Giovanni Battista Velluti, colloquially "Giambattista" (28 January 1780 – 22 January 1861), was an Italian

castrato A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

. Considered "the last great castrato", he had a reputation of being something of a

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

, with some singers refusing to appear with him.

Biography

Born in Pausula (near

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

), Italy, a local doctor castrated him at the age of eight as treatment for a cough and high fever. Velluti's father, who had planned on a military career for his son, enrolled him in musical training. He became close friends with Luigi Cardinal Chiaramonte, the man who would become

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

, after singing a cantata sometime in his teenage years. In 1800, he made his debut at

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

. The last great castrato roles were composed specifically for him: Arsace in Rossini's ''

Aureliano in Palmira ''Aureliano in Palmira'' is an operatic ''dramma serio'' in two acts written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto in which the librettist was credited only by the initials "G. F. R." The libretto has generally been attributed to ...

'' (1813) and Armando in Meyerbeer's '' Il crociato in Egitto'' (1824). He made his London debut in 1825 in ''Il crociato in Egitto''. The crowds reacted poorly to his initial performances as he was the first castrato to appear in London in 25 years, but he drew crowds until the end of his career. In 1826 he took over management of

The King's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

in London and appeared there in ''Aureliano in Palmira'' and

Morlacchi Morlacchi is a family name of Italian origin. It might indicate an ultimate family origin connected with the Morlachs, a Balkan ethnic group which had considerable interaction with Italians (particularly those from the Republic of Venice). It ma ...

's ''Tebaldo ed Isolina''. However, his career as a theatre manager ended following financial quarrels over extra pay for the chorus. He returned to London in 1829, but appeared only in concerts. Upon his retirement from the stage, he became an agriculturist and died in 1861.

References

*Panati, Charles, ''Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody'', Perennial Library, 1989. * Crowe, Robert (2017)
Giovanni Battista Velluti in London, 1825-1829: Literary Constructions of the Last Operatic Castrato
', PhD

Musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, (

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

). Dissertation committee:

Joshua Rifkin Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944 in New York) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist; he is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre ...

, Victor Coelho and

Silke Leopold Silke Leopold (born 30 November 1948) is a German musicologist and university lecturer. Life Born in Hamburg, Leopold studied musicology, theatre studies, Romance languages and literature at the University of Hamburg and the University of Rome, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Velluti, Giovanni Battista 1780 births 1861 deaths Castrati 19th-century Italian male actors 19th-century Italian male opera singers People from the Province of Macerata