Giovanni Cesari (25 June 1843 – 10 March 1904) was an Italian singer with a ''soprano acuto'', or high

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& ...

voice. Together with

Alessandro Moreschi Alessandro Moreschi (11 November 1858 – 21 April 1922) was an Italian chorister of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings. Early life Alessandro Moreschi was born on 11 November 1858 to Luigi Lorenzo Moreschi (1840� ...

, Domenico Salvatori and Domenico Mustafà, Cesari was a famous

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 t ...

singer of the late 19th century. Born in the town of

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

, he was dropped off at an orphanage in 1852 by his parents. Here he started his musical education under the direction of

Gaetano Capocci Gaetano Capocci (16 October 1811 – 11 January 1898) was a composer, organist and maestro. Capocci was born in Rome. As a boy he studied the organ under Sante Pascoli, organist of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, and he completed his musical studies ...

, financed by the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...

. He was then admitted, upon completing his studies, as a soprano to the

Sistine Chapel Choir The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other churc ...

at the age of 17 in 1861. Cesari was overall a remarkable soprano, and although he possessed a veiled voice, he was a master of song with an optimal intonation and an exquisite trill. In addition to being a soprano at the Sistine Chapel Choir, he was also director of sacred music at several churches of Rome (Santa Lucia al Gonfalone, Santo Spirito in Sassia, etc.), and he used to arrange concerts in Rome. In 1896 he was promoted to vice-director of the Cappella, sometimes substituting for the older maestro Domenico Mustafà. He died prematurely in Rome in 1904. His voice can be heard, rather faintly, together with those of the other choristers on the Sistine Chapel recordings made by

Fred Gaisberg Frederick William Gaisberg (1 January 1873 – 2 September 1951) was an American musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone. He himself did not use the term 'producer', and was not an impresari ...

in 1902.

External links

Short biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cesari, Giovanni 1843 births 1904 deaths Cesari Cesari 19th-century Italian male actors Italian male stage actors 19th-century Italian male singers