Napoleone Moriani (10 March 1808 – 4 March 1878) was an Italian operatic tenor, appearing in opera houses throughout Europe.

Life

Moriani was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 1808. He came from a wealthy family, and he studied law at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

, intending to become a lawyer. Since his tenor voice was well regarded in society, he tried an operatic career: his debut, in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

at the Teatro dei Condomini in 1833, was successful."Moriani, Napoleone"
''Treccani''. Retrieved 13 August 2022. During the following years he appeared on stage in many Italian cities, and from 1840 elsewhere in Europe: in Vienna at the

Theater am Kärntnertor or (Carinthian Gate Theatre) was a prestigious theatre in Vienna during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its official title was (Imperial and Royal Court Theatre of Vienna). History The theatre was built in 1709 to designs by Ant ...

, in Germany including Dresden at the Court Theatre, in London at

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket, London, 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, ...

and

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

, and in Spain and Portugal, including the

Teatro de la Cruz The Teatro de la Cruz was, during its nearly 200-year existence, the principal theater for comedy in Madrid. History Founded by the Hermandad de la Soledad in 1584, it soon became the premier venue of its time for Spanish comedy. In 1743, it was ...

in Madrid; he was decorated by the

Queen of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

with the Order of Isabella. Popular roles included Edgardo 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 Lammermoor''. ...

'' and Gennaro in ''

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (; ca-valencia, Lucrècia Borja, links=no ; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the Govern ...

'', both operas by

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

; he also appeared as Arturo in ''

I Puritani ' (''The Puritans'') is an 1835 opera by Vincenzo Bellini. It was originally written in two acts and later changed to three acts on the advice of Gioachino Rossini, with whom the young composer had become friends. The music was set to a libretto ...

'' by

Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giu ...

; in operas by

Saverio Mercadante Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond ...

he was Ruggiero in ''Emma d'Antiochia'', Odone in ''I normanni a Parigi'' and Carlo in ''

Il bravo ''Il bravo, ossia La Veneziana'' ("The Assassin, or The Venetian Woman") is an opera in three acts by Saverio Mercadante to an Italian-language libretto by Gaetano Rossi and Marco Marcello. Their libretto was based on the play ''La Vénétienne'' ...

''. He appeared in many other operas.

Francesco Regli Francesco Regli (1802–1866) was an Italian writer best known today for his extensive biographical dictionary which chronicled the lives and careers of prominent figures in the performing arts in Italy from 1800 to 1860. Described as a "polygraph ...

wrote that "every note was charged with a wave of passion". Moriani shared many acclaimed performances with

Giuseppina Strepponi Clelia Maria Josepha (Giuseppina) Strepponi ( Lodi, 8 September 1815 – Villanova sull'Arda, 14 November 1897) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi. She is ofte ...

Julian Marshall Julian Marshall (24 June 1836 – 21 November 1903) was an English music and print collector, tennis player and writer. Life Marshall was born in Headingley, Yorkshire to a flax-spinning family.#Faflak, Faflak & Wright, p. 51 His father, John ...

wrote of his appearances in London in 1844 and 1845: "He came with a real Italian reputation, but he came too late in his own career, and too early for a public that had not yet forgotten what Italian tenors had been.... he pleased little here." Because of a chronic disease of the larynx, his career declined early, and from the 1850s he lived in retirement on an estate he purchased near

Greve in Chianti Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...

. Moriani and his wife Elvira had four children. He died in Florence in 1878.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moriani, Napoleone 1808 births 1878 deaths Musicians from Florence Italian operatic tenors 19th-century Italian male opera singers