![Antonio canova, busto del cantante nicola tacchinardi, 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Antonio_canova%2C_busto_del_cantante_nicola_tacchinardi%2C_01.jpg)
Nicola Tacchinardi (3 September 1772 – 14 March 1859), was an Italian
cellist and
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
, and later voice teacher.
He was born as Niccolò Costantino Fedele Tacchinardi in
Livorno by Francesco Tacchinardi, owner and teacher of a fencing school, and by Vittoria Vaccari, daughter of an employee of the Grand Ducal Navy and sister of a ship captain, Gaetano.
He was married three times. He was married for the first time in 1803. From his first wife Maria Angiola Tacchinardi, a relative, he had four children: Carolina, Ulisse,
Fanny (born Francesca Felicita Maria) and Enrichetta "Elisa". He married a second time in 1837 with Caterina Tacchinardi (daughter of Giuseppe Tacchinardi and Giuseppa Bernardini), a sixty-three year old widow. His second wife died two years later in 1839 and in the same year he married for the third time with the young twenty-two year old housemaid, Maria Cleofe Santa Della Vida (daughter of Angiolo Della Vida and Anna Luperi). From his third wife he had at least two children (some sources report four): Andrea Guido Adriano known as Guido (Florence, 10 March 1840 – 6 December 1917) and Alessandro Fortunato (Florence, 1841).
He began his career as a cellist at the
Teatro della Pergola
The Teatro della Pergola is an historic opera house in Florence, Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name. It was built in 1656 under the patronage of Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Med ...
in Florence, and later turned to singing, making his debut as a tenor in Livorno in 1804.
He quickly appeared throughout Italy and made in 1805, his debut at
La Scala in Milan. He sang at the
Théâtre-Italien in Paris from 1811 until 1814, to considerable acclaim in operas by
Niccolo Zingarelli,
Ferdinando Paer
Ferdinando Paer (1 July 1771 – 3 May 1839) was an Italian composer known for his operas. He was of Austrian descent and used the German spelling Pär in application for printing in Venice, and later in France the spelling Paër.
Life and career ...
,
Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini.
Life
Paisiello was born in T ...
,
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
, and
Mozart. Later, upon his return in Italy, he was much admired in
Rossini roles, notably as
Otello.
Tacchinardi retired from the stage in 1831, and turned to teaching. Amongst his students was his daughter, soprano Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, who went on to create the title role in ''
Lucia di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...
''. He died at
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.
References
Sources
* ''Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensable de la musique'', R. Mancini & J-J. Rouveroux, (Fayard, 1986)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacchinardi, Nicola
1772 births
1859 deaths
Italian operatic tenors
19th-century Italian male opera singers
People from Livorno