Giuseppe Aprile

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Giuseppe Aprile, ca.1780

Giuseppe Aprile , called " Scirolino " or " Sciroletto " (born October 28, 1732 in Martina Franca (Taranto); † January 11, 1813 ibid) was an Italian singer and castrato ( soprano ) with a great career in Italy , Spain and Stuttgart . He was also a singing teacher and composer .

Life

His parents were Fortunato Aprile and Anna Vita Cervellera. Fétis and Volpicella give the wrong year of birth (1738 and 1746, respectively). In addition to his profession as a notary , the father was also an avid music lover and church singer in Martina Franca's parish church. Originally he taught his son himself and apparently also gave his consent for his son to be castrated, which was carried out at the age of 11 in order to keep his beautiful voice. At the age of 19 Giuseppe was sent to Naples and took private singing lessons from Gregorio Scirolì on April 28, 1751. Apriles nickname " Scirolino " or " Sciroletto " is derived from his teacher's last name . (Some authors, including Villarosa and Florimo , falsely claimed that he was studying at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini ).

On September 23, 1752 Giuseppe Aprile was hired as soprano in the Royal Chapel of Naples for 20 Carlini per month . His first appearance on the opera stage was in Rome in 1752 in Scirolìs Il barone deluso . In the season 1753–1754 he sang a small supporting role in Niccolò Jommelli's Ifigenia in Aulide at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples . This composer would play an important role in Aprile's later career.

After sang in an oratorio in Rome in April 1754 , he appeared for the first time as primo uomo at the end of the same year in the Roman Teatro Aliberto delle Dame , in Francesco Saverio Garcia's opera Pompeo Magno in Armenia . 1755–1756 he was at the Teatro ducale in Parma , including in Issipile by Baldassare Galuppi and in La buona figliuola by Egidio Duni . Instead of returning to Naples, he resigned from the Royal Chapel there and followed an operatic career that took him to the most important theaters in Italy and abroad.

Giuseppe Aprile was now so famous that he was called to Spain in the spring of 1758 to sing Leucippo in Nicola Conforto's opera La Forza del genio o sia il Pastor guerriero in the theater of Aranjuez for a royal sum .

In the carnival 1759–1760 he sang with great success in Venice at the Teatro San Benedetto, a. a. in La clemenza di Tito by Giuseppe Scarlatti . He was now considered one of the best singers in Italy and "his way of singing" was "generally appreciated by everyone" (" ... il suo modo di cantare gradito universalmente da tutti "), reported Count Giuseppe Finocchietti in a letter dated 29. December 1759.

In 1760 he went to Stuttgart for the first time, where he sang mainly in operas by Jommelli, including in Didone abbandonata in 1763 , in La bergère illustrious , and in 1764 in Demofoonte .

In the meantime he was hired from 1765–1766 at the San Carlo in Naples. There he sang alongside the prima donna Antonia Maria Girelli Aguilar in the operas Il re pastore by Niccolò Piccinni (May 30), Creso by Antonio Sacchini (November 4), Romolo ed Ersilia by Johann Adolph Hasse (December 25) and Arianna e Teseo by Pasquale Cafaro (January 20, 1766).

After a stay in Palermo , Giuseppe Aprile went back to the court of Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg in Stuttgart in November 1767 for an annual sum of 6000 Fiorins , together with his brother Raffaele, who earned only 600 Fiorins as a violinist . Here he sang again in various works by Jommelli for the next year and a half: in the Opera buffa La Critica , the Opera seria Fetonte , in Il cacciatore deluso and in the Serenata Die krönte Eintracht ( L'unione coronata ). The last work in which he participated at the Stuttgart court was La schiava liberata (December 18, 1768). In mid-March 1769 he traveled back to Italy - allegedly only for a temporary stay - and left behind a mountain of debts . To the great disappointment of the Duke, however, he did not return.

On their trip to Italy in 1770, the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father had the opportunity to hear Aprile singing three times, first in January in Milan during a mass , then in March in Bologna in a concert in the palazzo of Count Gian Luca Pallavicini, and finally on 30 May in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo in Jommelli's Armida abbandonata . In letters to his sister Nannerl, Mozart praised the beautiful and balanced voice of the singer and found him incomparable in Jommelli's opera (letter to Nannerl of June 5, 1770). Charles Burney heard him later that year (see below).

In the following years, Giuseppe Aprile had appearances in Naples (1772–1773), Turin (1772 and 1776), Florence (1774–1775 and 1777) and Rome (1779–1780). In autumn 1777 in Florence he sang in the operas Medonte Re d 'Epiro by Giuseppe Sarti and Creso Re di Lidìa by Giovanni Battista Borghi . At that time, an article appeared in London in which the 45-year-old Aprile was described as an "old singer" who was no longer up to the height of his former successes. In contrast, the Gazzetta Universale celebrated his achievements in the same operas as a triumph on October 25, 1777 (No. 85, p. 678). The sculptor Antonio Canova was still entranced by Apriles singing in 1780 when he heard it at the Teatro Alibert in Rome in Cimarosa's Caio Mario and Anfossi's Tito nelle Gallie .

The singer returned to Naples in 1783 and succeeded the recently deceased, famous Caffarelli as the first soprano in the Royal Chapel . Aprile had one last public appearance at the feast of Maria SS. Addolorata in the Servite Church of Naples on September 17 and 18, 1785 in works by Pergolesi and is said to have sung "truly like an angel" (" veramente angelica ", according to Padre G. Della Valle).

Alongside and after his opera career, Giuseppe Aprile gave singing and music lessons. His students include Domenico Cimarosa , the tenors Michael Kelly and Manuel García (?), And Lady Hamilton . On July 12, 1798, he retired from his position in the Royal Chapel in Naples, with a pension of 35 ducats .

On his return to Martina Franca, he got caught up in a popular uprising because the Bourbons had called up soldiers against the French who were occupying Rome. Only the intervention of the singer prevented the mayor's house from being set on fire.

Giuseppe Aprile died in Martina Franca on January 11, 1813.

Beginning of Giuseppe Aprile's aria Placidi venti ameni (British Library, Add MS 14193, f72r)

In 1791 Giuseppe Aprile's influential singing school appeared for the first time in London with Broderip under the title: The Modern Italian Method of Singing, with a Variety of Progressive Examples and Thirtysix Solfeggi by Sigr. DG Aprile . It saw several editions in Italy, France and Germany and was reprinted in 1942 by Ricordi, Milan. His 36 popular solfeggias deal with various ornaments of song, including trills and passages, and in his theoretical instructions Aprile et al. a. the importance of perfect intonation , especially in jumps, and the messa di voce .

Aprile also composed various individual works, mainly arias and duets , some of which were published during his lifetime and are preserved in the British Museum in London; others are in manuscript form in the libraries of the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples and the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels .

Voice and art

"The ornaments and decorations of the singers must be developed from the character of the melody, the expression from the character of the words."

- Giuseppe Aprile : The Modern Italian Method of Singing ... , London 1791

Giuseppe Aprile was considered one of the most important singers of his time. In addition to Mozart and Canova's above-mentioned flattering statements about his singing, some other music connoisseurs also wrote about him: His student Michael Kelly described him as the “father of all singers” and was very grateful to him for his lessons. Giovanni Marco Rutini (in a letter to Padre Martini, Livorno, March 22, 1764) considered Aprile a perfect singer and also praised his acting skills.

Charles Burney, who heard him in Jommelli's Demofoonte (Naples, October 31, 1770), made a not entirely positive judgment . He found Apriles voice too “weak and uneven, but his intonation is steadfast; his person is well educated, his trill is good and he has a lot of taste and expression ”.

Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart apparently knew "Aprili" from Stuttgart and dedicated a section to it in his ideas on an aesthetic of sound art (Stuttgart, 1806), where he called it "the former adornment of the Württemberg theater":

“... and one of the most perfect singers in the world. He sang with the purity of a silver bell up to the three-stroke c, had a profound knowledge of singing, and a warm, flowing heart. He particularly understood the art of varying an aria several times with extraordinary genius (sic!) To the highest degree. Even the immortal Jomelli confessed that he owed a lot to this great singer. "

- CFD Schubart : Ideas for an Aesthetic of Music , 1806

Roles (selection)

  • Euribate in Ifigenia in Aulide by Niccolò Jommelli and Tommaso Traetta ( Naples , 1752)
  • Edelberto in Ricimero re de 'Goti by Baldassare Galuppi (Naples, 1753)
  • Publio Cornelio Scipione in Livia Claudia Vestale by Nicola Conforto ( Rome , 1755)
  • Pompeo in Pompeo magno in Armenia by Francesco Saverio Garzia (Rome, 1755)
  • Cesare in Catone in Utica by Francesco Poncini ( Parma , 1756)
  • Giasone in Issipile by Baldassare Galuppi (Parma, 1756)
  • Demetrio in Antigono (composer unknown; Lucca , 1756)
  • Timante in Demofoonte by Antonio Gaetano Pampani (Rome, 1757)
  • Ezio in Ezio by Tommaso Traetta (Rome, 1757)
  • Aminta in Il re pastore by Antonio Mazzoni ( Bologna , 1757)
  • Linceo in Ipermestra (composer unknown; Venice, 1757)
  • Enea in Didone abbandonata by Tommaso Traetta (Venice, 1757)
  • Ciro in Ciro riconosciuto by Niccolò Jommelli ( Mantua , 1758)
  • Timante in Demofoonte by Tommaso Traetta (Mantua, 1758)
  • Sesto in La clemenza di Tito by Giuseppe Scarlatti (Venice, 1760)
  • Cosrovio in Gianguir by Vincenzo Ciampi (Venice, 1760)
  • Castore in I tindaridi by Tommaso Traetta (Parma, 1760)
  • Alceste in Demetrio by Baldassare Galuppi ( Padua , 1761)
  • Tiridate in Zenobia by Giovanni Battista Pescetti (Padua, 1761)
  • Megacle in L'Olimpiade by Niccolò Jommelli ( Stuttgart , 1761)
  • Alceste in Demetrio by Giuseppe Ponzo ( Turin , 1762)
  • Achille in Ifigenia in Aulide by Ferdinando Bertoni (Turin, 1762)
  • Enea in Didone abbadonata by Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart, 1763)
  • Timante in Demofoonte by Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart, 1764)
  • Motezuma in Motezuma by Gian Francesco de Majo (Turin, 1765)
  • Megacle in L'Olimpiade by Johann Adolph Hasse (Turin, 1765)
  • Aminta in Il re pastore by Niccolò Piccinni (Naples, 1765)
  • Euriso in Creso by Antonio Sacchini (Naples, 1765)
  • Teseo in the pasticcio Arianna e Teseo ( Palermo , 1766)
  • Fetonte in Fetonte by Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart, 1768)
  • Gandarte in Nicoraste by Antonio Sacchini (Venice, 1769)
  • Giulio Cesare in Cesare in Egitto by Niccolò Piccinni (Milan, 1770)
  • Enea in Didone abbandonata by Ignazio Celoniat (Milan, 1770)
  • Rinaldo in Armida abbandonata by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1770; Florence , 1775)
  • Demetrio in Antigono by Pasquale Cafaro (Naples, 1770)
  • Timante in Demofoonte by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1770)
  • Eumene in Eumene by Gian Francesco de Majo (Naples, 1771)
  • Perseo in Andromeda by Giuseppe Colla (Turin, 1772)
  • Maometto in Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie by Gaetano Pugnani (Turin, 1772)
  • Sesto in La clemenza di Tito by Pasquale Anfossi (Naples, 1772)
  • Achille in Achille in Sciro by Antonio Amicone (Naples, 1772)
  • Titano in Cerere placata by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1772)
  • Linceo in Ipermestra by Niccolò Piccinni (Naples, 1772)
  • Teseo in Arianna e Teseo by Giacomo Insanguine (Naples, 1773)
  • Alceste in the pasticcio Demetrio (Florence, 1774)
  • Maometto in Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie by Pietro Guglielmi (Florence, 1774)
  • Vologeso in Vologeso re de 'Parti by Giovanni Marco Rutini (Florence, 1775)
  • Marco Antonio in Cleopatra by Carlo Monza (Turin, 1776)
  • Sicotenal in Sicotenal by Giovanni Marco Rutini (Turin, 1776)
  • Telemaco in Calipso by Bernardino Ottani (Turin, 1777)
  • Title role in Gengis-Kan by Pasquale Anfossi (Turin, 1777)
  • Euriso in Creso re di Lidia by Giovanni Battista Borghi (Florence, 1777)
  • Enea in Enea nel Lazio by Antonio Burroni (Rome, 1778)
  • Megacle in L'Olimpiade by Pasquale Anfossi (Rome, Perugia , and Treviso , 1778)
  • Arsace in Medonte, re di Epiro by Giuseppe Sarti (Perugia, 1778; Florence, 1779)
  • Cleomene in Erifile by Francesco Bianchi (Florence, 1779)
  • Selimo in the pasticcio Il Solimano (Florence, 1779)
  • Tarsile in La Calliroe by Josef Mysliveček ( Pisa , 1779)
  • Annio in the pasticcio Cajo Mario (Pisa, 1779)
  • Annio in Cajo Mario by Domenico Cimarosa (Rome, 1780)
  • Tito in Tito nelle Gallie by Pasquale Anfossi (Rome, 1780)

Compositions (selection)

  • Six favorite Italian duos for two voices , London, S. Babb (ca.1780),
  • Five ... Italian duettos for two voices. Composed by Sigr. G. Aprile and one by Sigr. G. Sarti , London, S. Babb (ca.1780),
  • Twelve favorite canzonets ... Set with accompanyments for the Piano forte or pedal harp ... by P. Seybold op. IV , Brighthelmstone (circa 1785), tutte al British Museum di Londra,
  • Six canzonets with an accompaniment for the great or small harp , Piano forte or harpsichord, London, Longman and Broderip (ca.1790). Una composizione strumentale dell'A. compare nei Six divertimentos for two violins and a bass ... by Pugnani, Vachon, Borghi & Aprile (Londra, W. Napier, verso il 1772).

literature

  • Charles Burney: Diary of a musical journey , Hamburg 1772 (German translation from CD Ebeling), Bärenreiter, Kassel 2003, p. 246.
  • Angelo Marinó: Giuseppe Aprile. L'idolo di Napoli nel Settecento musicale italiano ed europeo , Edizioni ETS, 2013 (Italian)
  • Dale E. Monson: Aprile, Giuseppe (Scirolo, Scirolino, Sciroletto) , on Grove Music online , 2001 (English; accessed February 11, 2020)
  • Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart: Ideas for an Aesthetics of Tonkunst Stuttgart, 1806, p. 56, online at archive.org (accessed on February 11, 2020)
  • Nicola Vacca:  Aprile, Giuseppe, detto Scirolino o Sciroletto. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 3:  Ammirato – Arcoleo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1961.

Web links

Commons : Giuseppe Aprile  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Giuseppe Aprile dit Sciroletto on Quell'Usignolo (French; accessed February 12, 2020)
  • Compositions by Giuseppe Aprile on IMSLP (accessed February 12, 2020)
  • Giuseppe Aprile on Worldcat (accessed February 12, 2020)

Individual notes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Nicola Vacca:  Giuseppe Aprile. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
  2. ↑ a b c d Dale E. Monson: Aprile, Giuseppe (Scirolo, Scirolino, Sciroletto) , on Grove Music online , 2001 (English; accessed February 11, 2020)
  3. ↑ It is not entirely clear whether Manuel Garcia d. Elderly or García d. Younger is meant.
  4. ↑ Michael Kelly: Reminiscences of the King's Theater and Theater Royal Drury Lane, with original anecdotes of many distinguished persons, political, literary and musical , 2 volumes, Colburn, London 1826. Here after: Nicola Vacca, Silvana Simonetti: Aprile, Giuseppe, detto Scirolino o Sciroletto , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 3, 1961, online on Treccani
  5. ^ Charles Burney: Diary of a musical journey , Hamburg 1772 (German translation from CD Ebeling), Bärenreiter, Kassel 2003, p. 246.
  6. ↑ a b Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart: Ideas for an Aesthetics of Tonkunst Stuttgart, 1806, p. 56, online at archive.org (accessed on February 11, 2020)
  7. ↑ This and all of the following information from: Claudio Sartori: I libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800 , Cuneo, 1992–1994.
personal data
SURNAME Aprile, Giuseppe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aprili, Giuseppe; Scirolino; Sciroletto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1732
PLACE OF BIRTH Martina Franca
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1813
Place of death Martina Franca