The Rise of Virtuoso Artists in the 18th Century

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Outline

The 18^th century emerged as a very important era in the development of music and the “personality cult” culture. Earlier years were jammed by classical music, which was nevertheless less personified but still moved listeners with unmatched aura (Brown, 1973). This period saw the emergence of virtuoso singers who were more charismatic and agile, traits that kept their performances alive, and led them to be completely adored by listeners. Some modern scholars have described the virtuosity in that period as dominating, thereby enslaving the listeners (fans). The paper discusses the development of the virtuoso artists and their fanatic following, represented by Prima donna Faustina Bordoni and The male castrato: Farinelli, and how they moved their fans, drawing support beyond an unimagined boundary-less population of the world. It also discusses both the professional and brief personal lives of Fautina Bordoni (female Prima Donna) and Farinnelli (male Castrato).

Introduction

The rise of virtuoso singer in the early 18^th century brought an important era in the development of music synonymous with the personalities behind the music. Prior to these years there the classical music, that was less personified but moved listeners with unmatched gastro (Brown, 1973). The rise of the virtuosos was represented by the visibly charismatic singers of both sexes who kept the performance alive, getting support from the virtuoso pianist, and their listeners, who with their enthusiasm kept the artists strong and blazing. Franz Liszt, a legendary figure in his own right, was dubbed “the Orpheus of our day” in 1840 by one Christian Anderson (Carter, 1992). This music was described as dominating, and thus could be termed as enslaving the mentality of the listeners (fans) who seem not to look at the contents into details but follow the artist’s appearances and antics during performance.

While it is true that ornamentation played a very important role in the early baroque music performance and that it was instrumental to the early sociento style of music, there is no denying fact that the performers, particularly the male virtuoso singers and the prima donnas became the center of attention during these early years. This is due to their perceived supernatural style they portrayed during performance, and the public image they infused into the minds of the fans, that could be associated with the fanaticism, developing into cult-like following.

Origin of the cult of the performer- the castrati

The castrati in these early days were the male singers who were castrated to preserve the soprano or contralto range of their voices and played a major role in the Italian opera (Fenlon, 2002). According to many scholars, the fact that St. Paul forbade women to sing in the churches perpetuated the castration of boys in an attempt to preserve their voice and that this practice continued in early 18^th century, i.e. whenever there was need for high voices, the boys, falsettists, or eunuchs had to be recruited (Grout, & Claude, 1988). This period experienced constant use of eunuchs in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire during the middle ages (Carter, 1992).

The Castrati and the elaborate a cappella style gained root in European music in the middle of 15^th century (Grout & Claude, 1988). This music, however, required a much wider range of voices and higher level of virtuosity than anything else. It thus followed that the then present singers were not well prepared enough to provide the backup to this new and highly needed trend, and as expected the music fraternity responded almost immediately. It saw the early form of this music taking the Spanish falsettists format, and later on towards the end of 16^th century the whole industry had taken the form of castrati (Grout & Claude, 1988). Castrati dominated the new baroque art form in the following two centuries and that opera, arguably the Italian principal musical activity, was the most dominant, taking most of Europe with storm. Music scholars argue that opera was the legitimate theatre due to the fact that it spread beyond its origin and that it was the first musical form that became popular internationally, surpassing the national boundaries and penetrating the international cultures of the world (Schulenberg, 2001).

The leading star singers became extremely popular, drawing overwhelming discussion about their lives, facing unmatched criticism, and sometimes unjustified comparison (Schulenberg, 2001). Majority of these singers who became celebrities in their own right were the castrati. Carter (1992) says, “If other nations had some form of native opera, this ranked lower on the cultural scale and was indifferently sung, while the Italian version enjoyed the highest standard of singing that had ever been known, and will in likelihood never again be attained.” France for example, did not acknowledge the Italian singers, and discriminately banned castrati from performing in major cities but the French citizens were not left out in the Europe citizens who hailed praise at the Italian opera (Heriot, 1956).

Romanticism

The music of the early 18th century exposed the spirit of personal and individual expression contrary to the classical period that was wholly concentrated on reason and balance (Hill, 1997). According to Tyler & Paul (2002), the rise of cult-like worship of the musicians was perpetuated by the French revolution that promoted the middle class to be a recognized force in both social and economic perspective. Consequently, there was the development of concert hall where the public would have “freedom” to attend, and with the unified mass feeling of perfectionism among specific artists, who elicited excitement in their supporters with unusually mythical personification. The virtuoso re-developed into an artist as well as a hero, thereby becoming an artistic star receiving individual accolades and subsequently personal triumph. The romantic period artists represented by Niccolo Paganini and Franz Liszt embodied the heroic stature, with their music inspiring a whole generation later.

The World of Fantasy

As Fuller describes it, “the Italian opera was the product of taste and sensibility of the age that brought it to sensibility-the age of the Baroque. Baroque art set itself a definite goal: that of creating music through the imagination of a world more beautiful, more sumptuous than the everyday world, and depicting it in images calculated to appeal not only to man’s intellect but to his senses as well” (Schulenberg, 2001). This vividly highlights how some of the scholars viewed the late romanticism, perpetrated by the culture of “verbal acrobatics” of Marino, famed as the pillar of aesthetic outlook which set up as a world of fantasy and “distorted world” (Nino & Elena, 1982). Critics say that Baroque art provoked abstract, perpetuating the “cult” worship instead of extending the spirit of jazz which they say had more substance and relevance.

Prima donna: Faustina Bordoni

Born in 1697 and brought up in Venice, Bordoni was guide by her composer brother Benedetto Marcello and composer and singer teacher Michelangelo Gasparini (Brown, 1973). During this period of 18^th century, castrati were the dominating group of singers with their admirable voices. Bordoni made her operatic debut as early as 1716 in Carlo Francesco Pollarolo’s Ariodante (Carter, 1992).

Recognized as just Faustina and dubbed the “new siren”, she dedicated her historical first CD to the works of Hasse and Handel and she went ahead and sung alongside Francesca Cuzzoni, whom she rivaled in the later years of their performance, despite the fact that he was much older than her. She also performed severally at Reggio nell’Emilia, Naples, Parma, Florence, Modena and Milan and became a great favorite at the north of Alps after the 1723 Munich- German debut (British Journal, 2005).

“The rival queens” and the fan culture

Feustina’s London debut alongside Senesino and Cuzzoni as Rossane in Handel’s Alessandro that took place on 5^th May, 1726 exposed the rivalry between their fans (Fenlon, 2002). Her performance of 6^th June, 1727 together with Cuzzoni exposed the personal and professional rivalry between the two artists, leading to a physical fight on stage, in the presence of Caroline, Princess of Wales (Grout & Claude, 1988). However, a recent research revealed that contrary to the belief that the two prima donnas were bitter rivals, the whole problem emanated from their fans and the media. Fenlon (2002) states, “the journalists exaggerated the whole rivalry, and that their supporters are the once who behaved badly, not the singers themselves.” This research reveals how the cult-like supporters of these personalities defined the musicians to an extent that it invoked the strong feeling of emotional attachment, and consequently intensified cultish behavior, mostly described by fans as the “love” for their artists.

Faustina got married to the German Johann Adolf Hasse – a composer (Hill, 1997). Such union could be termed as strategic as production stage of music is a very important step in the success of both artist and music. For sure, Hasse would not let his wife fail in music, would he? The couple was later summoned to the court of Augustus the Strong at Dresden, where she (Faustina) enjoyed success in her husband’s opera Cleofide, and famously described as “truly an exquisite couple” by one Metastasio (Nino & Elena, 1982). Faustina explored most of her career success when she was allowed to make foreign trips to Italy’s Naples, Venice and Parma. She retained her salary and the title of the virtuosoda camera to the Elector even after retirement until the demise in 1763 of Augustus successor, Frederick Augustus II (Hill, 1997), an indicator of how the superstar culture rained supreme with no boundary, penetrating even the political class, comprised of rulers. Indeed this was a subject of the entire mass and its leaders who are regarded highly by the society, and unbelievably could not resist the joy of joining the public in the artist’s list of fan base, a scenario that has persisted to date.

Contrary to her rival Cuzzoni who died poor, Faustina lived a happy and rich old age when she and her husband moved to Vienna and later to Venice in 1773, together with their two daughters (both trained as singers) (Grout, & Claude, 1988). Charles Burney’s description of Faustina as “a short, brown, sensible, and lively woman…with good remains…of that beauty for which she was so much celebrated in her youth” (Heriot, 1956) summed up the charm she exposed among her loving supporters who undisputedly adored her and truly “worshiped” her like it happened to other virtuoso singers of this period.

The male castrato: Farinelli (Carlo Maria Broschi)

Farinelli was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, considered one of the 18^th century most adored Italian castrato singers, specialized in soprano as his trademark and identical voice (Schulenberg, 2001). Born into a family of musicians in Andria, with composer father, Salvatore and mother Catherine, the father Salvatore became a governor of the town of Maratea, giving him (Ferinalli), a stepping-stone to popularity among the people, and drawing parallel with other castrati who were mainly from humble family lineages. By the time they moved to the capital city of Naples in 171, Carlo had developed interest in singing and was boosted by the enrolment of his brother, Maria di Loreto, at Conservatory of S as music composition student (Machlis & Forney, 1999). The father’s unexpected death in 1717 seemingly led to economic downturn of the family, subsequently leading to the decision to castrate Farinelli, to increase his chances of success in music performance, and subsequently popularity boost and success (Machlis & Forney, 1999). After this castration, Carlo’s singing prowess astronomically increased under Porpora (his teacher), emerging very famous in the whole of Italy and popularly referred to as il ragazzo, “the boy” (Nino & Elena 1982). His debut performance in Rome (1722) at Porpora’s Eumene and Flavio Anicio travesty drew unimaginable enthusiastic population, and saw an emergence of a legendary story that he had to perform an aria with trumpet obbligato, that actually evolved between the singer and the trumpeter (Hill, 1997). It is rumored that he completely surpassed the trumpet player in terms of technique and ornamentation that he only got silenced by the audience. What could draw such a massive crowd with so many mythical stories following the artist? It is justified to deduce that it was more than good music, but the belief among the fans that such talented artists had mysterious and supernatural ability beyond human explanations, indicated by the decorative nature of artists’ performances.

Farinelli in Europe

Farinelli got invited to Vienna by the director of the Imperial Theatre, Pio di Savoia, making his first appearance there, and later took a whole season in Naples (Heriot, 1956). However, his visit to Parma and Milan in 1726 marked the climax of all his visits where after the performances, Johann Joachim Quantz commented, “”Farinelli had a penetrating, full, rich, bright and well-modulated soprano voice, with a range at that time from the A below middle C to the D two octaves above middle C…. His intonation was pure, his trill beautiful, his breath control extraordinary and his throat very agile, so that he performed the widest intervals quickly and with the greatest ease and certainty. Passagework and all kinds of melismas were of no difficulty to him and in the invention of free ornamentation in adagio he was very fertile” (Machlis & Forney, 1999). One would argue that such descriptions were overly exaggerated. However, the fact that such a comment came from a respected figure in the society could be a clear manifestation of how the artist drew emotions without boundary, cementing the fan base and developing cult-like following.

In 1728, Ferinelli performed in Bologna, met the other famous castrato Antonio Bernacchi, who was his senior by 20 years (Machlis & Forney, 1999). His performance in Orlandini’s Antigona exposed his musical prowess when he showed off his beautiful voice and style, and expressing a superb virtuosity that saw the crowd rewarding him with a huge applause and to sum it all, the 1729 carnival season performance in Venice saw his popularity even soaring further, and it’s rumored that his rival castrato Gioacchino Conti fainted away from sheer of despondency when he heard him sing (Tyler & Paul, 2002).

His visit to London saw him perform in several occasions, with his first appearance coming in Artaserse, accompanied by his Brother Riccardo and Johann Adolph Hasse. He portrayed supernatural ability. This was illustrated by his fiend’s quote, “Farinelli has surprised me so much that I feel as though I had hitherto heard only a small part of the human voice, and now have heard it all. He has besides, the most amiable and polite manners…” some fans even went further to refer to him as “One God, one Ferinelli” (Nino P & Elena P, 1982).

Conclusion

The music of the early 18^th century clearly showed the performer as a “cult” figure, surpassing the earlier jazz music performers who never elicited much enthusiasm with their personality status as did the Virtuoso artists composed of male cast ratings from and female prima donnas. One would logically conclude that this was the beginning of the celebrity culture where artists are regarded highly more than what they produce in songs.

References

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