Gioacchino Conti (28 February 1714 – 25 October 1761), best known as Gizziello or Egizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer. Gizziello - Gioacchino Conti

Biography

Conti was born in

Arpino Arpino (Southern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the R ...

in 1714, possibly the son of the composer Nicola Conti. After studying in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

with

Domenico Gizzi Domenico Gizzi (Arpino, 1680 – Naples, 1745) was an Italian composer and singing teacher. Waldo Selden Pratt ''The History of Ballroom Dancing'' 1907 "Other important singing-teachers were Domenico Gizzi and his pupil Fernando Feo.." Also known ...

, after whom he would later be nicknamed, he made his debut in Rome at an early age, around 1730. According to some modern encyclopedic sources, it took place in

Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on subsequ ...

's ''

Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, ...

'', which premiered on 4 February at the

Teatro delle Dame The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert (its original name), was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and Via Margutta. In the course of its history it underwent a series of reconstr ...

. However, his name does not appear in the cast of the original libretto, and his theatrical debut ought probably to be dated instead in 1731, in revivals of ''Didone abbandonata'' and of the same ''Artaserse'', both by Vinci. A colourful anecdote relates how another overweening castrato star,

Caffarelli Caffarelli may be *Caffarelli (castrato), stage name of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (1710-1783)Carmela Cafarelli(1889-1979) was proprietor of Cleveland Ohio's Cafarelli Opera Company *Luis Caffarelli (born 1948), American-Argentine mathematician * ...

, rode post-haste to Rome from Naples just to attend incognito his debut; and full of enthusiasm eventually yelled at him: "Bravo, bravissimo Gizziello, it’s Caffariello who's telling you!" Whatever the case, at the beginning of 1732 he was urgently called upon to replace the castrato Nicolò Grimaldi (Nicolini), who suddenly died on 1 January during the rehearsals of Pergolesi's first opera '' La Salustia'' at the

Teatro San Bartolomeo Theatres for diverse musical and dramatic presentations began to open in Naples, Italy, in the mid-16th century as part of the general Spanish cultural and political expansion into the kingdom of Naples, which had just become a vicerealm of Spain. ...

. Having become a member of the theatre's company, later that year he performed in new operas by

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) in ...

and Francesco Mancini, and in revivals of Vinci's ''Catone in Utica'' and ''Artaserse''. His subsequent career led him throughout Italy, as well as abroad. In 1736–37 he was in London, where he had been engaged by George Frideric Handel, with whom he would build a profitable collaboration. Conti performed in many of his works, such as ''

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

'', '' Giustino'', ''

Berenice Berenice ( grc, Βερενίκη, ''Bereníkē'') is the Ancient Macedonian form of the Attic Greek name ''Pherenikē'', which means "bearer of victory" . Berenika, priestess of Demeter in Lete ca. 350 BC, is the oldest epigraphical evidence. ...

'' and '' Arminio'', as well as in revivals of ''

Ariodante ''Ariodante'' ( HWV 33) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 4, 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's ''Orlando Furioso''. E ...

'', ''

Partenope ''Partenope'' ("Parthenope", HWV 27) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, first performed at the King's Theatre in London on 24 February 1730. Although following the structure and forms of opera seria, the work is humorous in character and li ...

'', and ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during ...

''. He sang at many premieres for the best and most famous musicians of his time, including Niccolò Jommelli (''Manlio'', 1746), Baldassare Galuppi (''

, 1751'') and

(''Demetrio'', 1747). After 1759, Conti left the stage and settled in Rome, where he spent the last two years of his life. Being a very sharp soprano for his time (Handel got him repeatedly to reach up to C6), Conti was not quite well disposed towards abuse of coloratura and he chose rather to turn to better account his fluent and smooth style of rendering and expression: he has thus remained famous as a sentimental and gentle singer, but he also always kept a condition of absolute excellence at vocal virtuosity, even though not so acrobatic as, for instance, that of his contemporary (and friend) Farinelli.Caruselli, I, p. 295. Conti always remained in good terms with Farinelli, who repeatedly invited him to Spain, terming him "Antiguo amigo" (longtime friend) (Sandro Cappelletto, ''La voce perduta: vita di Farinelli, evirato cantore'', Turin, EDT, 1995, p. 108. )

References

Sources

Rodolfo Celletti Rodolfo Celletti (1917–2004) was an Italian musicologist, critic, voice teacher, and novelist. Considered one of the leading scholars of the operatic voice and the history of operatic performance, he published many books and articles on the subje ...

, ''Storia del belcanto'', Fiesole, Discanto Edizioni, 1983, pp. 105–106, 125. * Salvatore Caruselli (ed.), ''Grande enciclopedia della musica lirica'', Rome, Longanesi &C. Periodici S.p.A. (article: ''Conti, Gioacchino, detto Gizziello'', I, p. 295) *

Winton Dean Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his boo ...

, ''Conti, Gioacchino Egizziello', 'Gizziello'', in Stanley Sadie (ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997, I, pp. 927–928, *

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univer ...

, ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique'' (second edition), Paris, Didot, 1866, II, pp. 350–352 (article: ''Conti (Joachin)''; accessible for free online a
Gallica - BNF
* Corrado Lisena, ''Conti, Gioacchino'', in ''

Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...

'', Volume 28, 1983, accessible online a
Treccani.it
* Carlantonio di Villarosa, ''Memorie dei compositori di musica del Regno di Napoli raccolte dal Marchese di Villarosa'', Naples, Stamperia Reale, 1840, pp. 53–54 (article: ''Conti Gioacchino''; accessible for free online a
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Conti, Gioacchino 1714 births 1761 deaths People from Arpino Italian opera singers Castrati 18th-century Italian male actors Italian male stage actors