The Modern Castrato

Abstract

This is the first full-length biography of one of the most outstanding singers of the eighteenth century. Gaetano Guadagni is widely known for his creation of the role of Orpheus in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice; he was also a leading singer in Handel's oratorios, and worked with other progressive composers such as Traetta, Jommelli and Bertoni. His career coincided with a movement to reform heroic opera, with the intention of freeing dramatic music from restrictive conventions, and bringing it into harmony with the more expressive aims of the age of sensibility. A cultured and literate singer, Guadagni was in sympathy with the reform, and understood how its aims gave full scope to both his strengths and limitations as a singer. He worked alongside other innovative artists, transferring the dramatic skills of ground-breaking actors such as Pertici and Garrick to the operatic stage. From the reformer Gluck he caught the notion of the integrity of the complete work, and led reluctant audiences to give their undivided attention to dramatic continuity by refusing to acknowledge their applause or to grant them encores. Sometimes judged touchy or arrogant, he made friends and enemies in equal measure: a unique and fascinating character in the history of eighteenth-century opera.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 35 citations exist upstream.