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Farinelli

Farinelli (Italian pronunciation: [fariˈnɛlli]; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782)[a] was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (pronounced [ˈkarlo ˈbrɔski]), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera.[1] Farinelli has been described as having had soprano vocal range and as having sung the highest note customary at the time, C6.

Farinelli
Portrait of Farinelli by Bartolomeo Nazari (1734)
Born(1705-01-24)24 January 1705
Died16 September 1782(1782-09-16) (aged 77)
Other namesCarlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi
OccupationCastrato

Early years edit

Broschi was born in Andria (in what is now Apulia, Italy) into a family of musicians. As recorded in the baptismal register of the church of S. Nicola in Andria, his father Salvatore was a composer and maestro di cappella of the city's cathedral, and his mother, Caterina Barrese, a citizen of Naples. The Duke of Andría, Fabrizio Carafa, a member of the House of Carafa, one of the most prestigious families of the Neapolitan nobility, honored Maestro Broschi by taking a leading part in the baptism of his second son, who was baptised Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola. [In later life, Farinelli wrote: "Il Duca d'Andria mi tenne al fonte" ("The Duke of Andria held me at the font")]. In 1706 Salvatore also took up the non-musical post of governor of the town of Maratea (on the western coast of what is now Basilicata), and in 1709 that of Terlizzi (some twenty miles south-east of Andria). Unlike many castrati, who came from poor families, Farinelli was well-to-do, and was related to minor nobility on both sides of the family.

From 1707, the Broschi family lived in the coastal city of Barletta, a few miles from Andria, but at the end of 1711, they made the much longer move to the capital city of Naples, where, in 1712 Carlo's elder brother Riccardo was enrolled at the Conservatory of S. Maria di Loreto, specialising in composition. Carlo had already shown talent as a boy singer, and was now introduced to the most famous singing-teacher in Naples, Nicola Porpora. Already a successful opera composer, in 1715 Porpora was appointed maestro at the Conservatory of S. Onofrio, where his pupils included such well-known castrati as Giuseppe Appiani, Felice Salimbeni, and Gaetano Majorano (known as Caffarelli), as well as distinguished female singers such as Regina Mingotti and Vittoria Tesi; Farinelli may well have studied with him privately.

Salvatore Broschi died unexpectedly on 4 November 1717, aged only 36, and it seems likely that the consequent loss of economic security for the whole family provoked the decision, presumably taken by Riccardo, for Carlo to be castrated. As was often the case, an excuse had to be found for this operation, and in Carlo's case it was said to have been necessitated by a fall from a horse. It is, however, also possible that he was castrated earlier, since, at the time of his father's death, he was already twelve years old, quite an advanced age for castration.

Under Porpora's tutelage, his singing progressed rapidly, and at the age of fifteen, he made his debut a serenata by his master entitled Angelica e Medoro. The text of this work was the first by the soon-to-be-famous Pietro Trapassi (known as Metastasio), who became a lifelong friend of the singer. Farinelli remarked that the two of them had made their debuts on the same day, and each frequently referred to the other as his caro gemello ("dear twin").

In this Serenata "Angelica e Medoro", the two leading roles were entrusted to two highly acclaimed singers: Marianna Benti Bulgarelli (aka "la Romanina") and Domenico Gizzi, Musico Soprano in the Royal Chapel of Naples.

The derivation of Broschi's stage name is not certain, but it was possibly from two rich Neapolitan lawyers, the brothers Farina, who may have sponsored his studies.

Farinelli quickly became famous throughout Italy as il ragazzo ("the boy"). In 1722, he first sang in Rome in Porpora's Flavio Anicio Olibrio, as well as taking the female lead in Sofonisba by Luca Antonio Predieri. (It was common practice for young castrati to appear en travesti). All these appearances were greeted with huge public enthusiasm, and an almost legendary story arose that he had to perform an aria with trumpet obbligato, which evolved into a contest between singer and trumpeter. Farinelli surpassed the trumpet player so much in technique and ornamentation that he "was at last silenced only by the acclamations of the audience" (to quote the music historian Charles Burney). This account, however, cannot be verified, since no surviving work which Farinelli is known to have performed contains an aria for soprano with trumpet obbligato.

Career in Europe edit

 
Farinelli, by Wagner after Amigoni 1735

In 1724, Farinelli made his first appearance in Vienna, at the invitation of Prince Luigi Pio di Savoia, director of the Imperial Theatre. He spent the following season in Naples. In 1726, he also visited Parma and Milan, where Johann Joachim Quantz heard him and commented: "Farinelli had a penetrating, full, rich, bright and well-modulated soprano voice, with a range at that time from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C. ... His intonation was pure, his trill beautiful, his breath control extraordinary and his throat very agile, so that he performed the widest intervals quickly and with the greatest ease and certainty. Passagework and all kinds of melismas were of no difficulty to him. In the invention of free ornamentation in adagio he was very fertile." Quantz is certainly accurate in describing Farinelli as a soprano, since arias in his repertoire contained the highest notes customarily employed by that voice during his lifetime: "Fremano l'onde" in Pietro Torri's opera Nicomede (1728) and "Troverai se a me ti fidi" in Niccolò Conforto's La Pesca (1737) both have sustained C6.[2] His low range apparently extended to F3, as in "Al dolor che vo sfogando", an aria written by himself and incorporated in a pasticcio called Sabrina, and as in two of his own cadenzas for "Quell' usignolo innamorato" from Geminiano Giacomelli's Merope.[3]

Farinelli sang at Bologna in 1727, where he met the famous castrato Antonio Bernacchi, twenty years his senior. In a duet in Orlandini's Antigona, Farinelli showed off all the aspects of the beauty of his voice and refinements of his style, executing a number of passages of great virtuosity, which were rewarded with tumultuous applause. Undaunted, Bernacchi repeated every trill, roulade, and cadenza of his young rival, but performing all of them even more exquisitely, and adding variations of his own. Farinelli, admitting defeat, entreated Bernacchi to give him instruction in grazie sopraffine ("ultra-refined graces"); Bernacchi agreed.

In 1728, as well as performing in Torri's Nicomede at the Munich court, Farinelli performed another concert before the Emperor in Vienna. In 1729, during the Carnival season in Venice, he sang in two works by Metastasio: as Arbace in Metastasio's Catone in Utica (music by Leonardo Leo) and Mirteo in Semiramide Riconosciuta (music by Porpora). In these important drammi per musica, performed at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo of Venice, at his side sang some great singers: Nicola Grimaldi, detto Nicolino, Lucia Facchinelli, Domenico Gizzi (aka Virtuoso della Cappella Reale di Napoli), and Giuseppe Maria Boschi.

During this period it seemed Farinelli could do no wrong. Loaded with riches and honors, he was so famous and so formidable as a performer that his rival and friend, the castrato Gioacchino Conti ("Gizziello") is said to have fainted from sheer despondency on hearing him sing. George Frideric Handel was also keen to engage Farinelli for his company in London, and while in Venice in January 1730, tried unsuccessfully to meet him.

In 1731, Farinelli visited Vienna for a third time. There he was received by the Emperor Charles VI, on whose advice, according to the singer's first biographer, Giovenale Sacchi, Farinelli modified his style, singing more simply and emotionally. After further seasons in Italy, and another visit to Vienna, during which he sang in oratorios in the Imperial chapel, Farinelli came to London in 1734.

Farinelli in London edit

In London the previous year, Senesino, a singer who had been a part of George Frideric Handel's "Second Academy" which performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, quarrelled with Handel and established a rival company, the Opera of the Nobility, operating from a theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. This company had Porpora as composer and Senesino as principal singer, but had not been a success during its first season of 1733–34. Farinelli, Porpora's most famous pupil, joined the company and made it financially solvent.

He first appeared in Artaserse, a pasticcio with music by his brother Riccardo and Johann Adolph Hasse. He sang the memorable arias "Per questo dolce amplesso" (music by Hasse) and "Son qual nave" (music by Broschi), while Senesino sang "Pallido il sole" (music by Hasse). Of "Per questo dolce amplesso", Charles Burney reports: "Senesino had the part of a furious tyrant, and Farinelli that of an unfortunate hero in chains; but in the course of the first air, the captive so softened the heart of the tyrant, that Senesino, forgetting his stage-character, ran to Farinelli and embraced him in his own". "Son qual nave", on the other hand, was composed by Riccardo Broschi as a special showpiece for his brother's virtuosic skills. Burney described it thus: "The first note he sung was taken with such delicacy, swelled by minute degrees to such an amazing volume, and afterwards diminished in the same manner to a mere point, that it was applauded for full five minutes. After this he set off with such brilliancy and rapidity of execution, that it was difficult for the violins of those days to keep pace with him." In 1735 Farinelli and Senesino also appeared in Nicola Porpora's Polifemo.

Both the cognoscenti and the public adored him. The librettist Paolo Rolli, a close friend and supporter of Senesino, commented: "Farinelli has surprised me so much that I feel as though I had hitherto heard only a small part of the human voice, and now have heard it all. He has besides, the most amiable and polite manners ....". Some fans were more unrestrained: one titled lady was so carried away that, from a theatre box, she famously exclaimed: "One God, one Farinelli!", and was immortalised in a detail of Plate II of William Hogarth's "A Rake's Progress"[citation needed] (she may also appear in Plate IV of his series "Marriage A-la-Mode" of 1745).

Though Farinelli's success was enormous, neither the Nobility Opera nor Handel's company was able to sustain the public's interest, which waned rapidly. Though his official salary was £1500 for a season, gifts from admirers probably increased this to something more like £5000, an enormous sum at the time. Farinelli was by no means the only singer to receive such large amounts, which were unsustainable in the long term. As one contemporary observer remarked: "within these two years we have seen even Farinelli sing to an audience of five-and-thirty pounds". Nonetheless, he was still under contract in London in the summer of 1737 when he received a summons, via Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, Secretary of the Spanish Embassy there, to visit the Spanish court.

At the court of Spain edit

 
Carlo Broschi Farinelli in Spanish court dress wearing the Order of Calatrava, by Jacopo Amigoni c. 1750–1752

Apparently intending to make only a brief visit to the Continent, Farinelli called at Paris on his way to Madrid, singing on 9 July at Versailles to King Louis XV, who gave him his portrait set in diamonds, and 500 louis d'or. On 15 July he left for Spain, arriving about a month later. Elisabeth Farnese, the Queen, had come to believe that Farinelli's voice might be able to cure the severe depression of her husband, King Philip V (some contemporary physicians, such as the Queen's doctor Giuseppe Cervi, believed in the efficacy of music therapy). On 25 August 1737, Farinelli was named chamber musician to the king, and criado familiar, or servant to the royal family. He never sang again in public.

Farinelli became a royal favourite and very influential at court. For the remaining nine years of Philip's life, Farinelli gave nightly private concerts to the royal couple. He also sang for other members of the royal family and organised private performances by them, and by professional musicians in the royal palaces. In 1738 he arranged for an entire Italian opera company to visit Madrid, beginning a fashion for opera seria in the Spanish capital. The Coliseo of the royal palace of Buen Retiro was remodelled, and became Madrid's only opera house.

On the accession of Philip's son, Ferdinand VI, Farinelli's influence became even greater. Ferdinand was a keen musician, and his wife, Barbara of Portugal, more or less a musical fanatic (in 1728 she had appointed Domenico Scarlatti as her harpsichord teacher; the musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick acknowledges Farinelli's correspondence as having provided "most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day"). The relationship between singer and monarchs was personally close: he and the queen sang duets together, and the king accompanied them on the harpsichord. Farinelli took charge of all spectacles and court entertainments. He was himself also officially received into the ranks of the nobility, being made a Knight of the Order of Calatrava in 1750, an honour of which he was enormously proud. Although much courted by diplomats, Farinelli seems to have kept out of politics.

Retirement and death edit

 
Anonymous Neoclassical bust of Farinelli (R.A.B.A.S.F., Madrid)

In 1759, Ferdinand was succeeded by his half-brother Charles III, who was no lover of music. Charles was the son of Elisabetta Farnese, who had never forgiven Farinelli for his decision to remain at court after Philip V's death, rather than following her into internal exile. It was clear that Farinelli would now have to leave Spain, though he was allowed a generous state pension. He retired to Bologna, where in 1732 he had acquired a property and citizenship. Though rich and still famous, much feted by local notables and visited by such notable figures as Burney, Mozart, and Casanova, he was lonely in his old age, having outlived many of his friends and former colleagues. One distinguished friend of his latter years was the music historian, Giovanni Battista (known as "Padre") Martini. He also continued his correspondence with Metastasio, court poet at Vienna, dying a few months after him. In his will, dated 20 February 1782, Farinelli asked to be buried in the mantle of the Order of Calatrava, and was interred in the cemetery of the Capuchin monastery of Santa Croce in Bologna. His estate included gifts from royalty, a large collection of paintings including works by Velázquez, Murillo, and Jusepe de Ribera, as well as portraits of his royal patrons, and several of himself, one by his friend Jacopo Amigoni. He also had a collection of keyboard instruments in which he took great delight, especially a piano made in Florence in 1730 (called in the will cembalo a martellini), and violins by Stradivarius and Amati.[citation needed]

Farinelli died in Bologna on 16 September 1782. His original place of burial was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1810 Farinelli's great-niece Maria Carlotta Pisani had his remains transferred to the cemetery of La Certosa in Bologna. Maria Carlotta bequeathed many of Farinelli's letters to University of Bologna's library and was buried in the same grave as Farinelli in 1850.[citation needed]

Farinelli's remains were disinterred from the Certosa cemetery on 12 July 2006. Having been piled together at one end of Maria Carlotta's grave for almost two centuries, the bones had suffered considerable degradation, and there was no sign of the singer's mantle of the Order of Calatrava. However, the surviving remains included his jawbone, several teeth, parts of his skull, and almost all of the major bones (the exhumation was instigated by Florentine antiquarian Alberto Bruschi and Luigi Verdi, Secretary of the Farinelli Study Centre). The next day the musicologist Carlo Vitali of the Farinelli Study Centre stated that the major bones were "long and sturdy, which would correspond with Farinelli's official portraits, as well as the castrato's reputation for being unusually tall". Maria Giovanna Belcastro of the Anthropology Institute of the University of Bologna, Gino Fornaciari, paleoanthropologist of the University of Pisa, and David Howard, Professor of Music Technology at the University of York, England, are engaged in ascertaining what new information may be derived from these remains as to Farinelli's lifestyle, habits and possible diseases, as well as the physiology of a castrato. Their research methods will include X-rays, CAT scans, and DNA sampling.[citation needed]

Farinelli's other musical activities edit

Farinelli not only sang, but like most musicians of his time, was a competent harpsichordist. In old age, he learned to play the viola d'amore. He occasionally composed, writing a cantata of farewell to London (entitled Ossequiosissimo ringraziamento, for which he also wrote the text), and a few songs and arias, including one dedicated to Ferdinand VI.

Vocal works edit

  • Ossequiosissimo ringraziamento
  • La partenza
  • Orfeo – with Riccardo Broschi
  • Recitative: Ogni di piu molesto dunque
  • Recitative: Invan ti chiamo
  • Aria: Io sperai del porto in seno
  • Aria: Al dolor che vo sfogando
  • Aria: Non sperar, non lusingarti
  • Aria: Che chiedi? Che brami?

The artist and his times edit

Farinelli is widely regarded as the greatest, most accomplished, and most respected opera singer of the "castrato" era, which lasted from the early 1600s into the early 1800s, and while there were a vast number of such singers during this period, originating especially from the Neapolitan School of such composers as Nicola Porpora, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Francesco Durante, only a handful of his rivals could approach his skill as a singer.[citation needed] Caffarelli, Matteuccio, Siface, Senesino, Gizziello, Marchesi, Carestini, and some others were very famous and extremely gifted in their own right, with Caffarelli probably being the most vocally proficient – but Farinelli was also admired for his modesty, his intelligence, his "low-key" attitude, and his dedication to his work. He respected his colleagues, composers, and impresarios, often earning their lifelong friendship as a result, whereas Caffarelli was notoriously capricious, malicious, and disrespectful of anyone sharing the stage with him, to the point of cackling and booing fellow singers during their own arias.

Farinelli's technical proficiency allowed him to be comfortable in all vocal registers, from tenor to soprano, but he himself favoured the medium-to-high register rather than the very high, preferring to convey emotion rather than to astonish by sheer technique (unlike most of his colleagues who preferred to startle audiences with vocal stunts). This "soft" approach to music no doubt helped him survive his 22-year private engagement at the court of Spain, which effectively ended his theatrical career when aged only 32. By this time he had already achieved every possible success on every European stage, and, even in retirement in Bologna, was still regarded, by every foreign dignitary visiting the city, as "the" music star to meet.

Farinelli Study Centre edit

Farinelli lived in Bologna from 1761 until his death. The Farinelli Study Centre (Centro Studi Farinelli) was opened in Bologna in 1998, Major events and achievements in which it was involved have included:

  • The restoration of Farinelli's grave in the Certosa of Bologna (2000)
  • An historical exhibition Farinelli a Bologna (2001 and 2005)
  • The inauguration of a City Park in the name of Farinelli, near the site where the singer lived in Bologna (2002)
  • An international symposium Il Farinelli e gli evirati cantori on the occasion of Farinelli's 300th anniversary of his birth (2005)
  • An official publication Il fantasma del Farinelli (2005)
  • The disinterment of Farinelli at the Certosa of Bologna (2006)

Portrayals of Farinelli edit

Farinelli is represented in Voltaire's Candide.

A film, Farinelli, directed by Gérard Corbiau, was made about Farinelli's life in 1994. This takes considerable dramatic licence with history, emphasising the importance of Farinelli's brother and reducing Porpora's role, while Handel becomes an antagonist; the singer's 22 years spent in the Spanish court is only vaguely hinted at, as well as his brother being appointed minister of War. Farinelli's supposed sexual escapades are a major element of the film's plot, and are totally spurious according to historians (primarily, Patrick Barbier's "Histoire des castrats", Paris 1989). The movie is largely fictionalized and bears little resemblance to the historical Farinelli.

In opera: Farinelli is a character in the opera La Part du Diable, composed by Daniel Auber to a libretto by Eugène Scribe; the title-role in the opera Farinelli by the English composer John Barnett, first performed at Drury Lane in 1839, where his part is written for a tenor (this work is itself an adaptation of the anonymous Farinelli, ou le Bouffe du Roi, premiered in Paris in 1835). More recent operas include Matteo d'Amico's Farinelli, la voce perduta (1996) and Farinelli, oder die Macht des Gesanges by Siegfried Matthus (1998).

Composer and performer Rinde Eckert gives Farinelli's time in Spain a contemporary treatment in his 1995 work for radio, Four Songs Lost in a Wall, commissioned by New American Radio.

That period in his life is also the setting for Farinelli and the King (the king in question being Philip V of Spain), a play by Claire van Kampen, which premiered at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 11 February to 7 March 2015.[4] It was transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End in the final months of 2015, with the role of Farinelli doubled between speaking and singing, with Iestyn Davies performing the latter. Van Kampen's Farinelli and the King was performed on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre[5] from 5 December 2017, to 25 March 2018.

Farinelli is portrayed by Raúl Ferrando in the episode "Fly Away" of the 2021 Netflix Original Series "The Cook of Castamar".[6]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Some older sources say he died on 15 July 1782, but later research has disproved this date.

References edit

Specific
  1. ^ . Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  2. ^ see F Haböck: Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten (Vienna, 1923), pp 209, 227.
  3. ^ this opera was premiered in 1734; Farinelli's ornaments and cadenzas may date from 1737 (according to Haböck), or from as late as 1753, when these ornamented versions were sent by him to the Empress Maria Theresa, in a manuscript now preserved in the National Library of Austria in Vienna [A-Wn 19111], and printed by Haböck on pp 140 ff of Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten; his edition of "Navigante che non spera", from Leonardo Vinci's Il Medo (1728), on pp 12 ff of the same publication, takes the vocal line down to C3, but this has recently been shown to have been an error on his part, with the voice placed an octave too low: see Desler, Anne (2014) Il novello Orfeo' Farinelli: vocal profile, aesthetics, rhetoric. PhD thesis, Glasgow University, p 24
  4. ^ "Sam Wanamaker Playhouse Winter 2014/15 Season". Shakespeare's Globe (Press release).
  5. ^ "StackPath".
  6. ^ "Raúl Ferrando: "Carlo Broschi va a llegar a Castamar por un encargo"". Antena 3. 28 April 2021.
General
  • Carlo Broschi Farinelli, Carlo Vitali (a cura di), La Solitudine amica. Lettere al conte Sicinio Pepoli, prefazione e collaborazione di Francesca Boris, con una nota di Roberto Pagano, Sellerio, 2000.
  • Harris, Ellen T. (2001). "Farinelli". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
  • Farinelli (British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol 28, no 3; Oxford, 2005); the most recent collection of articles about the singer
  • Cappelletto, S: La voce perduta (Turin, 1995); the most recent biography of the singer
  • Celletti, R: Storia del belcanto, (Fiesole, 1983), pp. 80–83, 100, 103, 104, 106, etc.
  • Crow, C: Orchestration… Or Castration (History Today, September 2006; vol 56, no 9, pp 4–5)
  • Haböck, F: Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten (Vienna, 1923), especially pp 12, 209 and 227, with reference to extremes of range
  • Heriot, A: The Castrati in Opera (London, 1956), pp 95–110
  • Pérez Samper, M A: Isabel de Farnesio (Barcelona, 2003), pp 387–397
  • Torrione, M., Crónica festiva de dos reinados en la Gaceta de Madrid: 1700–1759, Paris, Éditions Ophrys, 1998.
  • Torrione, M., «La casa de Farinelli en el Real Sitio de Aranjuez. Nuevos datos para la biografía de Carlos Broschi», Archivo Español de Arte, n° 275, 1996, pp. 323–333.
  • Torrione, M., «Farinelli en la corte de Felipe V», Torre de los Lujanes, n° 38, 1999, pp. 121–142.
  • Torrione, M., «Felipe V y Farinelli, Cadmo y Anfión. Alegoría de una fiesta de cumpleaños: 1737», El conde de Aranda y su tiempo, Zaragoza, Inst. Fernando el Católico (CSIC), t. 2, pp. 223–250.
  • Torrione, M., «Fiesta y teatro musical en el reinado de Felipe V e Isabel de Farnesio: Farinelli, artífice de una resurrección», El Real Sitio de La Granja de San Ildefonso: retrato y escena del rey, Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional, 2000, pp. 220–241.
  • Torrione, M., «Decorados teatrales para el Coliseo del Buen Retiro en tiempos de Fernando VI. Cuatro óleos de Francesco Battaglioli», Reales Sitios, n° 143, 2000, pp. 40–51.
  • Torrione, M., «El Real Coliseo del Buen Retiro: memoria de una arquitectura desaparecida», in Torrione, M. (ed.), España festejante. El siglo XVIII, Málaga, CEDMA, 2000, pp. 295–322.
  • Torrione, M., «La sociedad de Corte y el ritual de la ópera», Un reinado bajo el signo de la paz. Fernando VI y Bárbara de Braganza: 1746–1759, Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 2002, pp. 163–195.
  • Torrione, M., «Nueve óleos de Francesco Battaglioli para el Coliseo del Buen Retiro. La ópera en el reinado de Fernando VI : último relumbrón de la Corte Barroca», J. Martínez Millán, C. Camarero Bullón, M. Luzzi (ed.), La Corte de los Borbones : crisis del modelo cortesano, Madrid, Polifemo, 2013, vol. III, pp. 1733–1777.
  • Torrione, M., Francesco Battaglioli. Escenografías para el Real Teatro del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Teatro de la Zarzuela, INAEM, 2013.

External links edit

farinelli, 1994, biopic, about, this, singer, film, carlo, broschi, redirects, here, opera, this, name, part, diable, italian, pronunciation, fariˈnɛlli, january, 1705, september, 1782, stage, name, carlo, maria, michelangelo, nicola, broschi, pronounced, ˈkar. For the 1994 biopic about this singer see Farinelli film Carlo Broschi redirects here For the opera of this name see La part du diable Farinelli Italian pronunciation fariˈnɛlli 24 January 1705 16 September 1782 a was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi pronounced ˈkarlo ˈbrɔski a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera 1 Farinelli has been described as having had soprano vocal range and as having sung the highest note customary at the time C6 FarinelliPortrait of Farinelli by Bartolomeo Nazari 1734 Born 1705 01 24 24 January 1705Andria Kingdom of NaplesDied16 September 1782 1782 09 16 aged 77 Bologna Papal StatesOther namesCarlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola BroschiOccupationCastrato Contents 1 Early years 2 Career in Europe 3 Farinelli in London 4 At the court of Spain 5 Retirement and death 6 Farinelli s other musical activities 6 1 Vocal works 7 The artist and his times 8 Farinelli Study Centre 9 Portrayals of Farinelli 10 Notes 11 References 12 External linksEarly years editBroschi was born in Andria in what is now Apulia Italy into a family of musicians As recorded in the baptismal register of the church of S Nicola in Andria his father Salvatore was a composer and maestro di cappella of the city s cathedral and his mother Caterina Barrese a citizen of Naples The Duke of Andria Fabrizio Carafa a member of the House of Carafa one of the most prestigious families of the Neapolitan nobility honored Maestro Broschi by taking a leading part in the baptism of his second son who was baptised Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola In later life Farinelli wrote Il Duca d Andria mi tenne al fonte The Duke of Andria held me at the font In 1706 Salvatore also took up the non musical post of governor of the town of Maratea on the western coast of what is now Basilicata and in 1709 that of Terlizzi some twenty miles south east of Andria Unlike many castrati who came from poor families Farinelli was well to do and was related to minor nobility on both sides of the family From 1707 the Broschi family lived in the coastal city of Barletta a few miles from Andria but at the end of 1711 they made the much longer move to the capital city of Naples where in 1712 Carlo s elder brother Riccardo was enrolled at the Conservatory of S Maria di Loreto specialising in composition Carlo had already shown talent as a boy singer and was now introduced to the most famous singing teacher in Naples Nicola Porpora Already a successful opera composer in 1715 Porpora was appointed maestro at the Conservatory of S Onofrio where his pupils included such well known castrati as Giuseppe Appiani Felice Salimbeni and Gaetano Majorano known as Caffarelli as well as distinguished female singers such as Regina Mingotti and Vittoria Tesi Farinelli may well have studied with him privately Salvatore Broschi died unexpectedly on 4 November 1717 aged only 36 and it seems likely that the consequent loss of economic security for the whole family provoked the decision presumably taken by Riccardo for Carlo to be castrated As was often the case an excuse had to be found for this operation and in Carlo s case it was said to have been necessitated by a fall from a horse It is however also possible that he was castrated earlier since at the time of his father s death he was already twelve years old quite an advanced age for castration Under Porpora s tutelage his singing progressed rapidly and at the age of fifteen he made his debut a serenata by his master entitled Angelica e Medoro The text of this work was the first by the soon to be famous Pietro Trapassi known as Metastasio who became a lifelong friend of the singer Farinelli remarked that the two of them had made their debuts on the same day and each frequently referred to the other as his caro gemello dear twin In this Serenata Angelica e Medoro the two leading roles were entrusted to two highly acclaimed singers Marianna Benti Bulgarelli aka la Romanina and Domenico Gizzi Musico Soprano in the Royal Chapel of Naples The derivation of Broschi s stage name is not certain but it was possibly from two rich Neapolitan lawyers the brothers Farina who may have sponsored his studies Farinelli quickly became famous throughout Italy as il ragazzo the boy In 1722 he first sang in Rome in Porpora s Flavio Anicio Olibrio as well as taking the female lead in Sofonisba by Luca Antonio Predieri It was common practice for young castrati to appear en travesti All these appearances were greeted with huge public enthusiasm and an almost legendary story arose that he had to perform an aria with trumpet obbligato which evolved into a contest between singer and trumpeter Farinelli surpassed the trumpet player so much in technique and ornamentation that he was at last silenced only by the acclamations of the audience to quote the music historian Charles Burney This account however cannot be verified since no surviving work which Farinelli is known to have performed contains an aria for soprano with trumpet obbligato Career in Europe edit nbsp Farinelli by Wagner after Amigoni 1735In 1724 Farinelli made his first appearance in Vienna at the invitation of Prince Luigi Pio di Savoia director of the Imperial Theatre He spent the following season in Naples In 1726 he also visited Parma and Milan where Johann Joachim Quantz heard him and commented Farinelli had a penetrating full rich bright and well modulated soprano voice with a range at that time from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C His intonation was pure his trill beautiful his breath control extraordinary and his throat very agile so that he performed the widest intervals quickly and with the greatest ease and certainty Passagework and all kinds of melismas were of no difficulty to him In the invention of free ornamentation in adagio he was very fertile Quantz is certainly accurate in describing Farinelli as a soprano since arias in his repertoire contained the highest notes customarily employed by that voice during his lifetime Fremano l onde in Pietro Torri s opera Nicomede 1728 and Troverai se a me ti fidi in Niccolo Conforto s La Pesca 1737 both have sustained C6 2 His low range apparently extended to F3 as in Al dolor che vo sfogando an aria written by himself and incorporated in a pasticcio called Sabrina and as in two of his own cadenzas for Quell usignolo innamorato from Geminiano Giacomelli s Merope 3 Farinelli sang at Bologna in 1727 where he met the famous castrato Antonio Bernacchi twenty years his senior In a duet in Orlandini s Antigona Farinelli showed off all the aspects of the beauty of his voice and refinements of his style executing a number of passages of great virtuosity which were rewarded with tumultuous applause Undaunted Bernacchi repeated every trill roulade and cadenza of his young rival but performing all of them even more exquisitely and adding variations of his own Farinelli admitting defeat entreated Bernacchi to give him instruction in grazie sopraffine ultra refined graces Bernacchi agreed In 1728 as well as performing in Torri s Nicomede at the Munich court Farinelli performed another concert before the Emperor in Vienna In 1729 during the Carnival season in Venice he sang in two works by Metastasio as Arbace in Metastasio s Catone in Utica music by Leonardo Leo and Mirteo in Semiramide Riconosciuta music by Porpora In these important drammi per musica performed at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo of Venice at his side sang some great singers Nicola Grimaldi detto Nicolino Lucia Facchinelli Domenico Gizzi aka Virtuoso della Cappella Reale di Napoli and Giuseppe Maria Boschi During this period it seemed Farinelli could do no wrong Loaded with riches and honors he was so famous and so formidable as a performer that his rival and friend the castrato Gioacchino Conti Gizziello is said to have fainted from sheer despondency on hearing him sing George Frideric Handel was also keen to engage Farinelli for his company in London and while in Venice in January 1730 tried unsuccessfully to meet him In 1731 Farinelli visited Vienna for a third time There he was received by the Emperor Charles VI on whose advice according to the singer s first biographer Giovenale Sacchi Farinelli modified his style singing more simply and emotionally After further seasons in Italy and another visit to Vienna during which he sang in oratorios in the Imperial chapel Farinelli came to London in 1734 Farinelli in London editIn London the previous year Senesino a singer who had been a part of George Frideric Handel s Second Academy which performed at the King s Theatre Haymarket quarrelled with Handel and established a rival company the Opera of the Nobility operating from a theatre in Lincoln s Inn Fields This company had Porpora as composer and Senesino as principal singer but had not been a success during its first season of 1733 34 Farinelli Porpora s most famous pupil joined the company and made it financially solvent He first appeared in Artaserse a pasticcio with music by his brother Riccardo and Johann Adolph Hasse He sang the memorable arias Per questo dolce amplesso music by Hasse and Son qual nave music by Broschi while Senesino sang Pallido il sole music by Hasse Of Per questo dolce amplesso Charles Burney reports Senesino had the part of a furious tyrant and Farinelli that of an unfortunate hero in chains but in the course of the first air the captive so softened the heart of the tyrant that Senesino forgetting his stage character ran to Farinelli and embraced him in his own Son qual nave on the other hand was composed by Riccardo Broschi as a special showpiece for his brother s virtuosic skills Burney described it thus The first note he sung was taken with such delicacy swelled by minute degrees to such an amazing volume and afterwards diminished in the same manner to a mere point that it was applauded for full five minutes After this he set off with such brilliancy and rapidity of execution that it was difficult for the violins of those days to keep pace with him In 1735 Farinelli and Senesino also appeared in Nicola Porpora s Polifemo Both the cognoscenti and the public adored him The librettist Paolo Rolli a close friend and supporter of Senesino commented Farinelli has surprised me so much that I feel as though I had hitherto heard only a small part of the human voice and now have heard it all He has besides the most amiable and polite manners Some fans were more unrestrained one titled lady was so carried away that from a theatre box she famously exclaimed One God one Farinelli and was immortalised in a detail of Plate II of William Hogarth s A Rake s Progress citation needed she may also appear in Plate IV of his series Marriage A la Mode of 1745 Though Farinelli s success was enormous neither the Nobility Opera nor Handel s company was able to sustain the public s interest which waned rapidly Though his official salary was 1500 for a season gifts from admirers probably increased this to something more like 5000 an enormous sum at the time Farinelli was by no means the only singer to receive such large amounts which were unsustainable in the long term As one contemporary observer remarked within these two years we have seen even Farinelli sing to an audience of five and thirty pounds Nonetheless he was still under contract in London in the summer of 1737 when he received a summons via Sir Thomas Fitzgerald Secretary of the Spanish Embassy there to visit the Spanish court At the court of Spain edit nbsp Carlo Broschi Farinelli in Spanish court dress wearing the Order of Calatrava by Jacopo Amigoni c 1750 1752Apparently intending to make only a brief visit to the Continent Farinelli called at Paris on his way to Madrid singing on 9 July at Versailles to King Louis XV who gave him his portrait set in diamonds and 500 louis d or On 15 July he left for Spain arriving about a month later Elisabeth Farnese the Queen had come to believe that Farinelli s voice might be able to cure the severe depression of her husband King Philip V some contemporary physicians such as the Queen s doctor Giuseppe Cervi believed in the efficacy of music therapy On 25 August 1737 Farinelli was named chamber musician to the king and criado familiar or servant to the royal family He never sang again in public Farinelli became a royal favourite and very influential at court For the remaining nine years of Philip s life Farinelli gave nightly private concerts to the royal couple He also sang for other members of the royal family and organised private performances by them and by professional musicians in the royal palaces In 1738 he arranged for an entire Italian opera company to visit Madrid beginning a fashion for opera seria in the Spanish capital The Coliseo of the royal palace of Buen Retiro was remodelled and became Madrid s only opera house On the accession of Philip s son Ferdinand VI Farinelli s influence became even greater Ferdinand was a keen musician and his wife Barbara of Portugal more or less a musical fanatic in 1728 she had appointed Domenico Scarlatti as her harpsichord teacher the musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick acknowledges Farinelli s correspondence as having provided most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day The relationship between singer and monarchs was personally close he and the queen sang duets together and the king accompanied them on the harpsichord Farinelli took charge of all spectacles and court entertainments He was himself also officially received into the ranks of the nobility being made a Knight of the Order of Calatrava in 1750 an honour of which he was enormously proud Although much courted by diplomats Farinelli seems to have kept out of politics Retirement and death edit nbsp Anonymous Neoclassical bust of Farinelli R A B A S F Madrid In 1759 Ferdinand was succeeded by his half brother Charles III who was no lover of music Charles was the son of Elisabetta Farnese who had never forgiven Farinelli for his decision to remain at court after Philip V s death rather than following her into internal exile It was clear that Farinelli would now have to leave Spain though he was allowed a generous state pension He retired to Bologna where in 1732 he had acquired a property and citizenship Though rich and still famous much feted by local notables and visited by such notable figures as Burney Mozart and Casanova he was lonely in his old age having outlived many of his friends and former colleagues One distinguished friend of his latter years was the music historian Giovanni Battista known as Padre Martini He also continued his correspondence with Metastasio court poet at Vienna dying a few months after him In his will dated 20 February 1782 Farinelli asked to be buried in the mantle of the Order of Calatrava and was interred in the cemetery of the Capuchin monastery of Santa Croce in Bologna His estate included gifts from royalty a large collection of paintings including works by Velazquez Murillo and Jusepe de Ribera as well as portraits of his royal patrons and several of himself one by his friend Jacopo Amigoni He also had a collection of keyboard instruments in which he took great delight especially a piano made in Florence in 1730 called in the will cembalo a martellini and violins by Stradivarius and Amati citation needed Farinelli died in Bologna on 16 September 1782 His original place of burial was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars and in 1810 Farinelli s great niece Maria Carlotta Pisani had his remains transferred to the cemetery of La Certosa in Bologna Maria Carlotta bequeathed many of Farinelli s letters to University of Bologna s library and was buried in the same grave as Farinelli in 1850 citation needed Farinelli s remains were disinterred from the Certosa cemetery on 12 July 2006 Having been piled together at one end of Maria Carlotta s grave for almost two centuries the bones had suffered considerable degradation and there was no sign of the singer s mantle of the Order of Calatrava However the surviving remains included his jawbone several teeth parts of his skull and almost all of the major bones the exhumation was instigated by Florentine antiquarian Alberto Bruschi and Luigi Verdi Secretary of the Farinelli Study Centre The next day the musicologist Carlo Vitali of the Farinelli Study Centre stated that the major bones were long and sturdy which would correspond with Farinelli s official portraits as well as the castrato s reputation for being unusually tall Maria Giovanna Belcastro of the Anthropology Institute of the University of Bologna Gino Fornaciari paleoanthropologist of the University of Pisa and David Howard Professor of Music Technology at the University of York England are engaged in ascertaining what new information may be derived from these remains as to Farinelli s lifestyle habits and possible diseases as well as the physiology of a castrato Their research methods will include X rays CAT scans and DNA sampling citation needed Farinelli s other musical activities editFarinelli not only sang but like most musicians of his time was a competent harpsichordist In old age he learned to play the viola d amore He occasionally composed writing a cantata of farewell to London entitled Ossequiosissimo ringraziamento for which he also wrote the text and a few songs and arias including one dedicated to Ferdinand VI Vocal works edit Ossequiosissimo ringraziamento La partenza Orfeo with Riccardo Broschi Recitative Ogni di piu molesto dunque Recitative Invan ti chiamo Aria Io sperai del porto in seno Aria Al dolor che vo sfogando Aria Non sperar non lusingarti Aria Che chiedi Che brami The artist and his times editFarinelli is widely regarded as the greatest most accomplished and most respected opera singer of the castrato era which lasted from the early 1600s into the early 1800s and while there were a vast number of such singers during this period originating especially from the Neapolitan School of such composers as Nicola Porpora Alessandro Scarlatti and Francesco Durante only a handful of his rivals could approach his skill as a singer citation needed Caffarelli Matteuccio Siface Senesino Gizziello Marchesi Carestini and some others were very famous and extremely gifted in their own right with Caffarelli probably being the most vocally proficient but Farinelli was also admired for his modesty his intelligence his low key attitude and his dedication to his work He respected his colleagues composers and impresarios often earning their lifelong friendship as a result whereas Caffarelli was notoriously capricious malicious and disrespectful of anyone sharing the stage with him to the point of cackling and booing fellow singers during their own arias Farinelli s technical proficiency allowed him to be comfortable in all vocal registers from tenor to soprano but he himself favoured the medium to high register rather than the very high preferring to convey emotion rather than to astonish by sheer technique unlike most of his colleagues who preferred to startle audiences with vocal stunts This soft approach to music no doubt helped him survive his 22 year private engagement at the court of Spain which effectively ended his theatrical career when aged only 32 By this time he had already achieved every possible success on every European stage and even in retirement in Bologna was still regarded by every foreign dignitary visiting the city as the music star to meet Farinelli Study Centre editFarinelli lived in Bologna from 1761 until his death The Farinelli Study Centre Centro Studi Farinelli was opened in Bologna in 1998 Major events and achievements in which it was involved have included The restoration of Farinelli s grave in the Certosa of Bologna 2000 An historical exhibition Farinelli a Bologna 2001 and 2005 The inauguration of a City Park in the name of Farinelli near the site where the singer lived in Bologna 2002 An international symposium Il Farinelli e gli evirati cantori on the occasion of Farinelli s 300th anniversary of his birth 2005 An official publication Il fantasma del Farinelli 2005 The disinterment of Farinelli at the Certosa of Bologna 2006 Portrayals of Farinelli editFarinelli is represented in Voltaire s Candide A film Farinelli directed by Gerard Corbiau was made about Farinelli s life in 1994 This takes considerable dramatic licence with history emphasising the importance of Farinelli s brother and reducing Porpora s role while Handel becomes an antagonist the singer s 22 years spent in the Spanish court is only vaguely hinted at as well as his brother being appointed minister of War Farinelli s supposed sexual escapades are a major element of the film s plot and are totally spurious according to historians primarily Patrick Barbier s Histoire des castrats Paris 1989 The movie is largely fictionalized and bears little resemblance to the historical Farinelli In opera Farinelli is a character in the opera La Part du Diable composed by Daniel Auber to a libretto by Eugene Scribe the title role in the opera Farinelli by the English composer John Barnett first performed at Drury Lane in 1839 where his part is written for a tenor this work is itself an adaptation of the anonymous Farinelli ou le Bouffe du Roi premiered in Paris in 1835 More recent operas include Matteo d Amico s Farinelli la voce perduta 1996 and Farinelli oder die Macht des Gesanges by Siegfried Matthus 1998 Composer and performer Rinde Eckert gives Farinelli s time in Spain a contemporary treatment in his 1995 work for radio Four Songs Lost in a Wall commissioned by New American Radio That period in his life is also the setting for Farinelli and the King the king in question being Philip V of Spain a play by Claire van Kampen which premiered at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 11 February to 7 March 2015 4 It was transferred to the Duke of York s Theatre in London s West End in the final months of 2015 with the role of Farinelli doubled between speaking and singing with Iestyn Davies performing the latter Van Kampen s Farinelli and the King was performed on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre 5 from 5 December 2017 to 25 March 2018 Farinelli is portrayed by Raul Ferrando in the episode Fly Away of the 2021 Netflix Original Series The Cook of Castamar 6 Notes edit Some older sources say he died on 15 July 1782 but later research has disproved this date References editSpecific Farinelli Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Archived from the original on 26 July 2015 Retrieved 24 October 2010 see F Habock Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten Vienna 1923 pp 209 227 this opera was premiered in 1734 Farinelli s ornaments and cadenzas may date from 1737 according to Habock or from as late as 1753 when these ornamented versions were sent by him to the Empress Maria Theresa in a manuscript now preserved in the National Library of Austria in Vienna A Wn 19111 and printed by Habock on pp 140 ff of Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten his edition of Navigante che non spera from Leonardo Vinci s Il Medo 1728 on pp 12 ff of the same publication takes the vocal line down to C3 but this has recently been shown to have been an error on his part with the voice placed an octave too low see Desler Anne 2014 Il novello Orfeo Farinelli vocal profile aesthetics rhetoric PhD thesis Glasgow University p 24 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse Winter 2014 15 Season Shakespeare s Globe Press release StackPath Raul Ferrando Carlo Broschi va a llegar a Castamar por un encargo Antena 3 28 April 2021 GeneralCarlo Broschi Farinelli Carlo Vitali a cura di La Solitudine amica Lettere al conte Sicinio Pepoli prefazione e collaborazione di Francesca Boris con una nota di Roberto Pagano Sellerio 2000 Harris Ellen T 2001 Farinelli In Sadie Stanley Tyrrell John eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd ed London Macmillan Publishers ISBN 978 1 56159 239 5 Farinelli British Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies vol 28 no 3 Oxford 2005 the most recent collection of articles about the singer Cappelletto S La voce perduta Turin 1995 the most recent biography of the singer Celletti R Storia del belcanto Fiesole 1983 pp 80 83 100 103 104 106 etc Crow C Orchestration Or Castration History Today September 2006 vol 56 no 9 pp 4 5 Habock F Die Gesangkunst der Kastraten Vienna 1923 especially pp 12 209 and 227 with reference to extremes of range Heriot A The Castrati in Opera London 1956 pp 95 110 Perez Samper M A Isabel de Farnesio Barcelona 2003 pp 387 397 Torrione M Cronica festiva de dos reinados en la Gaceta de Madrid 1700 1759 Paris Editions Ophrys 1998 Torrione M La casa de Farinelli en el Real Sitio de Aranjuez Nuevos datos para la biografia de Carlos Broschi Archivo Espanol de Arte n 275 1996 pp 323 333 Torrione M Farinelli en la corte de Felipe V Torre de los Lujanes n 38 1999 pp 121 142 Torrione M Felipe V y Farinelli Cadmo y Anfion Alegoria de una fiesta de cumpleanos 1737 El conde de Aranda y su tiempo Zaragoza Inst Fernando el Catolico CSIC t 2 pp 223 250 Torrione M Fiesta y teatro musical en el reinado de Felipe V e Isabel de Farnesio Farinelli artifice de una resurreccion El Real Sitio de La Granja de San Ildefonso retrato y escena del rey Madrid Patrimonio Nacional 2000 pp 220 241 Torrione M Decorados teatrales para el Coliseo del Buen Retiro en tiempos de Fernando VI Cuatro oleos de Francesco Battaglioli Reales Sitios n 143 2000 pp 40 51 Torrione M El Real Coliseo del Buen Retiro memoria de una arquitectura desaparecida in Torrione M ed Espana festejante El siglo XVIII Malaga CEDMA 2000 pp 295 322 Torrione M La sociedad de Corte y el ritual de la opera Un reinado bajo el signo de la paz Fernando VI y Barbara de Braganza 1746 1759 Madrid Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando 2002 pp 163 195 Torrione M Nueve oleos de Francesco Battaglioli para el Coliseo del Buen Retiro La opera en el reinado de Fernando VI ultimo relumbron de la Corte Barroca J Martinez Millan C Camarero Bullon M Luzzi ed La Corte de los Borbones crisis del modelo cortesano Madrid Polifemo 2013 vol III pp 1733 1777 Torrione M Francesco Battaglioli Escenografias para el Real Teatro del Buen Retiro Madrid Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando Teatro de la Zarzuela INAEM 2013 External links editFarinelli at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks Library resources about Farinelli Resources in your library Resources in other libraries By Farinelli Resources in your library Resources in other libraries Works by or about Farinelli at Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Farinelli amp oldid 1216456130, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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