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 The grave of Farinelli at the Cimitero monumentale della Certosa, Bologna. Picture by Androom (10 Feb 2017) |
Farinelli |
| OPERA SINGER (ITALY) |
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BORN 24 Jan 1705, Andria, Apulia - DIED 16 Sep 1782, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna BIRTH NAME Broschi, Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola GRAVE LOCATION Bologna, Emilia-Romagna: Cimitero monumentale della Certosa di Bologna, Via della Certosa 18 (Campo Maggiore a Levante, Arco 2) |
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Castrato singer Farinelli was born as Carlo Broschi into a family of musicians. His father Salvatore was composer. In 1711 the family moved to Naples where Nicola Porpora was his singing teacher. His father died in 1717 and the decision to castrate him was probably taken by his older brother Riccardo. Officially it was because of the fall from a horse. Soon he became a well known singer in Italy and in 1722 he appeared in Rome. In 1724 he debuted in Vienna after he was invited by Pio di Savoia, the director of the Imperial Theatre. He also appeared in Parma and Milan. In 1727 in Bologna he met the castrato Antonio Bernacchi, who was twenty years his senior. In 1728 he performed before the emperor in Vienna and in 1729 during the carnival in Venice. In 1731 he was received by Holy Roman Emperor emperor Charles VI in Vienna. In 1734 he went to London where he joined the Opera of the Nobility that was started by Senesino after a quarrel with Händel. In 1737 he was invited by the Spanish Court and on his way to Spain he sang in Paris for Louis XV at Versailles. In Spain he was appointed chamber musician to king Philip V and he would never sing in public again. When Ferdinand VI became king of Spain he retained his position. In 1759 Charles III became king and Farinelli received a pension and was dismissed. He retired to Bologna where he had a property since 1732. There he was visited by Charles Burney, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Casanova and others. He died in Bologna in 1782. After his original place of burial was destroyed during the Napoleontic wars, his great-niece Maria Carlotta Pisani (1769-1850) moved his remains to the cemetery of La Certosa in (she bought the tomb in 1845). In 2006 his surviving remains were disinterred from Maria Carlotta's grave at La Certosa and they corresponded with earlier descriptions of him. Related persons • was visited by Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Events |
| 6/7/1727 | Farinelli and Bernacchi sing together in the church of the Jesuit Fathers in Bologna. Their successful performance was followed by a banquet at the home of Bernacchi. |
| Images |
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The grave of Farinelli at the Cimitero monumentale della Certosa, Bologna. Picture by Androom (10 Feb 2017) |
Sources • Encyclopedie van de Muziek, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1959 • Farinelli - Wikipedia (EN) • Just a moment... |
