Celeste Coltellini (26 November 1760 - 24 July 1828) was an Italian

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. She was a well-known singer of

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...

in Europe in the late 18th century. Born in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, Celeste was the daughter of a librettist, Marco Coltellini. In 1780, she made her debut at

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in Milan, performing in three operas:

Giovanni Valentini Giovanni Valentini (ca. 1582 – 29/30 April 1649) was an Italian Baroque composer, poet and keyboard virtuoso. Overshadowed by his contemporaries, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz, Valentini is practically forgotten today, although he occ ...

's ''Le nozze in contrasto'',

Giacomo Rust Giacomo Rust or Rusti (1741 in Rome, Italy – 1786 in Barcelona, Spain) was an Italian opera composer, probably of German ancestry. Not a great deal is known about Rust. Between 1763 and 1777, Rust was active in Venice, where his first opera, a ...

's ''Gli antiquari in Palmira'' and Giovanni Paisiello's ''La Frascatana'', singing in

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

register. She then sang at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where she had the opportunity to meet Emperor Joseph II, who later invited her to perform in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. When her voice changed to soprano, she accepted the Emperor's invitation. In 1785, she went to Vienna with her mother, and stayed there for a year. In Vienna, she made her debut singing Domenico Cimarosa’s ''Contadina di spirito''. She returned to Vienna again in 1788, but stayed just for a few months. She was seen with

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

several times at music performances and parties, however, there was no record or any official report mentioning about any affairs or collaboration works between them. Coltellini was famous for her excellent interpretation of the title role in '' Nina, o sia La pazza per amore'' by Giovanni Paisiello. Her sister Annetta, also a singer, often accompanied her in the production. In 1792, at the age of 32, Celeste retired from the opera stage and married the Swiss banker Jean-Georges Meuricoffre who owned a bank in Naples.Carola Bebermeier, Celeste Coltellini (1760-1828) - ''Lebensbilder einer Sängerin und Malerin'', Böhlau Verlag, Köln/Wien/Weimar 2015, pg. 248. (German language) Coltellini died in Naples in 1828.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coltellini, Celeste 1760 births 1829 deaths Italian operatic sopranos People from Livorno 18th-century Italian women opera singers

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