Ru
EnZhao Changxin
On the way to Orpheus’ part: vocal and dramatic style of castrato singer Gaetano Guadagni
The article is devoted to the personality and work of the 18th century castrato singer Gaetano Guadagni. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he was an adherent of a special style of singing. The arias created for Guadagni’s voice were distinguished by their melodic simplicity and obvious vocal ease. His vocal method was based on the emotional expressiveness of the word, the deep connection between music and text, the clarity of melodic recitation due to the minimum of chants, ornamentation and virtuosic passages, so characteristic of the vocal art of contemporary castrati.
The singer began his career at the Italy theatres, however, his vocal aesthetics was influenced by the English theater thanks to his interactions with G. F. Handel, as well as dramatic actors D. Garrick and S. M. Cibber. The singer’s further creative destiny is connected with the Italian city of Parma, where ideas for reforming the opera seria genre, which later appeared in the work of C. W. Gluck, matured in the musical and literary environment. During the Viennese period, J. A. Hasse, F. Gassmann, and T. Traetta created their own operas for the singer. The culmination of Guadagni’s career was the role of Orpheus, created by C. W. Gluck under the influence of the singer ’s vocal art.
The article analyzes Guadagni’s repertoire for vocal and dramatic features. Heroic arias, or arias endowed with the affect of love, sounded especially convincing when performed by the singer. It was these qualities of Guadagni’s vocal style that played a decisive role in Gluck’s aesthetic aspirations, embodied in his reform operas.
Key words
G. Guadagni, C. W. Gluck, G. F. Handel, opera seria, opera reform, vocal art of the 18th century.
For citation
Zhao Changxin. On the way to Orpheus’ part: vocal and dramatic style of castrato singer Gaetano Guadagni. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2024. No. 2. Pp. 80–88.
