Guadagni, Gaetano

Guadagni, Gaetano, celebrated Italian castrate contralto, later soprano; b. Lodi or Vicenza, c. 1725; d. Padua, Nov. 1792. He was a contralto at the Basilica del Santo in Padua in 1746, and that same year he commenced his stage career at the Teatro San Moise in Venice. In 1748 he went to London and appeared at the Hay market Theatre. Handel was so impressed with Guadagni′s voice that he arranged contralto parts for him in Messiah and Samson, and also composed the role of Didimus in Theodora for him, which role Guadagni created at Covent Garden on March 16, 1750. Guadagni seems to have made his way to Lisbon in 1753 to study with Gioacchino ′′Gizziello′′ Conti. In 1754 he appeared at the Concert Spirituel in Paris, and also sang in Versailles. After another London sojourn in 1755, he sang throughout Europe. While in Vienna, he created the title role in Gluck′s Orfeo on Oct. 5, 1762, and also sang in concerts. He then accompanied Gluck to Frankfurt am Main for the coronation of the emperor in 1764. After singing in Innsbruck (1765), Venice (1767-69), and once again at London′s Haymarket Theatre (1770), he returned to his homeland. In 1772 he was granted the title of Cavaliere di San Marco in Venice. Following appearances in Munich in 1773 and 1775, he sang before Frederick the Great in Potsdam in 1776. In 1777 he settled in Padua, where he sang mainly at the Basilica del Santo. Guadagni was renowned for both his vocal and dramatic gifts. He composed several arias, including Pensa a serbarmi, o cara for Metastasio′s Ezio. His sister, Maria Levinia Guadagni (b. Lodi, Nov. 21, 1735;d. Padua, c. 1790), was a singer and the wife of Felice Alessandri.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire