Giovanni Maria Bacchini (also known as ''Teodoro del Carmine'' and "Bacchino") 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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, writer on music, and

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who flourished during the late 16th century and early 17th century.

Life and career

Bacchini was a

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

friar who was highly active in church circles in Mantua from the late 1580s into the early part of the 17th century. During the 1580s he composed numerous

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

es for the Palatine church of Santa Barbara at the Ducal palace, Mantua which had been built by the then-reigning

Duke of Mantua During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...

Guglielmo Gonzaga Guglielmo Gonzaga (24 April 1538 – 14 August 1587) was Duke of Mantua from 1550 to 1587, and of Duke of Montferrat, Montferrat from 1574 to 1587. He was the second son of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Margaret Palaeologina of Montferra ...

. After Guglielmo's death in 1587, he continued to serve as a musician for the Mantuan Court and was active in Mantuan church circles up into the first few years of the 17th century. In 1589 a book consisting of several of Bacchini's masses for 5 or 6 voices was published in Mantua. He was also the author of a treatise on music which is now lost. He became a frequent performer in entertainments for the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua in the 1590s. In 1594 he traveled with the Duke to

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

where he performed for Philipp of Bavaria, the Bishop of Regensburg. In 1595 he accompanied the Duke on his first campaign against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in the southern Pannonian Plain; a trip which also included the company of composer

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...

and poet

Giambattista Marino Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, Gia ...

. It is speculated that Bacchini sang the role of Euridice in the world premiere of Moneteverdi's '' L'Orfeo'' at the court of Prince Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua in 1607. This is based on a 1608 letter to Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua which refers to "that little priest who performed the role of Euridice in the Most Serene Prince's ''Orfeo''".Sternfeld, p. 26 However, musicologist Tim Carter points out that by 1607 Bacchini had already left the service of the Mantuan Court and, while he may possibly have returned as a guest artist, it is plausible that another unknown individual portrayed the part.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacchini, Giovanni 16th-century births 17th-century deaths Castrati Italian male classical composers Italian opera singers 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Italian Baroque composers Carmelites 17th-century Italian composers Musicians from Mantua Clergy from Mantua 17th-century Italian male musicians