Matteuccio

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Matteo Sassano , called Matteuccio , around 1700. Anonymous, oil on wood, 100 × 76 cm, Madrid , Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

Matteo Sassano , called Matteuccio ( 1667 in San Severo - 15. October 1737 in Naples ) was a famous Italian castrato , the man "the nightingale of Naples" because of its extremely beautiful soprano voice and his virtuoso vocal art and (il rosignuolo di Napoli) called .

biography

Childhood and youth

Matteo Sassano was the son of the widow Livia Tommasino and Giuseppe Sassano. Nothing is known about his early childhood. A barber in his hometown, who presumably carried out the fateful operation of orchiectomy , had contacts in Naples with an Alessandro de Liguoro, a barber with a shop near the Nuncio's palace on Via Toledo; he picked up little Matteo, took him in, looked after him and subsequently became a confidante for the singer. Alessandro also ensured that nine-year-old Matteo could enter the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo . There he received perfect musical and vocal training over the next 10 years under the direction of Giovanni Salvatore and Donato Oliva.

After an initial training phase, Matteo was able to take part in the Conservatorio's usual “servizio di musica” (music “service”): This means that he was sent to the surrounding churches to sing on important festive days. In 1684, still as a student of the Conservatorio, he took up a job in the royal chapel of the palace , with a salary of 10 ducats a month.

He was now known by his nickname “Matteuccio” (little Matteo, “Matteolein”) and subsequently appeared primarily in various operas and serenatas by the important opera composer Alessandro Scarlatti, who worked in Naples : for the first time probably in 1684 in the frame a private performance in the Carafa's house in the opera Dal male il bene (originally Tutto il mal non vien per nuocere ) based on a libretto by Giuseppe Domenico de Todis. On August 25 and September 16, 1686 he took part in Scarlatti's Serenata L'Olimpo in Mergellina in the Palazzo Reale; it was a mammoth performance with about 100 participants.

In 1690 he was officially appointed soprano of the important Cappella del Tesoro di S. Gennaro , and accepted as a member of the Congregazione de 'Musici of Naples. The latter was a fraternity reserved exclusively for members of the Royal Chapel and located in the Church of Montesanto; In 1694 Matteuccio was appointed head of the Congregazione.

In the meantime his poor mother lived with him in Naples; Matteo made his apartment available to her; he himself stayed in the monastery of S. Francesco de Paola near the royal palace. Unfortunately, scandal soon loomed when his mother began seeing different men every week. Matteo found a solution by marrying her in 1694 to his former mentor, the barber Alessandro de Liguoro, who was able to open a new and more beautiful shop directly opposite the nunciature with the rich dowry of 282 ducats .

Matteuccio's fame as a singer had grown to such an extent that in 1695 he received his first call from the music-loving Emperor Leopold I from Vienna . The singer set out on the journey on April 18, 1695, but turned back halfway, officially for health reasons, in truth possibly out of fear of the cool climate beyond the Alps and because he didn't feel like visiting his native Naples leave. Nevertheless, he traveled to Vienna in November of the same year, and although he earned a salary of 3,000 Scudi in the imperial court orchestra , he only stayed until the summer of 1696.

On July 13, 1696 Matteuccio was back in Naples and was already singing on July 15 during a fairytale festivities for the opening of the sea-promenade in the Casino of the Viceroy in Posillipo to Adonis in Alessandro Scarlatti's Serenata Venere, Adone et Amore (also: Dal giardin del piacere ; libretto: Francesco Maria Paglia).

Unfortunately, Matteuccio's success wasn't all positive. After his return from the imperial court, he began to change: he was now a " divo ", adored by women and highly paid, behaved proud and haughty, and even on one occasion refused to obey the Viceroy of Naples. Because of his wonderful singing skills, however, he was repeatedly forgiven for his airs.

The title role in the opera L'Ajace by Carlo Ambrogio Lonati and Paolo Magni followed in 1697, but it had been heavily revised for this performance by Francesco Gasparini . In the Teatro S. Bartolomeo on December 15, 1697 he sang the role of Appio Claudio in Alessandro Scarlatti's La caduta de 'decemviri (libretto by Silvio Stampiglia ), and in Carnival 1698 the role of Laerte Porsenna in Il Muzio Scevola with music by Cavalli and Giovanni Bononcini , in a revision by A. Scarlatti (libretto again by Silvio Stampiglia).

In 1697 and 1698 Matteuccio also had several appearances in northern Italy, where he sang at the Teatro Ducale in Piacenza in Bernardo Sabadini's La virtù trionfante dell 'inganno , and in Giovanni Bononcini's successful opera Il trionfo di Camilla ; also in Reggio nell'Emilia in Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's L'Ulisse sconosciuto in Itaca .

In Madrid and Vienna

In 1698 Matteuccio was called to Madrid by the Spanish Queen Maria Anna von Neuburg . She hoped that his singing could have a beneficial effect on the severe depression of King Charles II . “The Nightingale of Naples” therefore had to sing for the king every evening, and he actually felt so much better that the singer stayed at the Spanish court until Charles's death in 1700. These positive experiences were decades later a model for the Spanish Queen Isabella Farnese when she's famous Farinelli invited to look for her husband, the depressive Philip V to sing.

After the death of Charles II, Matteuccio returned to Vienna in 1701, where he contributed to the joy of Joseph I and the imperial court over the next few years .

From Vienna he traveled to Venice at the end of 1705 to take part in the premieres of Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's operas Flavio Bertarido, re de 'Longobardi , and Filippo, re della Grecia (from January 1706) at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo . When he sang the part of Lucia in the oratorio La costanza trionfante nel martirio di Santa Lucia in Florence in 1705 , “he astonished and enchanted everyone” with his singing.

In 1708 he appeared in Bologna in the opera Il Venceslao, ossia Il fratricida innocente by Giacomo Antonio Perti . In November of the same year he was again in Venice , where he sang in Antonio Caldara's Sofonisba , and in January 1709 in Il vincitor generoso by Antonio Lotti .

On one of his trips, Matteuccio met the famous alto Francesco Antonio Pistocchi in the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence , with whom he sang a motet by Alessandro Scarlatti. After the performance he received numerous presents himself, Scarlatti a golden tobacco box , but poor Pistocchi got nothing! Completely bitter, the contralto claimed in a letter to his friend Giacomo Perti that the motet as a whole and Matteuccio had not been liked at all, especially not by connoisseurs, only that he himself had been heard by many "with endless pleasure" ...

Back in Naples

After years of absence, Matteuccio returned to his native Naples in 1709. There he took part in the celebrations for the birthday of Queen Elisabeth of Spain in A. Scarlatti's Trattenimento musicale in lode della maestà cattolica di Elisabetta Regina delle Spagne on August 28, 1709 . It was a serenata based on a text by Giuseppe Papis for four voices and choir. Only a short time later he sang during the magnificent commemoration of the Vergine dei Sette Dolori in the church of Santa Maria d'Ogni Bene and received as an extravagant gift from the Duke of Maddaloni a magnificent body with horses.

In 1711 Matteo Sassano was given back his place as a musician of the Royal Band of Naples, which he had lost during his time abroad, with the only obligation to attend the royal festivals.

The now 44-year-old “Divo” started to slow down and sang a little less from now on. Since he had been ennobled by the emperor, he was now mostly called " Marchese Don Matteo Sassano". The last highlights of his brilliant career were:

  • On June 19, 1712 the serenata for the coronation of Charles VI. on the King of Hungary or Il Genio Austriaco by Alessandro Scarlatti (text by Papis) in the Palazzo Reale;
  • 1714 the "favoletta drammatica" Teti , for the wedding of Francesco Maria Spinelli, Prince of Scalea, with Dona Rosa Pignatelli. The music for it came from Tommaso Carapella, and besides Matteuccio (as Peleo ), Marianna Benti Bulgarelli , called "la Romanina" (as Teti), Giovanna Albertini, called "la Reggiana" (as Dori), and Gaetano Borghi (as Proteo);
  • In May 1716, Scarlatti's Serenata La gloria di primavera was performed in the private theater of Niccolò Gaetani d'Aragona, Duke of Laurenzano, with Matteuccio in the role of spring ( Primavera ) and Margherita Durastanti, also known from Handel's biography, as summer ( Estate ).

At that time Matteuccio sang especially and often at religious ceremonies in honor of the Vergine Addolorata , or when noble ladies entered a monastery, or in his function as a brother of the Congregazione di S. Carlo. On December 4, 1717 he appeared on the name day of the Countess von Daun, viceroy of Naples, in Leonardo Leo's Serenata Diana amante .

Matteo Sassano's name appears for the last time in the Gazzetta di Napoli on November 21, 1724 to celebrate the entry into the monastery of Emilia Carafa, the sister of the Duke of Maddaloni. The rising star of Italian opera, the young Farinelli, sang at Matteo's side . He also became Matteuccio's official successor in the Royal Palace Chapel in 1732, but gave up this post again in 1735 in favor of the even younger and also famous soprano Caffarelli .

Even after his actual retirement, Matteuccio still sang in church every Saturday out of sheer piety at the age of seventy. His voice is said to have still been so fresh, clear and beautiful, "... that everyone who heard him but did not see him believed that he was a youth in the prime of his years".

Matteuccio Sassano, the "Nightingale of Naples", died at the age of eighty on October 15, 1737 in his apartment at the monastery of the Rosariello di Palazzo in Naples, and was buried at the Carminiello di Palazzo.

He left a great fortune, but since he had no descendants, he appointed a Dr. Domenico Terminiello as his heir and administrator.

literature

  • Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989).
  • Ulisse Prota-Giurleo: Matteo Sassano detto “Matteuccio” (Documenti napoletani). In: Rivista italiana di musicologia , I / 1966, 1, pp. 97-119.
  • Grazia Carbonella: Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli. In: La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260 ( online, PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Other names are: Sassani; but also: Matteo Matteuccio, Matteucci, Mattheucci, Mattiuccio, Sassoni, Sassini. See Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235-260 ( online, PDF ).
  2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the following biography is based on: Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260 ( online, PDF ).
  3. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), pp. 40–41.
  4. ↑ "Conservatory of the Poor of Jesus Christ"
  5. ↑ Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260, here pp. 237–238 ( online, PDF ).
  6. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), pp. 184-185.
  7. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), p. 138.
  8. ↑ The Italian word "casino" actually means: "small house, country house". It is the usual name for an elegant country estate, similar to the German "villa". In Italian, however, a villa is the entire property including the park, e.g. B. also the Villa Doria Pamphilj in Rome.
  9. ↑ "In the Garden of Delights"
  10. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), p. 125.
  11. ↑ L'Aiace (Carlo Ambrogio Lonati) in Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  12. ↑ "The Fall of the December Viruses "
  13. ↑ La caduta de 'decemviri (Alessandro Scarlatti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  14. ↑ Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260, here p. 242 ( online, PDF ). See also: Il Muzio Scevola (Giovanni Bononcini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  15. ↑ See the list of performances with Matteo Sassani in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  16. ^ Flavio Bertarido, re de 'Longobardi (Carlo Francesco Pollarolo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  17. ^ Filippo, re della Grecia (Carlo Francesco Pollarolo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  18. ↑ Sassani, who sang the part of Saint Lucy, "astonished and amazed everyone ...". Colleen Reardon: Launching the Career of a secondo uomo in Late Seventeenth-Century Italy , in: Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Volume 16 (2010) No. 1 , ( online ), point 9.1 (epilogue). (The title of this essay refers to the castrato Giovanni Battista Tamburini, not Matteo Sassano, who was clearly a primo uomo)
  19. ^ Il Venceslao, ossia Il fratricida innocente (Giacomo Antonio Perti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  20. ^ Sofonisba (Antonio Caldara) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  21. ^ Il vincitor generoso (Antonio Lotti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  22. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), pp. 170–171.
  23. ^ "E nella stessa Domenica solennizzandosi la Commemorazione della Santissima Vergine de 'Dolori in tutte le Chiese de i Serviti; in quella di Santa Maria d'ogni Bene dello stess'Ordine, ov'era ricchissimo apparato, con sacra magnificenza, e scelta Musica fatta fare dalla devozione del Duca di Madaloni, che regalò una Carozza [!] con Cavalli al rinomato Musica [! ] Matteo Sassano, che vi cantò… “. In: Thomas Griffin: Musical References in the Gazzetta di Napoli 1681–1725 , Berkeley, Fallen Leaf Press, 1993, GDN 17 September 1709. Here after: Grazia Carbonella: "Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli", in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235-260 ( online, PDF ).
  24. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), p. 139. See also: Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli ”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260, here pp. 252–256 ( online, PDF ).
  25. ↑ "The Austrian Genius"
  26. ↑ "The Glory of Spring"
  27. ↑ Virgin of the 7 Sorrows
  28. ^ Grazia Carbonella: Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli. In: La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235–260, here p. 247 ( online, PDF ).
  29. ↑ "... che ogni ascoltante, non vedendolo, lo credeva un giovine nel fior degli anni"; U. Prota-Giurleo: Matteo Sassano detto “Matteuccio” , in “Rivista italiana di musicologia” , I (1966), pp. 97–119 ( Documenti napoletani ), here: p. 109. See also: Grazia Carbonella: “Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli ”, in La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235-260 ( online, PDF ).
  30. ^ "A dí 15 ottobre 1737 - Matteo Sassano, di anni 80, abitante al Rosariello di Palazzo, vergine, sepolto al Carminiello di Palazzo" (Napoli, Parrocchia di S. Giovanni Maggiore, Liber Mortuorum , c.431). In: U. Prota-Giurleo: "Matteo Sassano ...", ..., p. 118. Here after: Grazia Carbonella: "Matteo Sassano il rosignolo di Napoli". In La Capitanata , 21, 2007, pp. 235-260. ( online, PDF ).
  31. ↑ Patrick Barbier: Historia dos Castrados (Portuguese version; title of the French original: Histoire des Castrats ), Lisbon 1991 (originally Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, 1989), p. 139.
personal data
SURNAME Matteuccio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sassano, Matteo; Sassano, Matteuccio; il rosignuolo di Napoli (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian castrato
DATE OF BIRTH 1667
PLACE OF BIRTH San Severo
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1737
Place of death Naples