Giovanni Bindi

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The castrato Giovanni Bindi as Learco in the performance of the opera Antigono by Johann Adolph Hasse (Dresdner Hoftheater 1744). Costume figurine by Francesco Ponte

Giovanni Bindi (called Porporino , * unknown; † 1750 in Dresden ) was an Italian opera singer ( soprano castrato ). He is not to be confused with Antonio Uberti, who is also known as “Porporino” . Bindi was considered an outstanding singer of his time with great technical ability and a large vocal range. After his training in Italy at the expense of the Saxon court, he worked from 1730 to 1750 - apart from brief, sometimes forced guest appearances such as one in Berlin - in Dresden, where he also died. Bindi sang especially the less important roles of the secondo uomo. His successor as a secondo uomo was the soprano Giuseppe Belli .

Training in Italy

Giovanni Bindi was one of four castrati who, like three singers , were selected and trained in Italy at the instigation of the Saxon elector and later elector Friedrich August I at the expense of the Saxon court, in order to then be appointed to the newly founded Saxon court opera. According to the accounting documents of the Saxon envoy in Venice , Count Emilio de Villio, Bindi was trained from May 1724, first in Bologna , then in Venice. The four selected castrati received most of their training from the alto Antonio Campioli , only Bindi also received singing lessons from Nicola Porpora , whom the Saxon ambassador had originally suggested. In Venice and in opera productions by Porpora in Rome, Bindi also gained his first experience on the stage. a. in female roles:

Worked at the Dresden court theater

In 1730 Bindi, like all six other singers trained in Italy at the expense of the Saxon court, became a member of the ensemble at the electoral court theater in Dresden. His starting salary was 792 thalers. For 1738, 1100 thalers, 1740-1500 and from 1743 finally 2000 thalers are preserved in the files of the court theater. After Johann Adolph Hasse officially took up his position as court conductor in 1734 , participation in the Dresden court operas and oratorios of the composer was one of the highlights of Bindi's career. Bindi took part in Hasses' following operas:

  • Cajo fabrizio ( Premiere Dresden July 8th 1734) - Volusio
  • Senocrita ( Premiere Dresden February 27, 1737) - Timotele
  • Atalanta (Premiere Dresden July 26th 1737, WA Hubertusburg October 5th 1737) - Ceneo
  • Asteria (Premiere Dresden August 3, 1737, WA Hubertusburg October 7, 1737) - Amore / Elpino
  • La clemenza di Tito (revised version by Pesaro 1735; Dresden January 17, 1738) - Annio
  • Irene (Dresden February 8, 1738) - Eudossa
  • Alfonso (Dresden May 11, 1738) - Fernando
  • Demetrio (Dresden February 8, 1740) - Mitrane
  • Numa (WP Dresden October 7, 1741) - Silvio
  • Artaserse (revised version from Venice 1730; Dresden September 9, 1741) - Megabise
  • Lucio Papirio (Premiere Dresden January 18, 1742) - Cominio
  • Didone abbandonata (WP Hubertusburg October 7, 1742, Dresden 1743) - Araspe
  • Antigono (Premiere Dresden January 20, 1744) - Alessandro
  • Arminio (WP Dresden October 7, 1745)
  • Semiramide riconosciuta (revised version Naples, Teatro San Carlo November 4, 1744; Dresden January 11, 1747) - Sibari
  • La spartana generosa (UA Dresden June 17, 1746, WA Dresden Carnival 1748) - Damagete
  • Demofoonte (WP Dresden February 9, 1748) - Cherinto
  • Il natal di Giove (UA Hubertusburg October 7, 1749) - role cannot be determined

During a stay of the entire Dresden court in Warsaw from September 22, 1738 to April 11, 1739, almost all the singers, as well as Hasse, went to Italy. Together with Domenico Annibali , Bindi appeared in the carnival season of 1739 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome in the setting of the opera Astarto by Domènech Terradellas , Annibali in the title role and Annibali as secondo uomo Nino. In Dresden in the palace of Count Richelieu, Bindi sang the role of Venus in Ristoris Amore insuperabile on January 7, 1747 .

Appreciations for singing and acting

Bindi was committed to the roles of the secondo uomo, i.e. the less important male roles, in no opera in Dresden did he sing the primo uomo or title hero. Nevertheless, he became "the darling of Dresdeners", which Fürstenau in addition to the "extraordinary singing virtuosity" v. a. can also be traced back to its "pleasant appearance". In the city, Hasse wrote arias for Bindi with a range from b to c '' '. In these there are often large interval jumps up to a ninth, frequent register changes and longer coloratura passages, which suggests that vocal skills have been developed. Even Frederick the Great of Prussia was impressed by Bindi's voice as he sent a letter to Francesco Algarotti wrote on 17 April 1742 in which he asked this, but discreetly trying to poach Bindi for the court in Berlin. That is why Bindi was alongside Faustina Bordoni during the 9-day occupation of Dresden by the Prussians in 1745, accompanying Frederick the Great at his evening chamber concerts. As early as the 1733/34 season, Georg Friedrich Händel had tried to engage Bindi for his opera company in London, but his request was rejected by the Saxon court.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Between 1724 and 1729 the following were educated at the expense of the Saxon court in Italy: the singers Maria Rosa Negri , her sister Anna Negri and Maria Santina Catanea with the singer Angela Bianchi , the two old castrati Domenico Annibali and Casimiro Pignotti and the two soprano castrati Ventura Rocchetti and Giovanni Bindi with the old castrato Antonio Campioli . In 1730, all seven singers and the castrato trainer, Antonio Campioli, were appointed to the Dresden Court Opera and employed there, the ladies with a starting salary of 750 thalers, the castrato with a starting salary of 792 thalers each. Cf. Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 166
  2. ↑ Gabi Maria Volkmann: Bindi, Giovanni (called Porporino) . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography . .
  3. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kütze 1862, p. 166
  4. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 166
  5. ^ Documentation of the opera in the CORAGO database , together with Angelo Maria Monticelli as Laodice, Angelo Amorevoli as Mitridate and Caffarelli as Tigrane; Libretto Mitridate (Italian)
  6. ↑ Documentation of the opera in the CORAGO database , together with Angelo Maria Monticelli as Viriate, Angelo Amorevoli as Orcano and Caffarelli as Siface
  7. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 166 and 239
  8. ↑ Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: “La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone…” Johann Adolf Hasse's “Opere serie” from 1730 to 1745. Sources, versions, performances. Part II: List of works, sources and performances. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2009, p. 67
  9. ↑ According to the scores determined in Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: "La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone ..." Johann Adolf Hasse's ›Opere serie‹ from 1730 to 1745. Sources, versions, performances. Part II: List of works, sources and performances. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2009, p. 467; in the libretto Dresden 1737 (only Italian) the scoring is not given.
  10. ^ Libretto Atalanta
  11. ^ Libretto Asteria, Italian-German
  12. ^ Libretto La clemenza di Tito, Italian-German
  13. ^ Libretto Irene, Italian
  14. ^ Corago
  15. ↑ Documentation of the production at Corago , Libretto Dresden 1740
  16. ^ Libretto Numa
  17. ↑ Libretto Artaserse (Italian and German)
  18. ↑ According to the scores determined in Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: "La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone ..." Johann Adolf Hasse's ›Opere serie‹ from 1730 to 1745. Sources, versions, performances. Part II: List of works, sources and performances. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2009, p. 567
  19. ↑ Documentation at Corago
  20. ↑ Documentation at CORAGO
  21. ↑ According to the scores determined in Roland Dieter Schmidt-Hensel: "La musica è del Signor Hasse detto il Sassone ..." Johann Adolf Hasse's ›Opere serie‹ from 1730 to 1745. Sources, versions, performances. Part II: List of works, sources and performances. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2009, p. 681. No cast is noted in the libretto of the performance in Dresden.
  22. ↑ Libretto La spartana generosa (Italian)
  23. ↑ Libretto Demofoonte (Italian)
  24. ↑ Documentation of the opera in CORAGO
  25. ^ Libretto Dresden 1747 ; Date recorded in Maurice, comte de Saxe, et Marie Josèphe de Saxe, dauphine de… Saxe, Maurice, comte de, 1696–1750. P. 241
  26. ↑ which on the other hand must not be confused with the very small supporting roles.
  27. ↑ The title roles were not always sung by a primo uomo .
  28. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 168
  29. ↑ Bindi's biography as part of the Saxon biography
  30. ^ Moritz Fürstenau: On the history of music and theater at the court of Dresden: Part II. At the court of the electors of Saxony and kings of Poland, Friedrich August I. (August II.) And Friedrich August II. (August III.) . Dresden: Kuntze 1862, p. 168
  31. ↑ Winton Dean : Handel's Operas 1726-1741. Boydell, Woodbridge 2006, ISBN 978-1-84383-268-3 , p. 133: “3.1 During the summer Handel had tried to engage the castrato Porporino (Giovanni Bindi), possibly as an antidote to Porpora; but the king of Poland would not release him. "
personal data
SURNAME Bindi, Giovanni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Porporino, Giovanni; Uomo., Secondo; Uomo, secondo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (soprano castrato)
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century or 18th century
DATE OF DEATH 1750
Place of death Dresden