Giovanni Battista Mancini

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Giovanni Battista Mancini (born January 1, 1714 in Ascoli Piceno , Italy , † January 4, 1800 in Vienna ) was an Italian soprano castrato , singing teacher and writer of books on singing technique.

Mancini studied singing in Naples with Leonardo Leo and in Bologna with Antonio Bernacchi , as well as composition and counterpoint with Giovanni Battista Martini .

His career began at the age of 16 and he sang all over Italy and Germany. After his great success as a teacher, he was called to Vienna in 1757 as kk Cammer-Musicus and was among other things singing master of the Archduchesses, the daughters of Maria Theresa . In 1774 he published an important book on singing in Vienna: Pensieri, e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato . His ideas and publications brought him into conflict with another singing teacher, Vincenzo Manfredini . He stayed in Vienna, where he died in 1800 as a “retired court singing master” and left a considerable fortune.

Publications

  • Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato . 1st edition Ghelen, Vienna, 1774
  • Riflessioni pratiche sul Canto figurato. 3rd extended edition (revised, corrected and augmented with musical examples). Galeazzi, Milan 1777.
  • Practical Reflections on the Figurative Art of Singing . The Gorham Press, Boston 1912 (= translation of the 3rd expanded edition of the Pensieri (Milan, 1777) into English by Pietro Buzzi).
  • Practical Reflections on Figured Singing . Pro Musica Press, Champaign, IL: 1967. (Translation of the 1st edition (Vienna 1774) into English by Edward Foreman).

literature