Giuseppe Aprile was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 castrato

Castrato

A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...

 singer and music teacher. He was also known as 'Sciroletto' or 'Scirolino'.

Aprile was born in Martina Franca

Martina Franca

Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia , Italy. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto....

. After studying with Scirola in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, he began his singing career in 1752, performing in prominent theatres throughout Italy and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He later became a singing instructor in Naples, where Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...

, Michael Kelly and Emma, Lady Hamilton

Emma, Lady Hamilton

Emma, Lady Hamilton is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of George Romney. She was born Amy Lyon in Ness near Neston, Cheshire, England, the daughter of a blacksmith, Henry Lyon, who died when she was two months old...

 were among his pupils. He wrote a popular book on singing instruction, The Italian Method of Singing, with 36 Solfeggi (1791).

Operatic Roles

Euribate in Ifigenia in Aulide by Niccolò Jommelli

Niccolò Jommelli

Niccolò Jommelli was an Italian composer. He was born in Aversa and died in Naples. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he made important changes to opera and reduced the importance of star singers.-Early life:Jommelli was born to Francesco Antonio Jommelli and...

 and Tommaso Traetta

Tommaso Traetta

Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta was an Italian composer.-Biography:Traetta was born in Bitonto, a town near Bari, near the top of the heel of the boot of Italy. He eventually became a pupil of the composer, singer and teacher Nicola Porpora in Naples, and scored a first success with his...

 (Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, 1752)

Edelberto in Ricimero re de' Goti by Baldassare Galuppi (Naples, 1753)

Publio Cornelio Scipione in Livia Claudia Vestale by Niccolò Conforto (Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, 1755)

Pompeo in Pompeo magno in Armenia by Francesco Saverio Garzia (Rome, 1755)

Cesare in Catone in Utica by Francesco Poncini (Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, 1756)

Giasone in Issipile by Baldassare Galuppi (Parma, 1756)

Demetrio in the anonymous Antigono (Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, 1756)

Timante in Demofoonte by Antonio Gaetano Pampani (Rome, 1757)

Ezio in Ezio by Tommaso Traetta (Rome, 1757)

Aminta in Il re pastore by Antonio Mazzoni (Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, 1757)

Linceo in the anonymous Ipermestra (Venice, 1757)

Enea in Didone abbandonata by Tommaso Traetta (Venice, 1757)

Ciro in Ciro riconosciuto by Niccolò Jommelli (Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

, 1758)

Timante in Demofoonte by Tommaso Traetta (Mantua, 1758)

Sesto in La clemenza di Tito by Giuseppe Scarlatti

Giuseppe Scarlatti

Giuseppe Scarlatti was a composer of opere serie and opere buffe. He worked in Rome from 1739 to 1741, and from 1752 to 1754 in Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Turin. From 1752 to 1754, and again from 1756 to 1759, he worked in Venice and for short periods in Milan and Barcelona...

 (Venice, 1760)

Cosrovio in Gianguir by Vincenzo Ciampi (Venice, 1760)

Castore in I tindaridi by Tommaso Traetta (Parma, 1760)

Alceste in Demetrio by Baldassare Galuppi (Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

, 1761)

Tiridate in Zenobia by Giovanni Battista Pescetti

Giovanni Battista Pescetti

Giovanni Battista Pescetti was an organist and composer. Born in Venice around 1704, he studied under Antonio Lotti for some time...

 (Padua, 1761)

Megacle in L'Olimpiade of Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, 1761)

Alceste in Demetrio by Giuseppe Ponzo (Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, 1762)

Achille in Ifigenia in Aulide by Ferdinando Bertoni

Ferdinando Bertoni

Ferdinando Bertoni was an Italian composer and organist.He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied till 1745 with the famous music theorist Giovanni Battista Martini...

 (Turin, 1762)

Enea in Didone abbadonata by Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart, 1763)

Timante in Demofoonte by Niccolò Jommelli (Stuttgart, 1764)

Motezuma in Motezuma by Gian Francesco de Majo

Gian Francesco de Majo

Gian Francesco de Majo was an Italian composer. He is chiefly known for his more than 20 operas. He also composed a considerable amount of sacred works, including oratorios, cantatas, and masses.-Life and career:...

 (Turin, 1765)

Megacle in L'Olimpiade by Johann Adolf Hasse (Turin, 1765)

Aminta in Il re pastore by Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day...

 (Naples, 1765)

Euriso in Creso

Creso (Sacchini)

Creso is an opera seria in 3 acts by Antonio Sacchini, set to a libretto by Gioacchino Pizzi. The opera was first performed at Naples on the 4th of November, 1765...

by Antonio Sacchini

Antonio Sacchini

Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...

 (Naples, 1765)

Teseo in the pasticcio

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, or inauthentic.-Etymology:The term is first attested in the...

 Arianna e Teseo (Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

, 1766)

Gandarte in Nicoraste by Antonio Sacchini (Venice, 1769)

Giulio Cesare in Cesare in Egitto by Niccolò Piccinni (Milan, 1770)

Enea in Didone abbandonata by Ignazio Celoniat (Milan, 1770)

Rinaldo in Armida abbandonata

Armida abbandonata

Armida Abbandonata is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Niccolò Jommelli. The libretto, by Francesco Saverio De Rogatis, is based on the epic poem Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso. The opera was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples on 30 May 1770. The young Wolfgang...

by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1770; Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, 1775)

Demetrio in Antigono by Pasquale Cafaro

Pasquale Cafaro

Pasquale Cafaro was an Italian composer who was particularly known for his operas and the significant amount of sacred music he produced, including oratorios, motets, and masses....

 (Naples, 1770)

Timante in Demofoonte by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1770)

Eumene in Eumene by Gian Francesco de Majo (Naples, 1771)

Perseo in Andromeda by Giuseppe Colla (Turin, 1772)

Maometto in Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie by Gaetano Pugnani

Gaetano Pugnani

Gaetano Pugnani was born in Turin. He trained on the violin under Giovanni Battista Somis and Giuseppe Tartini. In 1752, Pugnani became the first violinist of the Royal Chapel in Turin. Then he went on a large tour that granted him great fame for his extraordinary skill on the violin...

 (Turin, 1772)

Sesto in La clemenza di Tito by Pasquale Anfossi

Pasquale Anfossi

Bonifacio Domenico Pasquale Anfossi was an Italian opera composer. Born in Taggia, Liguria, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, and worked mainly in London, Venice and Rome....

 (Naples, 1772)

Achille in Achille in Sciro by Antonio Amicone (Naples, 1772)

Titano in Cerere placata by Niccolò Jommelli (Naples, 1772)

Linceo in Ipermestra by Niccolò Piccinni (Naples, 1772)

Teseo in Arianna e Teseo by Giacomo Insanguine

Giacomo Insanguine

Giacomo Antonio Francesco Paolo Michele Insanguine was an Italian composer, organist, and music educator....

 (Naples, 1773)

Alceste in the pasticcio Demetrio (Florence, 1774)

Maometto in Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie by Pietro Guglielmi (Florence, 1774)

Vologeso in Vologeso re de' Parti by Giovanni Marco Rutini

Giovanni Marco Rutini

Giovanni Marco Rutini was an Italian composer.- Biography :He was born in Florence and studied at the Naples conservatory. In 1748 he came to Prague and joined the Locatelli ensemble. In the beginnings of his career he devoted himself mainly to the kapellmeister activities, and composed ...

 (Florence, 1775)

Marco Antonio in Cleopatra by Carlo Monza (Turin, 1776)

Sicotenal in Sicotenal by Giovanni Marco Rutini (Turin, 1776)

Telemaco in Calipso by Bernardino Ottani (Turin, 1777)

Gengis-Kan in Gengis-Kan by Pasquale Anfossi (Turin, 1777)

Euriso in Creso re di Lidia by Giovanni Battista Borghi (Florence, 1777)

Enea in Enea nel Lazio by Antonio Burroni (Rome, 1778)

Megacle in L'Olimpiade by Pasquale Anfossi (Rome, Perugia

Perugia

Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....

, and Treviso

Treviso

Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

, 1778)

Arsace in Medonte, re di Epiro

Medonte, re di Epiro

Medonte, re di Epiro is an opera seria in three acts by Giuseppe Sarti. The libretto was by Giovanni de Gamerra.-Performance history:It was first performed at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on 8 September 1777...

by Giuseppe Sarti

Giuseppe Sarti

Giuseppe Sarti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born on 28 December, but his baptism certificate proves the later date impossible...

 (Perugia, 1778; Florence, 1779)

Cleomene in Erifile by Francesco Bianchi

Francesco Bianchi

Francesco Bianchi was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He is also known as Francesco del Bianchi Ferrara, also called Il Frare) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He was born at Ferrara. Modena is also mentioned as the place of his birth. His works were much esteemed in his time. He...

 (Florence, 1779)

Selimo in the pasticcio Il Solimano (Florence, 1779)

Tarsile in La Calliroe

La Calliroe

La Calliroe is an opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Matteo Verazi that is based on Greek legends about the naiad Callirrhoe. This opera belong to the serious type in Italian language referred to as opera seria...

by Josef Mysliveček

Josef Myslivecek

Josef Mysliveček was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music...

 (Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

, 1779)

Annio in the pasticcio Cajo Mario (Pisa, 1779)

Annio in Cajo Mario by Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...

 (Rome, 1780)

Tito in Tito nelle Gallie by Pasquale Anfossi (Rome, 1780)
Source: Claudio Sartori. I libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800. Cuneo, 1992-1994.

External links