Giovanni Battista Velluti

Giovanni Battista Velluti as Decebalo in Nicolini's Traiano in Dacia

Giovanni Battista Velluti , called Giambattista Velluti (born January 28, 1780 in Pausala / Montolmo (today Corridonia ); † January 22, 1861 in Sambruson ) was an Italian opera singer ( soprano or mezzo-soprano ) and is considered the last of the great castrati . The most famous roles composed for him are Arsace in Gioachino Rossini's Aureliano in Palmira and Armando in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto .

life and career

At the age of eight, Velluti was castrated by a doctor - allegedly mistakenly as part of the treatment of a persistent cough with a high fever. This moved his parents, who initially had other plans for their son, to give him musical training. Giambattista was sent to Bologna, where he a. a. Is said to have been a pupil of Padre Mattei .

Velluti apparently made his debut in Florence at the Teatro della Pergola on December 26, 1800 as Marco Antonio in the opera La Cleopatra by Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi . In the carnival season 1802–1803 in Rome at the Teatro delle Dame he sang in the world premieres of La vergine vestale by Gioacchino Albertini and in La selvaggia del Messico by Giuseppe Nicolini .

Nicolini seems to have particularly enjoyed working with Velluti, because he used the soprano in nine other operas: In Traiano in Dacia (February 1807, Rome), Coriolano (Carnival 1808–1809, Milan), Angelica e Medoro (Carnival 1810– 1811, Turin), Carlo Magno (February 1813, Piacenza), Quinto Fabio (April 1813, Florence), Adolfo (June 1815, Venice), Balduino duca di Spoleto (April 1816, Venice), Il conte di Lenosse (spring 1820, Trieste) and in L'eroe di Lancastro (February 1821, Turin). Nicolini and Velluti had a greater success with Traiano in Dacia , which the castrato sang after the premiere in Rome in February 1807 in nine different productions in various theaters all over Italy, most recently in Vicenza in 1822. In the title role of Nicolini's Quinto Fabio , Velluti appeared in five different productions between 1813 and 1819, including at La Scala in Milan in Carnival in 1814 with the tenor Giovanni David , and in 1819 at the Court Theater in Munich . Velluti was also quite successful as Vitekindo in Nicolini's Carlo Magno , with six different productions between 1813 and 1819 in Piacenza, Venice, Verona, Reggio, Vicenza and Trieste.

The castrato had a relatively fruitful collaboration with Stefano Pavesi , who composed leading roles for him in five operas: Ebuzio in I bacchanali di Roma (spring 1806, Livorno), Tideo in Aristodemo (August 1807, Naples), Decebalo in Arminia (Carnival 1810 , Milan), Oliviero in Celanira (May 1815, Venice), and Fernando in Egilda (Carnival 1823–1824, Venice). Of these five operas, Velluti appears to have had the greatest success as Oliviero in Celanira , which he sang in Venice, Vicenza, Verona and Trieste between 1815 and 1819.

When Rossini composed the role of Arbace in Aureliano in Palmira for Velluti for the carnival season 1813–1814 in La Scala in Milan , the castrato, according to Stendhal, was "in the prime of his youth and talent, and one of the most beautiful men of the age". Perhaps Stendhal's best-known anecdote about this collaboration claims that Rossini - who is actually known for his extremely virtuoso vocal parts full of coloratura - got so angry about Velluti's improvised and sweeping ornamentation that he thought out and wrote down all the fioritures himself from then on . This story is not particularly credible, however, as Rossini had already composed heavily ornamented parts (e.g. in Tancredi or in L'italiana in Algeri , both 1813), and especially in Velluti's Part des Arsace there were expressly numerous fermatas as an invitation to Incorporating improvisation of own ornaments and cadences.

Giovanni Battista Velluti

Giambattista Velluti's brilliant role was also the Ariodante in Johann Simon Mayr's opera Ginevra di Scozia , although this part was originally composed not for him but for Luigi Marchesi ; Velluti sang the role in several different productions: 1814 in Venice, 1816 in Verona, 1818 at the court theater in Munich and 1824 in Florence.

Also Saverio Mercadante wrote two appearances for Velluti 1821 for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the title role of Andronico (UA December 26) - which the soprano twice sang (in Senigallia and Lugo 1824) - and in 1822 for the Teatro Nuovo in Mantua den Alfonso in his opera Alfonso ed Elisa (premiered on December 26th).

One of the castrato's greatest successes was the title role of Tebaldo in Francesco Morlacchi's Tebaldo e Isolina , the premiere of which took place on February 4, 1822 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Gaetano Crivelli , Domenico Mombelli and Francesca Festa Maffei sang at his side . This opera was given in Reggio, Vicenza, Verona, Cremona, Florence, Livorno and Trieste until August 1823 - always with Velluti as Tebaldo.

Perhaps the best-known role for Giambattista Velluti (alongside Rossini) was composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer in 1824 with his last and most successful Italian opera: Il crociato in Egitto . The first performance took place on March 7th, 1824, again at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Velluti sang Armando d'Orville here, alongside Henriette Méric-Lalande as Palmide, Gaetano Crivelli as Adriano and Brigida Lorenzani as Felicia. In the spring of the same year, the opera experienced another production with Velluti and with Adelaide Tosi as Palmide in Florence (Teatro della Pergola).

In 1825 Velluti went on tour to London, where no castrato had been seen or heard for a quarter of a century. The initial skepticism and even hostility from the press and audience turned into benevolence and finally into enthusiasm when he first appeared in Meyerbeer's Crociato at London's King's Theater on June 30, 1825. Velluti had the entire musical direction of this London production, in which the young Maria Malibran also took part as Felicia. In 1826 he was even made superintendent of the theater, but in 1827 he returned to Italy, where he sang again in Morlacchi's Tebaldo e Isolina that autumn in Verona .

The aging Giovanni Battista Velluti now appeared rarely. In 1830 he sang again the title role in Il conte di Lenosse in the Venetian Teatro La Fenice , which Nicolini had already written for him in 1820 . Sometimes it is wrongly passed down that this was his last performance. Barbier also writes that Velluti retired from the stage in 1830 and only gave a concert in the following year. But there is still evidence of an appearance by the now 53-year-old singer as Armando when Meyerbeer's Il crociato was resumed in Egitto in the spring of 1833 at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence.

The last of the great castrati withdrew to his villa on the banks of the Brenta between Venice and Padua , where he died in 1861 at the age of almost eighty-one.

Tomb of Velluti in Sambruson

Roles in world premieres (selection)

Publio Cornelio Scipione in La vergine vestale by Gioacchino Albertini (January 2, 1803, Rome, Teatro delle Dame)

Corasco in La selvaggia del Messico by Giuseppe Nicolini (Carnival 1803, Rome, Teatro delle Dame)

Scirone in Asteria e Teseo by Pietro Carlo Guglielmi (13 August 1803, Naples, Teatro San Carlo )

Title role in Il trionfo di Davidde by Niccolò Zingarelli (Lent 1805, Naples, Teatro del Fondo )

Ebuzio in I bacchanali di Roma by Stefano Pavesi (spring 1806, Livorno)

Tideo in Aristodemo by Stefano Pavesi (August 15, 1807, Naples, Teatro San Carlo)

Decebalo in Traiano in Dacia by Giuseppe Nicolini (February 3 or 7, 1807, Rome, Teatro Argentina )

Title role in Coriolano by Giuseppe Nicolini (December 26, 1808, Milan, Teatro alla Scala )

Title role in Raoul di Créqui by Johann Simon Mayr (December 26, 1809, Milan, Teatro alla Scala)

Decebalo in Arminia by Stefano Pavesi (Carnival 1810, Milan, Teatro alla Scala)

Medoro in Angelica e Medoro by Giuseppe Nicolini (December 26, 1810, Turin, Imperial Teatro)

Vitekindo in Carlo Magno by G. Nicolini (February 1813, Piacenza, Teatro Nuovo)

Title role in Quinto Fabio by G. Nicolini (April 18, 1813, Florence, Teatro Cocomero)

Arsace in Aureliano in Palmira by Gioachino Rossini (26 December 1813, Milan, Teatro alla Scala)

Oliviero in Celanira by Pavesi (May 27, 1815, Venice, Teatro San Benedetto )

Title role in Adolfo by G. Nicolini (23 June 1815, Venice, Teatro San Benedetto)

Title role in Balduino duca di Spoleto by G. Nicolini (April 15, 1816, Venice, Teatro San Luca )

Title role in Giuseppe Nicolini's Il conte di Lenosse (spring 1820, Trieste)

Title role of Arturo in L'eroe di Lancastro by G. Nicolini (February 3, 1821, Turin, Teatro Regio )

Title role in Andronico by Saverio Mercadante (December 26, 1821, Venice, Teatro La Fenice )

Title role in Tebaldo e Isolina by Francesco Morlacchi (February 4, 1822, Venice, Teatro La Fenice)

Alfonso in Alfonso ed Elisa von Mercadante (December 26, 1822, Mantua, Teatro Nuovo)

Fernando in Egilda by Pavesi (December 26, 1823, Venice, Teatro La Fenice)

Armando d'Orville in Il crociato in Egitto by Giacomo Meyerbeer (March 7, 1824, Venice, Teatro La Fenice)

literature

Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ). Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 1989).
Rodolfo Celletti: History of Belcanto. Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989 (Original: Storia del belcanto. Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983).
Robert Crowe : Giovanni Battista Velluti in London, 1825-1829: Literary Constructions of the Last Operatic Castrato. PhD Musicology , Boston University 2017. Dissertation Committee: Joshua Rifkin , Victor Coelho and Silke Leopold .
Charles Panati: Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody. Perennial Library, 1989
Harold Rosenthal, John Warrack: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. , 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979, p. 521.

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Battista Velluti - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Giovanni Battista Velluti at Operissimo on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
Handel interpreters - Giovanni Battista Velluti
List of Velluti's performances in Italian theaters in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
Libretto for the performance of Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto in the Teatro della Pergola, Florence 1833 (I-MOe: Modena Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Collocazione: MD.H.04.15)

Remarks

^ According to the epitaph on January 27th.
↑ The fact that he “sang in world premieres” does not mean that he sang only one performance, but that the respective parts were composed for him or his voice. The premiere was of course followed by other performances, which Velluti also sang.
↑ All of the following data about Velluti's appearances are based on information from the Corago website, even if it is not specifically stated.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Elizabeth Forbes: Velluti, Giovanni Battista. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ). Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 1989).
^ Albertini: La vergine vestale on January 2, 1803 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
↑ Nicolini: La selvaggia del Messico in the carnival season 1802–1803 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ Nicolini: Trajano in Dacia in the summer of 1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
↑ Nicolini: Quinto Fabio in the carnival season 1813–1814 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ Nicolini: Quinto Fabio in Munich 1819 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ ^A ^b Rodolfo Celletti: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989. (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983), pp. 146–152.
↑ Mercadante: Andronico in the Carnival season 1821–1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
↑ Mercadante: Alfonso ed Elisa in the carnival season 1822–1823 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ List of operas with velluti in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna . Please enter the name “Velluti” in the “Interprete” field.
↑ Morlacchi: Tebaldo e Isolina in the carnival season 1821–1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto on March 8, 1823 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto in the spring of 1824 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
^ ^A ^b Don White: Meyerbeer in Italy. Booklet text for CD Giacomo Meyerbeer - Il crociato in Egitto. Opera Rara (ORC 10), 1991/1992.
↑ Morlacchi: Tebaldo e Isolina in the autumn of 1827 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.
↑ List of performers on p. 3 in the printed libretto for this performance (I-MOe: Modena Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Collocazione: MD.H.04.15) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .

personal data
SURNAME	Velluti, Giovanni Battista
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Velluti, Giambattista
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian opera singer (castrato / mezzo-soprano) in Italy
DATE OF BIRTH	January 28, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH	Pausula
DATE OF DEATH	January 22, 1861
Place of death	Sambruson

[1] According to the epitaph on January 27th.

[4] The fact that he “sang in world premieres” does not mean that he sang only one performance, but that the respective parts were composed for him or his voice. The premiere was of course followed by other performances, which Velluti also sang.

[7] All of the following data about Velluti's appearances are based on information from the Corago website, even if it is not specifically stated.

[grove-2] A ^b Elizabeth Forbes: Velluti, Giovanni Battista. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

[barbier-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ). Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 1989).

[5] Albertini: La vergine vestale on January 2, 1803 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[6] Nicolini: La selvaggia del Messico in the carnival season 1802–1803 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[8] Nicolini: Trajano in Dacia in the summer of 1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[9] Nicolini: Quinto Fabio in the carnival season 1813–1814 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[10] Nicolini: Quinto Fabio in Munich 1819 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[celletti-11] A ^b Rodolfo Celletti: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989. (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983), pp. 146–152.

[12] Mercadante: Andronico in the Carnival season 1821–1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[13] Mercadante: Alfonso ed Elisa in the carnival season 1822–1823 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[14] List of operas with velluti in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna . Please enter the name “Velluti” in the “Interprete” field.

[15] Morlacchi: Tebaldo e Isolina in the carnival season 1821–1822 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[16] Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto on March 8, 1823 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[17] Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto in the spring of 1824 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[white-18] A ^b Don White: Meyerbeer in Italy. Booklet text for CD Giacomo Meyerbeer - Il crociato in Egitto. Opera Rara (ORC 10), 1991/1992.

[19] Morlacchi: Tebaldo e Isolina in the autumn of 1827 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna , accessed on October 20, 2017.

[20] List of performers on p. 3 in the printed libretto for this performance (I-MOe: Modena Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Collocazione: MD.H.04.15) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .