Farinelli
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Farinelli (January 24, 1705 – September 16, 1782), was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, one of the most famous Italian soprano castrato singers of the 18th century.
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[edit] Early years
Broschi was born in Andria (now in the Italian region of Apulia) into a family of musicians. As recorded in the baptismal register of the church of S. Nicola in Andria, his father Salvatore was a composer and maestro di cappella of the city's cathedral, and his mother, Caterina Barrese, a citizen of Naples. The Duke of Andria, Fabrizio Carafa, a member of one of the most prestigious families of the Neapolitan nobility, honoured Maestro Broschi by taking a leading part in the baptism of his second son, who was christened Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola (in later life, Farinelli wrote: "Il Duca d'Andria mi tenne al fonte" - "the Duke of Andria held me at the font"). In 1706 Salvatore also took up the non-musical post of governor of the town of Maratea (on the western coast of what is now Basilicata), and in 1709 that of Terlizzi (some twenty miles south-east of Andria). Unlike many castrati, who came from poor families, Farinelli was "well-to-do", and was related to minor nobility on both sides of the family.
From 1707, the Broschi family lived in the coastal city of Barletta, a few miles from Andria, but at the end of 1711, they made the much longer move to the capital city of Naples, where, in 1712 Carlo's elder brother Riccardo Broschi, was enrolled at the Conservatory of S. Maria di Loreto, specialising in composition. Carlo had already showed talent as a boy singer, and was now introduced to the most famous singing-teacher in Naples, Nicola Porpora. Already a successful opera composer, in 1715 Porpora was appointed maestro at the Conservatory of S. Onofrio, where his pupils included such well-known castrati as Giuseppe Appiani, Felice Salimbeni, and Caffarelli, as well as such distinguished female singers as Regina Mingotti and Vittoria Tesi; Farinelli may well have studied with him privately.
Salvatore Broschi died unexpectedly on 4 November 1717, aged only 36, and it seems likely that the consequent loss of economic security for the whole family provoked the decision, presumably taken by Riccardo, for Carlo to be castrated. As was often the case, an excuse had to be found for this illegal operation, and in Carlo's case it was said to have been necessitated by a fall from a horse. Under Porpora's tuition, his singing progressed rapidly, and at the age of fifteen he made his debut a serenata by his master entitled Angelica e Medoro. The text of this work was the first by the soon-to-be-famous Pietro Trapassi, known as "Metastasio", who became a lifelong friend of the singer - Farinelli remarked that the two of them had made their debuts on the same day, and each frequently referred to the other as his caro gemello ("dear twin"). The derivation of Broschi's stage name is not certain, but it was possibly from two rich Neapolitan lawyers, the brothers Farina, who may have sponsored his studies.
Farinelli quickly became famous throughout Italy as il ragazzo ("the boy"). In 1722, he first sang in Rome in Porpora's Eumene and Flavio Anicio Olibrio, as well as taking the female lead in Sofonisba by Luc'Antonio Predieri - it was common practice for young castrati to appear en travesti. All these appearances were greeted with huge public enthusiasm, and an almost legendary story arose that he had to perform an aria with trumpet obbligato, which evolved into a contest between singer and trumpeter. Farinelli surpassed the trumpet player so much in technique and ornamentation that he "was at last silenced only by the acclamations of the audience" (to quote the music historian Charles Burney – this account cannot be verified one way or the other, since no surviving work which Farinelli is known to have performed contains an aria for soprano with trumpet obbligato).
[edit] Career in Europe
In 1724, Farinelli made his first appearance in Vienna, at the invitation of Pio di Savoia, director of the Imperial Theatre. He spent the following season in Naples. In 1726, he also visited Parma and Milan, where Johann Joachim Quantz heard him and commented: "Farinelli had a penetrating, full, rich, bright and well-modulated soprano voice, with a range at that time from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C. ... His intonation was pure, his trill beautiful, his breath control extraordinary and his throat very agile, so that he performed the widest intervals quickly and with the greatest ease and certainty. Passagework and all kinds of melismas were of no difficulty to him. In the invention of free ornamentation in adagio he was very fertile."
Farinelli sang at Bologna in 1727, where he met the famous castrato Antonio Bernacchi, twenty years his senior. In a duet in Orlandini's Antigona, Farinelli showed off all the beauties of his voice and refinements of his style, executing a number of passages of great virtuosity, which were rewarded with tumultuous applause. Undaunted, Bernacchi repeated every trill, roulade, and cadenza of his young rival, but performing all of them even more exquisitely, and adding variations of his own. Farinelli, admitting defeat, entreated Bernacchi to give him instruction in grazie sopraffine ("ultra-refined graces"); Bernacchi agreed.
In 1728 Farinelli sang Torri's Nicomede at the Munich court and performed another concert before the Emperor in Vienna. In 1729, during the Carnival season in Venice, he sang in two works by Metastasio: as Arbace in Metastasio's Catone in Utica (music by Leonardo Leo) and Mirteo in Semiramide Riconosciuta (music by Porpora). During this period he could really do no wrong - loaded with riches and honours, he was so famous and so formidable as a performer that one rival castrato, Gioacchino Conti ("Gizziello") is said to have fainted away from sheer despondency on hearing him sing. George Frideric Handel was also keen to engage Farinelli for his company in London, and while in Venice in January 1730, tried unsuccessfully to meet him.
In 1731, Farinelli visite