe Maria Boschi , and composed various arias anew. The fact that castrati appeared in the roles of the villain was rather unusual in the baroque opera, but Berenstadt remained, probably because of his gigantic figure, subscribed to evil characters. Furthermore, Berenstadt played in this first season in London

  • as Mario in Pyrrhus and Dimetrius ( WP February 2, 1717)
  • as Vincislao in Vincislao, re di Polonia by Francesco Mancini (WA of the premiere Naples 1714 on March 14th 1717)
  • as the title hero in Tito Manlio (WP April 4, 1717) by Ariosti

Since no Italian operas were performed in London between 1717 and 1720, Berenstadt initially returned to mainland Europe.

Intermezzo in Dresden: 1718

After this debut in London, Berenstadt returned to Italy. On the way he made a stopover in Dresden and worked for one year in the service of the Saxon Elector Friedrich August I, better known as King August II of Poland or August the Strong. For this one-year commitment, Berenstadt received a fee of 3,000 thalers. What he actually did in Dresden, however, must remain unclear for the time being. Contrary to what is claimed by Grove Online Music, there is no evidence of his participation in Antonio Lotti's opera Ascanio ovvero gli odi delusi dal sangue in February 1718.

Return to Italy: 1719-1722

From Dresden he went back to Italy. There he sang mainly in Rome, Bologna and Venice, including in several operas by Francesco Gasparini , so

  • as Vologeso in Lucio Vero (Premiere Rome, Teatro d'Alibert January 1719)
  • as a pilade in Astianatte (premier Rome, Teatro d'Alibert Carnival 1719)
  • as Amasi in Sesostri, re d'Egitto (WA of the premiere Venice 1710 in Bologna, Teatro Malvezzi spring 1719)
  • as Arsace in Amore e maestà ( Premiere Rome, Teatro d'Alibert January 7, 1720)
  • as Gustavo in Il Faramondo (Premiere Rome, Teatro d'Alibert February 1720)
  • as Leonildo in Il più fedel tra vassalli (WA Milan, Regio Ducal Teatro 26 December 1720) - here Berenstadt operates for the first time as "Virtuoso della Musica del Rè Augusto"

In the carnival season 1721–1722 he was under contract at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice with the alto Vittoria Tesi , the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni , the old castrato colleague Antonio Bernacchi and the soprano castrato Giovanni Ossi . He appeared here in three operas:

  • Plautilla by Antonio Pollarolo
  • Giulio Flavio Crispo by Giovanni Maria Capelli (premiere: January 17, 1722 Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo) - in the title role
  • Venceslao (pasticchio by Pollarollo, Capelli and Giovanni Porta ; premiere: 7 February 1722 Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo) - as Alessandro

With Francesca Cuzzoni he went to London in 1722. (Bernacchi was also supposed to sing for Handel in London in the 1729–1730 season.)

Return to London: 1722-1724

In 1722 he returned to London and appeared in various operas of the Royal Academy of Music , which had been founded in 1719 - namely in 4 operas by Handel, 3 operas by Giovanni Battista Bononcini and 2 by Attilio Ariosti .

  • Season 1722–1723
    • Floridante by Handel (December 4, 1722) - as Timante
    • Ottone von Handel (January 12, 1723) - as Adelberto
    • Cajo Marzio Coriolano by Attilio Ariosti (March 23, 1723) - as Sicinio
    • Erminia by Giovanni Bononcini (March 30, 1723) - as Niso
    • Flavio von Handel (May 14, 1723) - in the title role of Flavio
  • Season 1723–1724

Probably also because he was increasingly used in supporting roles in London and no longer sang leading roles, mostly only got short arias without too difficult passages, Berenstadt left London in 1724 and went back to Italy.

Berenstadt and Leonardo Vinci

Back in Italy, an intensive collaboration with Leonardo Vinci ensued . The first role that Berenstadt took on in a Vinci opera was that of the "evil" African king Jarba, who harassed Didone, in Didone abbandonata , which was premiered in 1726 at the Teatro Bernabò in Rome. He then took part in the following operas by Vinci:

  • as Ricimero in L'Ernelinda (premiere in Naples, Teatro San Bartolomeo November 4, 1726) and (WA for the premiere in Naples 1726 in Florence, Teatro alla Pergola December 26, 1727)
  • as Pirro in L'Andromaca (WA of the premiere Naples 1726 in Florence, Teatro alla Pergola February 17, 1728)
  • as Ircano in Semiramide riconosciuta (Premiere Rome, Teatro delle Dame 6 February 1729)
  • as Artabano in Artaserse
  • as Alessandro in Alessandro nell'Indie (WA of the premiere Rome 1730 in Livorno, Teatro San Sebastiano 1731)

Berenstadt is said to have worked hard for Vinci when he was concerned that he might fall behind due to the fact that his second opera of the 1730 season was to be performed later than that of his competitor Nicola Porpora . Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg passed on the following anecdote in his work Critical Letters on the Art of Music :

“Among Vinci's singers there was a castrat named Gaetan Bärenstadt, who didn’t do much work on singing, but on the other hand (a strange phenomenon with people of his kind!) He was much more stubborn and therefore popular in many elegant houses had made. In the operas in which he (sic!) He acted, he was usually content with the last role. Unfortunately, Porpora once said something bad about him. The present incident seemed to offer Bear Cities a convenient opportunity to take revenge on Porpora, and at the same time to help Vinci out of trouble. So he gave Vinci good cheer and asked him to rely only on him. Then he took a few pounds of the driest and finest Spanish snuff that was only available, and filled small paper tubes with them, in which he left a small opening at the top and bottom. Armed with these, in a completely unrecognizable clothing, he went to the scene where the Porpora opera was to be rehearsed for the last time. There he rented his own box for himself in the top row, and kept himself hidden in it as possible. When the main rehearsal began at a very numerous gathering, and the friends of Porpora failed to express their applause and amazement as often and as loudly as they could, Bärenstadt also began to pick out a few of them to blow out his tubes of tobacco as hard as possible. The tobacco immediately spread over the ground floor, and gradually fell on the audience below. One soon became aware of it and began to look up to discover the origin of this so unusual rain. But now the falling tobacco mastered the noses raised up, and everyone began to sneeze. Bärenstadt, however, did not fail to fire several of his tobacco cartridges. So the more you looked up, the more general the sneezing and the noise about this strange occurrence became. The screams of the ladies complaining about their dresses and lace began to drown out the voices of the singers, and at last everyone tried to get out of the scene the sooner they were before, so that by the end of the first act there was no more audience to be seen. Because the rehearsal could not be listened to and examined, the opera of poor Porpora received a tremendous blow, as is usual in Rome, and the second opera by Vinci received all the more applause. A very malicious prank by a funny singer. "

Farewell to the stage: 1734

In 1734 he appeared as atalo in Giuseppe Maria Orlandini's Nino / La Semiramide at the Teatro alla Pergola in Florence for the last time on an opera stage. He died a year later and was buried in Florence. The funeral service took place on February 15, 1735.

Voice, singing and acting

In some reference works, Berenstadt is mistakenly referred to as bass .

According to Lindgren, Berenstadt's voice was not characterized by an overly wide range. The maximum he found was 13 tones (g to two-stroke e (e ″)), but usually less (a to d ″). On the other hand, his arias are usually “stormy, full of jumps and medium-length melismas (= tone sequences sung on one syllable)”.

Berenstadt as a collector of art objects, books and incunabula

A special kind of obsession is passed down for Gaetano Berenstadt: his fascination for books and medieval manuscripts. It is reported that he had an excellent library of both books and manuscripts and that he often participated in auctions. This fascination is particularly detailed in the surviving private correspondence with the Florentine merchant Giacomo Zamboni (42 letters between 1717 and 1733). The librettist Apostolo Zeno also attested to Berenstadt that he “has excellent knowledge of our best authors and has an exquisite taste when it comes to Italian poetry and poetry”.

Representations / illustrations

The English music writer Charles Burney describes Berenstadt as a "castrato of huge and clumsy stature"

The best-known depiction from the pen of John Vanderbank shows Gaetano Berenstadt in the role of Flavio in Handel's opera Flavio together with the prima donna Francesca Cuzzoni and the top earner of the Royal Academy of Music , the Primo uomo and castrato Senesino in the 4th scene of the 3rd Act. This representation is, like most representations of this type, a caricature . This particular exaggerates the physical peculiarities of the three actors - especially the oversize Berenstadt compared to the relatively short stature and not exactly special beauty of Cuzzoni - into the grotesque. It should be mentioned here that excessive and disproportionate growth of the bones and, associated with this, oversize, not infrequently in contrast to undersize, but also joint problems and diseases such as rheumatism, were typical consequences of castration.

This caricature of the three actors in the Flavio served the caricaturist William Hogarth as the basis for his caricature about "bad taste in the city" (meaning London), which is also titled The Bad Taste of the Town and is kept in the British Museum. This caricature targets the Londoners' fondness for un-English Italian opera, but also the excessive claims and fees paid to Italian singers and especially castrati. In the banner that hangs over the entrance to the building on the left, the scene from Handel's Flavio (see caricature above) depicted in the caricature Vanderbanks is taken up again and shows the prima donna Cuzzoni in the foreground and the two castrati Senesino and Berenstadt behind her. In the front right, in front of the three artists, nobles kneel and "beg", as the written banner above them reveals, for the singers (or just the Cuzzoni?) To "please accept 8,000 pounds" (original English "Pray Accept £ 8000") ).

Modern recordings

First and foremost, reference should be made to the recordings of the operas listed above, so far already available, in particular, of course, those of the Handel operas in which Berenstadt participated. The young Italian countertenor Fillipo Mineccia has dedicated a solo program to the castrati under the title Il Castrato del Granduca: Gaetano Berenstadt , in which he performed arias from operas by Handel, Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini .

further reading

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ z. B. in the libretto of the opera L'amor tirannico (composer unknown; performed in Florence 1712)
  2. ^ Libretto from Ziani's Le regine di Macedonia
  3. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden. Kuntze, Dresden 1862. Volume 2, p. 105 . The fees of the other artists employed at the time are also mentioned there: “ Antonio Lotti and his wife, the first soprano Santa Stella Lotti 2100 doubles or Louisd'or à 5 thalers. - 10500 thalers The second soprano Margherita Catterina Zani , called Marucini 800 Ld. - 4000 Thlr. The contrarian Lucia Gaggi , called Bavarini 600 Ld. - 3000 Thlr. The first soprano Francesco Bernardi, called Senesino 1400 Ld. - 7000 Thlr. The second soprano Matteo Berselli 900 Ld. - 4500 Thlr. The tenor Francesco Guicciardi 600 Ld. - 3000 Thlr. The poet Antonio Maria Abbate Luchini 1000 thalers. The contrabassist Gerolamo Personelli 1000 Thlr. In addition to these Italians, around the same time and in 1718, the following were also engaged: the soprano Livia Constantini, known as La Polacchma - 1600 thalers, the bassist Lucrezio Borsari - 1333 thalers. 8 Ggr, the alto Gajetano Bernstadt - 3000 th., The alto Giuseppe Maria Boschi 700 l. - 3500 th., The violinist Francesco Maria Veracini (August 1, 1717) 1200 th., The contrabassist Angelo Gaggi 400 th. "
  4. ↑ Neither Fürstenau nor the printed Italian-French libretto identify Berenstadt as a contributor.
  5. ^ Libretto by Gasparini's Lucio Vero
  6. ↑ Libretto by Gasparini's Astianatte
  7. ^ Libretto by Gasparini's Sesostri, re d'Egitto
  8. ↑ Libretto by Gasparini's Amore e maestà
  9. ^ Libretto from Gasparini's Il Faramondo
  10. ↑ Libretto from Gasparini's Il più fedel tra vassalli
  11. ^ Libretto by Capellis Giulio Flavio Crispo
  12. ^ Libretto by Venceslao
  13. ↑ Allatson Burgh claims in his Anecdotes of music, historical and biographical: in a series of letters that Berenstadt was also involved in the performances of Astarto by Bononcini, which began on November 19, 1720. But if the information in the printed libretto of Il più fedel tra vassalli by Gasparini is correct, that would mean that he was in London until mid-December and then traveled to Milan to be on stage there on December 26th. In view of the travel times at the time, that seems very unlikely.
  14. ^ Documentation of the opera at Corago
  15. ^ Documentation of the opera at Corago
  16. ^ Documentation of the opera with Corago , participation and role in Highfill
  17. ^ Documentation of the opera at Corago
  18. ^ Documentation of the opera with Corago , participation and role in Highfill
  19. ^ Documentation of the opera at Corago
  20. ↑ Libretto of the opera
  21. ^ Documentation of the opera at Corago
  22. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 58
  23. ↑ Libretto of Vinci's Didone abbandonata
  24. ↑ Libretto of Vinci's Didone abbandonata
  25. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 109
  26. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 109
  27. ↑ Libretto of Vinci's Semiramide riconosciuta
  28. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 111
  29. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 111
  30. ↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (Ed.): Critical Letters on Tonkunst . Birnstiel, Berlin 1760. Volume 1, pp. 225-227
  31. ^ William Holmes: Opera Observed: Views of a Florentine Impresario in the Early Eighteenth Century. University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp. 60 ff ( preview on Google Books ).
  32. ^ Lowell Lindgren: La carriera di Gaetano Berenstadt, contralto evirato (approx. 1690-1735) . In: Rivista italiana di musicologia Volume 19 (1984), p. 98
  33. ^ So in Albert Ernest Wier: The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians: In One Volume. Macmillan, London 1938, p. 152 and Oscar Thompson: The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Dodd Mead, New York 1985, p. 193
  34. ^ Lowell Lindgren: Gaetano Berenstadt . In: Online Grove Music (access only through subscription libraries)
  35. ^ Grove Music Online
  36. ↑ engl. Original: "evirato of a huge unwieldy figure" (evirato is the Italian word for "emasculated" or "robbed of the male reproductive organs") Cf. Charles Burney: A General History of Music: From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period. Volume 4, p. 284
  37. ↑ cf. in addition the descriptions in Paul Julius Möbius: Die castration . Marhold, Halle / Saale 1907
  38. ^ Entry and description in the catalog of the British Museum ( Memento of October 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ); an English-language detailed description and analysis of the caricature can be found in the English-language Wikipedia.
  39. ↑ Program announcement at the Handel Festival Halle 2015
personal data
SURNAME Berenstadt, Gaetano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bear City, Gaetan; Baerenstadt, Gaetano; Bernstad, Gaetano; Bernstatt, Gaetano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION old castrato of German descent
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1687
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH buried December 9, 1734
Place of death Florence