Michele Benedetti (17 October 1778 – after 1828 ) was an Italian bass particularly associated with Rossini roles.

Career

Benedetti was born in Loreto. He sang in the world première of

Giuseppe Farinelli Giuseppe Farinelli (7 May 1769 – 12 December 1836) was an Italian composer active at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century who excelled in writing opera buffas. Considered the successor and most successful imitator o ...

's '' Calliroe'' in 1808 and at the Italian première of

Spontini Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era. Biography Born in Maiolati, Papal State (now Maiolati Spontini, Province of Ancona), he spent most of his ...

La vestale ''La vestale'' (''The Vestal Virgin'') is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy. It takes the form of a ''tragédie lyrique'' in three acts. It was first performed on 15 December 1807 by the Académie Impé ...

in 1811, both 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 ...

, where his career was based. He created several Rossini roles in Naples, notably: Elmiro in ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'', Idraote in ''

Armida Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description In Tasso's epic ''Jerusalem Delivered'' ( it, Gerusalemme liberata, link=no), Rinaldo is a fierce and determ ...

'', the title role in ''

Mosè in Egitto ''Mosè in Egitto'' (; "''Moses in Egypt''") is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a 1760 play by Francesco Ringhieri, ''L'Osiride''. It premièred on 5 March 1818 a ...

'', Ircano in ''

Ricciardo e Zoraide ''Ricciardo e Zoraide'' (''Ricciardo and Zoraide'') is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa. The text is based on cantos XIV and XV of '' Il Ricciardetto'', an epic poem by Niccolò Forte ...

'', Fenicio in ''

Ermione ''Ermione'' (1819) is a tragic opera (azione tragica) in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the play ''Andromaque'' by Jean Racine. Performance history 19th century ''Ermione'' was first pe ...

'', Douglas in ''

La donna del lago ''La donna del lago'' (English: ''The Lady of the Lake'') is an opera composed by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola (whose verses are described as "limpid" by one critic) based on the French translationOsborne, Charles 19 ...

'', Leucippo in ''

Zelmira ''Zelmira'' () is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. Based on the French play, ''Zelmire'' by de Belloy, it was the last of the composer's Neapolitan operas. Stendhal called its music Teutonic, compa ...

''. For

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 created the roles of Atkins in ''

Alfredo il grande ''Alfredo il grande'' (''Alfred the Great'') is a ''melodramma'' serio or serious opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Andrea Leone Tottola wrote the Italian libretto, which may have been derived from Johann Simon Mayr's 1818 opera of the sa ...

'' (1823) and the King in ''

Gianni di Calais ''Gianni di Calais'' is a ''melodramma semiserio'', a "semi-serious" opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1828), from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on ''Jean de Paris'' by Louis-Charles Caigniez. It was first performed on 2 Augus ...

'' (1828), and for Bellini in 1826 the role of Clemente in '' Bianca e Gernando''. He also sang in Paris and London, and appeared in premières of operas by

Mayr Mayr is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrea Mayr (born 1979), Austrian female long-distance runner * Ernst Mayr (1904–2005), German American evolutionary biologist * Georg Mayr (1564–1623), Bavarian Jesuit pries ...

, Pacini, and Mercadante.

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

wrote an enthusiastic critique of his interpretation of Mosè.

References

* Forbes, Elizabeth, in *Mancini, Roland; Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), ''Guide de l’opéra'', Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). 1778 births Italian opera singers Operatic basses Year of death missing People from the Province of Ancona {{italy-opera-singer-stub