Aprile, Giuseppe

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Aprile, Giuseppe

Aprile, Giuseppe, Italian castrato soprano, known as Sciroletto and Scirolino after his teacher; b. Martina Franca, Apulia, Oct. 28, 1731; d. there, Jan. 11, 1813. He studied voice with his father, then studied in Naples with Girolamo Abos and Gregorio Sciroli. After singing at the Naples royal chapel in 1752, he made his operatic debut at Naples’s Teatro San Carlo in 1753. He then sang regularly at the Wurttemberg court in Stuttgart from 1765 to 1769, and also toured widely. He subsequently sang in Italy, being named 1st soprano at the Naples royal chapel in 1783. After making his final public appearance in 1785, he devoted himself to teaching voice, numbering among his students Cimarosa.

Writings

The Modern Italian Method of Singing, with a Variety of Progressive Examples and Thirty-six Solfeggi (London, 1791).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire