![[Castrati] Conti, Gioacchino "Gizziello." (1714 - 1761) Original 1736 Mezzotint Portrait](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/GizzielloMezzotint.jpg?v=1722186453)
[Castrati] Conti, Gioacchino "Gizziello." (1714 - 1761). Original 1736 Mezzotint Portrait. A fine original mezzotint portrait of the celebrated Italian soprano castrato, whose nickname was derived from his singing teacher, Domenico Gizzi. Engraved and published in 1736 by Alexander Van Haeken (1701 - 1758) after the original by Charles Lucy. 26 X 36 cm. Trimmed to just outside the plate, overall in very fine condition and set in a fine hand-detailed mat. NPG D34077; Not in the Harvard Theatre Collection Catalogue of Dramatic Portraits.
In the year of the present portrait, and six years after his celebrated 1730 debut in Rome in Vinci's "Artaserse," Conti was "engaged by Handel for London and made his Covent Garden début in a revival of Ariodante on 5 May; a week later he created the role of Meleager in Atalanta. The press reported that he ‘met with an uncommon Reception’; the poet Gray admired him ‘excessively’ in every respect except the shape of his mouth, which ‘when open, made an exact square’. According to Jennens, Handel considered him ‘a rising genius’. The next season, Conti appeared in Handel’s new operas Arminio (as Sigismond), Giustino (Anastasius) and Berenice (Alessandro) and in several revivals. He also sang in Handel’s oratorio Esther (with several new arias) and probably in Il trionfo del tempo, and was to have taken part in a revival of Deborah which was cancelled....Conti was one of the greatest of 18th-century singers. He was an exceptionally high soprano with a compass of at least two octaves (c? to c?) and the only castrato for whom Handel wrote a top C. The four parts Handel composed for him indicate brilliance, flexibility and unusual powers of pathetic and graceful expression." (Winton Dean, Grove Music Online)
In the year of the present portrait, and six years after his celebrated 1730 debut in Rome in Vinci's "Artaserse," Conti was "engaged by Handel for London and made his Covent Garden début in a revival of Ariodante on 5 May; a week later he created the role of Meleager in Atalanta. The press reported that he ‘met with an uncommon Reception’; the poet Gray admired him ‘excessively’ in every respect except the shape of his mouth, which ‘when open, made an exact square’. According to Jennens, Handel considered him ‘a rising genius’. The next season, Conti appeared in Handel’s new operas Arminio (as Sigismond), Giustino (Anastasius) and Berenice (Alessandro) and in several revivals. He also sang in Handel’s oratorio Esther (with several new arias) and probably in Il trionfo del tempo, and was to have taken part in a revival of Deborah which was cancelled....Conti was one of the greatest of 18th-century singers. He was an exceptionally high soprano with a compass of at least two octaves (c? to c?) and the only castrato for whom Handel wrote a top C. The four parts Handel composed for him indicate brilliance, flexibility and unusual powers of pathetic and graceful expression." (Winton Dean, Grove Music Online)
[Castrati] Conti, Gioacchino "Gizziello." (1714 - 1761). Original 1736 Mezzotint Portrait. A fine original mezzotint portrait of the celebrated Italian soprano castrato, whose nickname was derived from his singing teacher, Domenico Gizzi. Engraved and published in 1736 by Alexander Van Haeken (1701 - 1758) after the original by Charles Lucy. 26 X 36 cm. Trimmed to just outside the plate, overall in very fine condition and set in a fine hand-detailed mat. NPG D34077; Not in the Harvard Theatre Collection Catalogue of Dramatic Portraits.
In the year of the present portrait, and six years after his celebrated 1730 debut in Rome in Vinci's "Artaserse," Conti was "engaged by Handel for London and made his Covent Garden début in a revival of Ariodante on 5 May; a week later he created the role of Meleager in Atalanta. The press reported that he ‘met with an uncommon Reception’; the poet Gray admired him ‘excessively’ in every respect except the shape of his mouth, which ‘when open, made an exact square’. According to Jennens, Handel considered him ‘a rising genius’. The next season, Conti appeared in Handel’s new operas Arminio (as Sigismond), Giustino (Anastasius) and Berenice (Alessandro) and in several revivals. He also sang in Handel’s oratorio Esther (with several new arias) and probably in Il trionfo del tempo, and was to have taken part in a revival of Deborah which was cancelled....Conti was one of the greatest of 18th-century singers. He was an exceptionally high soprano with a compass of at least two octaves (c? to c?) and the only castrato for whom Handel wrote a top C. The four parts Handel composed for him indicate brilliance, flexibility and unusual powers of pathetic and graceful expression." (Winton Dean, Grove Music Online)
In the year of the present portrait, and six years after his celebrated 1730 debut in Rome in Vinci's "Artaserse," Conti was "engaged by Handel for London and made his Covent Garden début in a revival of Ariodante on 5 May; a week later he created the role of Meleager in Atalanta. The press reported that he ‘met with an uncommon Reception’; the poet Gray admired him ‘excessively’ in every respect except the shape of his mouth, which ‘when open, made an exact square’. According to Jennens, Handel considered him ‘a rising genius’. The next season, Conti appeared in Handel’s new operas Arminio (as Sigismond), Giustino (Anastasius) and Berenice (Alessandro) and in several revivals. He also sang in Handel’s oratorio Esther (with several new arias) and probably in Il trionfo del tempo, and was to have taken part in a revival of Deborah which was cancelled....Conti was one of the greatest of 18th-century singers. He was an exceptionally high soprano with a compass of at least two octaves (c? to c?) and the only castrato for whom Handel wrote a top C. The four parts Handel composed for him indicate brilliance, flexibility and unusual powers of pathetic and graceful expression." (Winton Dean, Grove Music Online)