Vittoria Tesi
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Vittoria Tesi Tramontini, also known as "La Fiorentina" or "La Moretta" (the Florentine or the Moorish or brunette girl) (
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 ...
, 13 Feb 1701 – 9 May 1775 in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
) was an Italian opera singer (later singing teacher) of the 18th century. Her
vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...
was that of a
contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
. She is "regarded as the first eminent singer of color in the history of Western music".


Biography

She 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 1701, daughter of Alessandro, a lackey of African origin, nicknamed "il Moretto" (the Moorish one"), and of a Florentine woman, Maria Antonia Rapacciuoli. Her father was in the service of
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 to ...
Francesco ("Cecchino") De Castris (c1650 – 1724), who stood as the newborn girl's godfather along with famous
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&n ...
as the godmother: Tesi was evidently named after the latter. Thanks also probably to such uncommon connections with the entertainment scene, she had the opportunity to study singing (as well as acting and dance) first in Florence and then in
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
where his family moved in 1715. The following year she commenced her operatic career at an exceedingly young age, performing in a revival of
Emanuele d'Astorga Emanuele Gioacchino Cesare Rincon, baron of Astorga (20 March 16801757, by one report) was an Italian composer known mainly for his ''Stabat Mater''. Biography He was born on 20 March 1680Hans Volkmann, ''Emanuele d'Astorga'', Leipzig 1911, p. ...
's ''Il Dafni'' at
Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
and later also appearing at Bologna. By 1718 she was ''virtuosa di camera'' for the Prince of Parma at
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
. The following year she was at
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, singing for
Antonio Lotti Antonio Lotti (5 January 1667 – 5 January 1740) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. Biography Lotti was born in Venice, although his father Matteo was ''Kapellmeister'' at Hanover at the time. Oral tradition says that in 1682, Lotti be ...
alongside
Senesino Francesco Bernardi (; 31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758), known as Senesino ( or traditionally ), was a celebrated Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel ...
and
Margherita Durastanti Margherita Durastanti (active 1700–1734) was an Italian singer of the 18th century. Vocally, she is best described as a soprano, though later in her career her tessitura descended to that of a mezzo-soprano. First heard of professionally in Man ...
. By 1721 she was back in Italy for the Florentine Carnival, and for the next 26 years she performed almost exclusively in Italy dividing the years between its Central Northern cities and
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 ...
, and appearing very often, from 1724 to 1732, alongside her great friend
Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli h ...
. Only in 1739–1740, accepting a fabulous engagement, did she travel outside of Italy and perform at the
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
court, where Farinelli himself had permanently settled. Her career peaked in the late 1730s and 1740s, when she sang alongside such singers as
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 * ...
and
Angelo Amorevoli Angelo Maria Amorevoli (16 September 1716 – 15 November 1798) was a leading Italian tenor in Baroque opera. Biography Angelo Amorevoli began singing in opera seria when he was just thirteen: in 1729 he sang in revivals of the musical drama ...
. In 1737 she participated in the inauguration of the
Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent t ...
in Naples, assuming the
travesti Travesti may refer to: * Travesti (gender identity), a transgender identity in South America * Travesti (theatre), a performance while wearing clothes of the opposite sex * "Travesti", a section of Arca's 2020 single "@@@@@" See also

* Tr ...
title role in Sarro's ''Achille in Sciro''; in 1744 she performed the title role in
Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...
's ''Ipermestra'' at the
Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (or Crisostomo) after the nearby church,Lynn 2005, pp. 101—103 is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a ...
in Venice and in 1747 she took her leave of Italian audiences appearing at the Naples court and the Teatro San Carlo in the
festa teatrale The term ''festa teatrale'' (Italian: , plural: ''feste teatrali'' ) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case ''feste teatrali'' tend to be split into two different sets: ''feste ...
''Il sogno di Olimpia'' by
Giuseppe de Majo Giuseppe de Majo (di Maio; 5 December 169718 November 1771) was an Italian composer and organist. He was the father of the composer Gian Francesco de Majo. His compositional output consists of 10 operas, an oratorio, a concerto for 2 violins, and ...
, opposite Caffarelli,
Gizziello Gioacchino Conti (28 February 1714 – 25 October 1761), best known as Gizziello or Egizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer. Biography Conti was born in Arpino in 1714, possibly the son of the composer Nicola Conti. After stu ...
and
Giovanni Manzuoli Giovanni Manzuoli (Giovanni Manzoli) (1720–1782) was an Italian castrato who sang as a soprano at the beginning of his career, and later as a contralto. History Born in Florence, Italy, Manzuoli began singing there in 1731. After performing ...
. The following year she moved to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, where she debuted in the title role in Gluck's ''Semiramide riconosciuta'', set to a
libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by
Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...
, on the occasione of the inauguration of the new
Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
. Metastasio, who had been absent from Italy since 1730 and therefore had no recent direct experience of her performances, was amazed, and in a letter to his colleague
Giovanni Claudio Pasquini Giovanni Claudio Pasquini (1695 – 1763) was an Italian poet and librettist. Born in Siena, he served at the court of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna, first as the Italian teacher to Maria Theresa and her younger sister Maria Anna, and ...
, he wrote: "Tesi plays in a way that surprised me, as well as the whole humanity in Vienna, of either of the two sexes". After further successful appearances at the Burgtheater in the latter half of 1748 and in 1749 (among others, in
Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...
's ''Achille in Sciro'' and ''Didone abbandonata'', both set to Metastasian libretti), and after having undergone a real tour de force of four new operas and two
pasticcio In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, o ...
s in 1750, Tesi began to retire from her professional singing career. In 1751 she was reported by Metastasio to be serving as the costume director at the Viennese theatre and in 1754 she appeared on stage - probably for the last time - as Lisinga in the premiere of Gluck's one-act opera ''
Le cinesi ''Le cinesi'' (''The Chinese Women'') is an opera in one act, with music composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The Italian-language libretto was by Pietro Metastasio, and he described it as a ''componimento drammatico''. This libretto had fir ...
'', at
Engelhartstetten Engelhartstetten is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Geography Engelhartstetten lies near Vienna in the southeast corner of the Marchfeld. On the east is the March River and on the south the Danube. A ...
, in the
Schloss Hof Schloss Hof is a palace located in Marchfeld, Austria near the border of Slovakia. It once belonged to Prince Eugene of Savoy who purchased it late in his life in 1726. He had it enlarged in the Baroque style by the architect Johann Lukas von ...
, on the occasion of a visit of the imperial couple. The Hof was the country residence of
Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen Joseph Maria Frederick Wilhelm of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke in Saxony (german: Joseph Maria Friedrich Wilhelm Hollandinus, Prinz und Regent von Sachsen-Hildburghausen; 5 October 1702 – Hildburghausen, 4 January 1787), was a German officer, ...
, a leading figure in the Habsburg court, in whose Vienna palace (Palais Rosenkavalier, today's
Palais Auersperg Palais Auersperg, originally called Palais Rosenkavalier, is a Baroque palace at Auerspergstraße 1 in the Josefstadt or eighth district of Vienna, Austria. History Palais Auersperg was built between 1706 and 1710 on the plot of the former ''Ro ...
) she permanently dwelled, after auctioning in 1753 all the movable property of her Florence home. "There she regularly took part in private concerts under the direction of the Prince's capellmeister Joseph Bonno. The Prince had offered Tesi a salary for staying in his household, but she refused to be paid and declined every present the Prince wished to give her."Lorenz
She taught singing there, having among her pupils
Caterina Gabrielli Caterina Gabrielli (12 November 1730 – 16 February or 16 April 1796), born Caterina Fatta, was an Italian coloratura singer. She was the most important soprano of her age. A woman of great personal charm and dynamism, Charles Burney referred ...
and Elisabeth Teyber (1744–1816), and she would heartily receive personalities, such as
Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
or the Mozarts (
father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
and 6-year-old son), who passed through Vienna and wished to pay homage to the old primadonna living at the Prince Saxe-Hildburghausen's. Tesi died of pneumonia on 9 May 1775. She was exceedingly rich and in accordance with her last will, she was buried in the crypt of the Capuchin Church at the Neuer Markt, having provided a Mass endowment fund of 1,000 florins for the annexed Capuchin Convent.


Artistic features

In 1777 and wrote that, albeit "with an ingrateful voice", she could make herself agreeable, and called her "perhaps the first actress who acted well while singing badly". Sources generally agree in extolling Tesi's acting skills above her singing qualities. According to the majority, however, the latter too were far from bad and poor.
Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
reported "she had in her youth been very superior to all her contemporaries in both capacities of singer and actress." Later, relying almost literally upon the opinions expressed by
Johann Joachim Quantz Johann Joachim Quantz (; 30 January 1697 – 12 July 1773) was a German composer, flutist and flute maker of the late Baroque period. Much of his professional career was spent in the court of Frederick the Great. Quantz composed hundreds of flute ...
, a direct witness of the singer's early performances, he added: "Vittoria Tesi had by nature a masculine, strong, ''contralto'' voice. In 1719 she generally sung, at Dresden '' all'ottava'', such airs as are made for base 'sic''voice. The compass of her voice was so extraordinary, that neither to sing high or low, gave her trouble. She was not remarkable for her performance of rapid and difficult passages". Singing master
Giovanni Battista Mancini Giovanni Battista Mancini (1 January 1714 – 4 January 1800) was an Italian soprano castrato, voice teacher, and author of books on singing. Mancini was born at Ascoli Piceno, Italy. He studied singing in Naples with Leonardo Leo and in Bolo ...
, who, in his youth, had happened to perform on stage alongside Tesi and
Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli h ...
, reported she naturally possessed "most perfect intonation" and had gained, by studying, full mastery of the art of singing.Mancini, pp. 19 e 20. Notwithstanding, it was in fact as a 'singer-actress' — to put it in modern terms — that she went down in history: "the first 'divina' in the contralto clef", as she has been recently called. According to Stefano Arteaga and the aforementioned Mancini, in particular, who both wrote around the time of her death, she was the century's greatest operatic actress, Arteaga, ''Le rivoluzioni del teatro musicale italiano dalla sua origine fino al presente'', Bologna, Trenti, 1785, II, p. 43. and her theatrical skills, either natural or acquired through hard study and training, were such that no other actress could ever emerge on the opera stage to surpass or even just equal her.


Notes


References

*
Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
, ''The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces ...'' (second edition, corrected), London, Becket, Robson, Robinson, 1775 (2 vols) *
Gerhard Croll Gerhard Croll (25 May 1927 – 26 October 2019) was a German-Austrian musicologist. Life Born in Düsseldorf, Croll studied Kapellmeister at the Robert Schumann Hochschule and musicology with Rudolf Gerber at the University of Münster. He r ...
, ''Tesi (Tramontini), Vittoria'', in Laura Macy (ed), ''The Grove Book of Opera Singers'', New York, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 491–492, (also: ) * Francesco Lora,
Tesi, Vittoria, detta la Fiorentina o la Moretta
, 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 95, 2019 * Michael Lorenz
"The Will of Vittoria Tesi Tramontini"
(Vienna, 2016) * Giambatista (Giovanni Battista) Mancini, ''Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato'', Vienna, Ghelen, 1774 (accessible online a
IMSLPGoogle Books
an
Internet Archive


Further reading

*
Edward Joseph Dent Edward Joseph Dent (16 July 1876 – 22 August 1957), generally known as Edward J. Dent, was an English musicologist, teacher, translator and critic. A leading figure of musicology and music criticism, Dent was Professor of Music at the Univer ...
, ''Italian Opera in the Eighteenth Century, and Its Influence on the Music of the Classical Period''; "Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft", xiv, 4. July–September 1913, pp. 500–509 (accessible online a
Jstor
* , ''Le cantanti italiane celebri del secolo decimottavo: Vittoria Tesi''; "Nuova antologia", ser.3, xxii (1889), 308–327 (accessible online a
Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tesi, Vittoria Italian contraltos Operatic contraltos 1700 births 1775 deaths Musicians from Florence 18th-century Italian women opera singers Italian people of African descent