Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni (16 February 1728 – 11 November 1792) was an Italian
Career
Born at
For performances in 1750
In Italy he had further great success in the years 1756 to 1761, being admired as much for his singing as his acting, though was often in trouble with impresarios: "he rarely does his duty" was the complaint, probably meaning that he would not curry favour with audiences, neither bowing to acknowledge applause, nor being willing to repeat arias. In his desire thus to maintain dramatic unity, he was an ideal interpreter for the role of Orpheus in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, which he premiered in Vienna on 5 October 1762 . This opera, to a libretto by
In the summer of 1769, he made his last visit to London, and became embroiled in the financial problems involving his impresario, the Honourable George Hobart, manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket, who also offended the singer by hiring one Zamperina (his then mistress) in preference to Guadagni's own sister. Eventually Guadagni left the company there, and took part in unlicensed performances of Mattia Vento's Artaserse, sponsored by the former singer
By 1773, the singer had fallen in with the blue-stocking Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Dowager Electress of Saxony, and had followed her to Munich. Here Burney encountered him again, and reports fascinatingly on his ability to sing perfectly in tune: so exact was his intonation in duets with his fellow castrato Venanzio Rauzzini that their singing generated "difference tones". He sang further settings of the Orpheus story by Antonio Tozzi (1775) and Ferdinando Bertoni (1776), which by no means continued the reformist tendencies of Gluck.
Retirement
Guadagni retired to Padua, where he became something of an institution, renowned for his prodigal generosity: during his career he had amassed a large fortune, and he now built himself a splendid house in the city. Having rejoined the cappella of the church of San Antonio in 1768, he remained a member until his death, at an annual salary of four hundred ducats. For this, as Burney remarked, he was "required to attend only at the four principal festivals". His last operatic role was Deucalion in Deucalione e Pirra by Antonio Calegari (1781). Lord Mount Edgcumbe heard him in 1784: "I had the good fortune to hear a motetto, or anthem, sung by Guadagni … He was now advanced in years … his voice was still full and well toned, and his style appeared to me excellent."[5] By this time, Guadagni had become fond of singing Orfeo behind the scenes, with the action represented by puppets.
Sometime between 1785 and 1787 he suffered a stroke that rendered him incapable of speech, and for some time severely affected his ability to sing. His return to some public notice was an emotional occasion: "… at mass, the musico Guadagni came to sing from devotion, and without payment … this was about eight months after his attack, but he also wished to sing; and he sang the versetto "Qui tollis peccata mundi" in the Gloria to the great admiration of the public, who applauded him."[6]
References
- Cattelan, P.: "Guadagni, Gaetano", Grove Music Online, ed. Macy, L. (accessed 19 January 2007), grovemusic.com Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine, subscription access.
- Heriot, A.: The Castrati in Opera (London, 1956), pp 135–139
- Howard, P.: Did Burney blunder? (Musical Times, Vol. 139, No. 1864, Autumn 1998, pp. 29–32)
- Howard, P.: Perceptions of the castrati in eighteenth-century London (exhibition catalogue, Handel and the castrati, Handel House Museum, London, 2006), pp 10–12
- Howard, P.: "The Modern Castrato: Gaetano Guadagni and the coming of a new operatic age" (New York, 2014).
- Mount Edgcumbe, Lord R.: Musical Reminiscences of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (London, 1834; repr. Da Capo, New York, 1973)
- Pigna, F.: Memorie, (Padova, Biblioteca Antoniana, ms. 623)
- Scholes, P. (ed): Dr Burney's Musical Tours in Europe (London, 1959)
Notes
- ^ See Howard, P: Happy birthday, Gaetano Guadagni (Musical Times, September 2007, pp. 93-96)
- ^ the soprano Caterina Tedeschi
- ISBN 978-1-61148-010-8.
- ^ Howard, P: Did Burney blunder? (Musical Times, Vol. 139, No. 1864, Autumn 1998, pp. 29-32)
- ^ Mount Edgcumbe, Lord R: Musical Reminiscences of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (London, 1834; repr. Da Capo, New York, 1973), pp 34-35
- ^ Pigna, F: Memorie, (Padova, Biblioteca Antoniana, ms. 623), c. 246 r