Girolamo Bacchini

Girolamo Bacchini , also known as Fra Teodoro del Carmine and Girolamo Bachini, was an Italian castrato , composer , author of works on music, and Catholic priest . His main period of activity was between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.

life and career

Bacchini was a Carmelite who was very active in church circles in Mantua from the late 1580s to the early 17th century. During the 1580s he composed numerous masses for the ducal church of Santa Barbara at the ducal palace in Mantua, which was built by the then Duke of Mantua , Guglielmo Gonzaga . After Guglielmo's death in 1587 he continued to serve at the court in Mantua and was still active in the church circles in Mantua until the beginning of the 17th century.

In 1589 a book was published in Mantua with several of Bacchini's masses for five or six voices. He was also the author of a treatise on music that is now lost. He appeared frequently for entertainment at the court of Vincenzo I Gonzaga in the 1590s . In 1594 he traveled with the Duke to Regensburg , where he appeared before Philip of Bavaria , the Bishop of Regensburg . In 1595 he accompanied the Duke on his first campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the south of the Pannonian Plain . The composer Claudio Monteverdi and the poet Giambattista Marino also took part in this trip .

It is speculated that Bacchini sang the role of Euridice at the premiere of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the court of Francesco Gonzaga in 1607 . This is based on a letter from 1608 to Vincenzo I Gonzaga , in which the speech is of “this little priest who played the role of Euridice in His Highness the Prince Orfeo” ”. The musicologist Tim Carter stated that Bacchini was no longer in the service of the court in Mantua in 1607, so it is possible that he had a guest appearance. However, it is just as possible that the role could be played by a previously unknown person.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Forrest Kelly: First Nights. Five Musical Premieres. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 2000, ISBN 0-300-07774-2 .
2. ^ ^{A b c} Iain Fenlon: Music and patronage in sixteenth-century Mantua. Volume 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1980, ISBN 0-521-23587-1 , p. 28 .
3. ↑ Fenlon: The Mantuan Orfeo. In: Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. 1986, pp. 1-19, here pp. 1-4.
4. ↑ Sternfeld: The Orpheus myth and the libretto of Orfeo. In: Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. 1986, pp. 20-33, here p. 26.
5. ↑ Tim Carter: Monteverdi's Musical Theater. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 2002, ISBN 0-300-09676-3 .

literature

• Iain Fenlon: The Mantuan Orfeo. In: Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Edited by John Whenham. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1986, ISBN 0-521-28477-5 , pp. 1-19.
• Frederick W. Sternfeld: The Orpheus myth and the libretto of Orfeo. In: Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Edited by John Whenham. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1986, ISBN 0-521-28477-5 , pp. 20-33.