Senesino
Videos
Francesco Bernardi, known as Senesino, was an Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel. He was also involved in a p
Senesino c. 1720
Senesino in 1735, by Van Haecken after Hudson
Portrait of the contralto castrato Francesco Bernardi, better known under his stage name Senesino; at the same time a parody of the castrati and their singing – and the wealth they earned with it. The lines beneath the portrait read, in Italian and English: "Renown'd Sienna gave him birth and name / Kind Heaven his Voice and Harmony his Fame / While here the Great and Fair their Tribute bring / The Deaf may wonder whence his Merits spring / But all think Fortune just, that hear him sing".
Farinelli
Videos
Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi, who performed under the stage name Farinelli, was a celebrated Italian castrato singer, composer, and musician. He was a soprano with a range from approximatel
Senesino
…became so great that, in 1733, Senesino joined the rival Opera of the Nobility. This meant that he came to sing alongside the great soprano castrato Farinelli, and their meeting on stage (in the pasticcio Artaserse) led to a famous anecdote of Senesino breaking character, as reported by the music historian…
Portrait of Farinelli by Bartolomeo Nazari (1734)
Farinelli, by Wagner after Amigoni 1735
Allegorical portrait of Farinelli by Jacopo Amigoni, showing him being crowned by the Muse of Music.
Farinelli and his friends. 1750–1752. Oil on canvas, by Amigoni. depicted from left to right: Metastasio, Teresa Castellini, Farinelli with the score "Vi conosco amate stelle" from Metastasio's Zenobia in a musical setting, the painter Amigoni, Farinelli's dog, Farinelli's page