A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Giacomo David (born Giacomo Davide; 1750 in Presezzo – 1830 in Bergamo), was a leading Italian tenor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[1]
Biography
Probably self-taught as a singer, he studied composition in Naples with Nicola Sala,[2] and began his career in the early 1770s appearing on the stages of major Italian theatres such as the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice. Here he participated in the inauguration of the newly erected theatre La Fenice, in 1792, performing the role of Eraclide in Paisiello's I giochi di Agrigento. After having made his debut at Milan's Teatro alla Scala in 1782, he became a regular performer there at the beginning of the new century.
In 1791 Davide travelled to London, where the -e in his surname seems to have been dropped, and where he appeared at the King's Theatre as the protagonist of Paisiello's Pirro, one of his favourite roles. On 17 May 1791, he took part in a charity concert in the Hannover Square Rooms, where he executed the tenor aria "Cara deh torna", specially composed for the occasion by Joseph Haydn.[3]
In 1801, he took part in the inauguration of Trieste's Regio Teatro Nuovo, performing two premières on 20 and 21 April: Antonio Salieri's Annibale in Capua (Scipione) and Simon Mayr's Ginevra di Scozia (Polinesso).
His career was very long, continuing into the early twenty years of the 19th century, with a repertoire based upon such composers as Paisiello, Mayr, Ferdinando Bertoni, Domenico Cimarosa, Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, Giuseppe Sarti, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, and Francesco Bianchi. In many operas he worked alongside the castrati Girolamo Crescentini and Gaspare Pacchierotti, and the soprano Brigida Banti, who shared common artistic trends with him.[4]
In France, where he appeared opposite Isabella Colbran in Otello, David came to be known as Giacomo le père ("Giacomo the father"), because his son Giovanni David was also pursuing a successful career in opera.
David can be considered[5] as the initiator of the Bergamo tenor school which was going to produce such notable singers as Andrea Nozzari and Giacomo's aforesaid son, Giovanni (who were also actual pupils of his), Domenico Donzelli, Giovanni Battista Rubini, and Marco Bordogni.[6]
David died in 1830.
Artistic features
Giacomo David represents the typical baritonal tenor of the late 18th century, gifted with remarkable voice volume, but not lacking in high-pitching capability, though singing sharp notes in falsettone.[6] He had mastery of coloratura for which he was famous: "he was able to compete with the castratos in the florid music and far exceed them in his dramatic intensity",[7] and, by 1786 he was the first tenor in the history of Turin's Teatro Regio that was paid more than the primo uomo[8] during the carnival season. "Here was a sign that, with the castrati in decline, the tenor voice was beginning to engage the audience's interest as more than the stereotype utterance of kings and old men ...".[9] In fact, David's popularity was enormous and, along with his contemporaries, Matteo Babini and Giovanni Ansani, he contributed " the foundation of the forthcoming myth of the tenor" which would be established during the Romantic era.[6]
Operatic roles
The list below is not exhaustive, but includes his most significant performances.[10]
| role | opera | genre | composer | theatre | date of performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucindo | La cameriera astuta | opera buffa | Alessandro Felici | Bergamo, Teatro di Bergamo | carnival, 1770 |
| Conte Lelio | La sposa fedele | opera buffa | uncertain | Vicenza, Teatro delle Grazie | "fiera dell'anno", 1771 |
| Conte Ernesto | L'incognita perseguitata | opera buffa | Pasquale Anfossi | Milan, Regio-Ducal Teatro | summer, 1773 |
| Rodomonte | Le pazzie d'Orlando | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Pietro Guglielmi | Milan, Regio-Ducal Teatro | autumn, 1773 |
| Trasimede | Merope | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Pietro Guglielmi | Turin, Teatro Regio | 26 December 1774 |
| Idreno | L'isola di Alcina ossia Alcina e Ruggiero | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Felice Alessandri | Turin, Nuovo Teatro Regio | 26 January 1775 |
| Artabano | Artaserse | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Battista Borghi | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 26 December 1775 |
| Alceo | Aristo e Temira | cantata pastorale (dramma per musica) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 3 January 1776 |
| Creonte | Antigona | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Michele Mortellari | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 11 May 1776 |
| Arsace | Calliroe | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giacomo Rust | Padua, Teatro di Padua | June, 1776 |
| Dario | La disfatta di Dario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Paisiello | Bologna, Teatro Zagnoni | spring, 1777 |
| Pompeo | Farnace | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Bologna, Teatro Zagnoni | spring, 1777 |
| Cavaliere Aquilanto | Il zotico incivilito | opera buffa | Pasquale Anfossi | Bologna, Teatro Zagnoni | autumn, 1777 |
| Artabano | Artaserse | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Lucca, Teatro di Lucca | autumn, 1777 |
| Massimo | Ezio | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Lucca, Teatro di Lucca | autumn, 1777 |
| Antigone | Eumene | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Battista Borghi | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 26 December 1777 |
| Medonte | Medonte, re di Epiro | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Radicchi | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 3 January 1778 |
| Dario | La disfatta di Dario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Tommaso Traetta | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | carnival, 1778 |
| Alessandro | Alessandro nell'Indie | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Luigi Marescalchi | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 27 May 1778 |
| Papirio | Quinto Fabio | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Padua, Teatro Nuovo | June, 1778 |
| Cefeo | Andromeda | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Colla | Florence, Teatro della Pergola | autumn, 1778 |
| Jarba | Didone abbandonata | dramma per musica (opera seria) | "diversi" | Florence, Teatro della Pergola | autumn, 1778 |
| Osroa | Adriano in Siria | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Rome, Teatro Argentina | carnival, 1779 |
| Antigono | Antigono | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Gazzaniga | Rome, Teatro Argentina | carnival, 1779 |
| Amasi | La Nitteti | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Luigi Gatti | Mantua, Teatro Regio-Ducal | spring, 1779 |
| Medonte | Medonte, re di Epiro | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Florence, Teatro Cocomero | summer, 1779 |
| Tito Manlio | Tito Manlio | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Battista Borghi | Rome, Teatro Argentina | carnival, 1780 |
| Medonte | Medonte | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Josef Mysliveček | Rome, Teatro Argentina | 26 January 1780 |
| Cajo Mario | Cajo Mario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Domenico Cimarosa | Mantua, Regio-Ducal | spring, 1780 |
| Alessandro | Alessandro nell'Indie | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Domenico Cimarosa | Rome, Teatro Argentina | 11 February 1781 |
| Cajo Mario | Il Cajo Mario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 24 May 1781 |
| Learco | Reifile | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Felice Alessandri | Padua, Teatro Nuovo | June, 1781 |
| Giunio Bruto | Giunio Bruto | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Domenico Cimarosa | Verona, Accademia Filarmonica | autumn, 1781 |
| Dario | La disfatta di Dario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Paisiello | Genoa, Teatro Sant'Agostino | carnival, 1782 |
| Alessandro | Alessandro e Timoteo | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Parma, Teatrino di Corte | 6 April 1782 |
| Mitridate | Tigrane | dramma per musica (opera seria) | anonymous | Genoa, Teatro Sant'Agostino | summer, 1782 |
| Prisco | La Circe | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Domenico Cimarosa | Milan, La Scala | 26 December 1782 |
| Palmoro | L'Idalide o sia La vergine del sole | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Milan, La Scala | 8 January 1783 |
| Sabino | Epponia | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Giordani | Novara, Teatro Nuovo | spring, 1783 |
| Medonte | Medonte, re di Epiro | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Gaetano Andreozzi | Alessandria, Teatro d'Alessandria | October, 1783 |
| Agamennone | Briseide | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Francesco Bianchi | Turin, Teatro Regio | 27 December 1783 |
| Ircano | Amaionne | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Bernardino Ottani | Turin, Teatro Regio | 24 January 1784 |
| Cajo Mario | Cajo Mario | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Francesco Bianchi | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 30 May 1784 |
| Ariodante | Artenice | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giacomo Tritto | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 13 August 1784 |
| Catone | Catone in Utica | tragedia per musica | Francesco Antonelli Torre | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 4 November 1784 |
| Antigono | Antigono | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Paisiello | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 12 January 1785 |
| Rodoaldo | Ricimero | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Nicola Antonio Zingarelli | Venice, Teatro San Benedetto | 5 May 1785 |
| Agamennone | Ifigenia in Aulde | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Angelo Tarchi | Padua, Teatro Nuovo | June, 1785 |
| Artabano | Artaserse | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Brescia, Accademia degli Erranti | summer, 1785 |
| Ormodno | Il disertore | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Francesco Bianchi | Verona, Accademia Filarmonica | autumn, 1785 |
| Learco | Erifile | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Carlo Monza | Turin, Teatro Regio | 26 December 1785 |
| Palmoro | Idalide | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Salvatore Rispoli | Turin, Teatro Regio | 28 January 1786 |
| Clistene | Olimpia | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Alessio Prati | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 6 June 1786 |
| Tito | Giulio Sabino | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giuseppe Sarti | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 13 August 1786 |
| Mesenzio | Mesenzio, re d'Etruria | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Francesco Bianchi | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 4 November 1786 |
| Pirro | Pirro | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Giovanni Paisiello | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 12 January 1787 |
| Adrasto | Laocoonte | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Pietro Guglielmi | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 30 May 1787 |
| Asdrubale | Scipione Africano | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Francesco Bianchi | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 13 August 1787 |
| Attalo | Ariarate | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Angelo Tarchi | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | 4 November 1787 |
| Teseo | Fedra | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Domenico Cimarosa | Naples, Teatro San Carlo | January, 1788 |
| Artabano | Artaserse | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Ferdinando Bertoni | Cremona, Teatro della Niblie Società | 30 May 1788 |
| Araspe | Didone abbandonata | dramma per musica (opera seria) | Pasquale Anfossi | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Giacomo_David