Venanzio Rauzzini 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...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and singing teacher. As a boy he was a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir

Sistine Chapel Choir

The Sistine Chapel Choir is a choir based in Vatican City and is one of the oldest religious choirs in the world. At present, the choir comprises approximately twenty adult singers and thirty unpaid boy choristers .-Middle Ages :Although it is known that the Church, from her earliest days,...

 and was a pupil of Domenico Corri

Domenico Corri

Domenico Corri was an Italian composer, impressario, music publisher, and voice teacher.Corri was born in Italy and studied voice with Nicola Porpora in Naples. In 1781 he moved to Scotland with his family to become an opera conductor. He became an important singing master in Edinburgh...

 and Muzio Clementi

Muzio Clementi

Muzio Clementi was a celebrated composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Born in Italy, he spent most of his life in England. He is best known for his piano sonatas, and his collection of piano studies, Gradus ad Parnassum...

. He also studied with Giuseppe Santarelli

Giuseppe Santarelli

Giuseppe Santarelli was an Italian castrato, composer, choir conductor, voice teacher, and Roman Catholic priest. He was named a knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.-Life and career:...

 in Rome and Nicola Porpora

Nicola Porpora

Nicola Porpora was an Italian composer of Baroque operas and teacher of singing, whose most famous singing student was the castrato Farinelli. One of his other students was composer Matteo Capranica.-Biography:Porpora was born in Naples...

 in Naples.

Rauzzini was born at Camerino

Camerino

Camerino is a small town of 7.135 inhabitants in the Marches , in the province of Macerata, Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about 40 miles from Ancona....

. He made his professional opera debut in 1765 at the Teatro Valle

Teatro Valle

The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy.Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli...

 in Rome portraying one of the female characters in 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...

's opera Il finto astrologo

Il finto astrologo

Il finto astrologo is an intermezzo by composer Niccolò Piccinni. Written for a cast of four singers, the opera uses an Italian language libretto by Carlo Goldoni. The work premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome on 7 February 1765 with a cast that included the famous castrato Venanzio Rauzzini as...

. He sang at the Teatro San Samuele

Teatro San Samuele

Teatro San Samuele was an opera house and theatre located at the Rio del Duca, between Campo San Samuele and Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice. One of several important theatres built in that city by the Grimani family, the theatre opened in 1656 and operated continuously until a fire destroyed the...

 in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 in 1766, after which he performed at the Münich Hofoper

Bavarian State Opera

The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...

 in 1766-1767. Rauzzini had to leave the Munich court because of his many affairs with married women. He next sang at the court at Vienna in 1767 where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 "reacted with delight when he heard Rauzzini singing and offered him the role of primo uomo in his Lucio Silla

Lucio Silla

Lucio Silla, K. 135, is an Italian opera in three acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Giovanni de Gamerra.It was first performed on 26 December 1772 at the Regio Ducal Teatro in Milan....

(1772), in Milan, before composing the motet Exsultate Jubilate (1773) especially for him."

Rauzzini returned for performances in Venice and Munich during the early 1770s and also had a very successful run in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from 1774 until his retirement from the stage in 1778. After his opera career ended he worked as a singing and piano teacher. Some of his more notable pupils included John Braham

John Braham

John Braham was a tenor opera singer born in London, England. His long career led him to become one of Europe's leading opera stars. He also wrote a number of songs, of minor importance, although The Death of Nelson is still remembered...

 and Stephen Storace

Stephen Storace

Stephen Storace was an English composer. His sister was the famous opera singer Nancy Storace. He was born in London in the Parish of St Marylebone to an English mother and Italian father...

. He also composed a number of operas and directed the concerts in Bath beginning in 1781. Before dying he published vocal exercises and a treatise on his ideas on singing. He died in Bath.

Opera compositions

• Piramo e Tisbe, libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
  Ranieri de' Calzabigi
  Ranieri de' Calzabigi was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas....
  
  , (London, His Majesty's Theatre, 16 marzo 1775)
• L'ali d'amore, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini (1776)
• L'eroe cinese, libretto by Pietro Metastasio (1782)
• Creusa in Delfo, libretto by Gaspare Martinelli (1783)
• Alina ossia La regina di Golconda, libretto by Antonio Andrei (1784)
• La vestale, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini (1787)