[Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)] Crescentini, Girolamo. (1766-1846). Autograph Letter, returning a dirty pianoforte!. A rare autograph letter from one of the last internationally renowned castrati singers, reputed to have been one of Napoleon's lovers. 1 page. Addressed to the poet Irene Ricciardi, dated "Venerdi 3 Ottobre," without year but after 1812, the year of his retirement from the stage. Minor losses at margins and one corner, usual folds and light foxing, overall fine.
In Italian: "Dispiacermi assai di non poter venire al Vomero nella giornata nè tampoco della sera. Ho impegnato di pranza- re due miei amici oggi da me; e nella sera debbo andare a far un dovere e baciare la mano ai sovrani (...) Le rimando il pianoforte che troverà assai sudicio. Se sì presto non l’avesse mandato a prendere l’avrebbe ricevuto un poco più netto giacchè avrei convenuto con il mio accordatore che nella giornata lo avrebbe ripulito."
[Dear ("Loveable") Mrs. Irene, I am very sorry that I will not be able to come to Vomero during the day nor tonight. I have invited two friends to have lunch with me and in the evening I have to pay a visit and go kiss the hand of the sovereigns. Sometime tomorrow I will have the pleasure to see you and pay my homage to you and to everybody in your family to whom I prey you to remember me today. I send you back the pianoforte which you will find very dirty. Had you not sent for it so early you would have found it clean since I had arranged with my piano tuner to have it cleaned sometime today. I remain as usual your G. Crescentini."
Celebrated for his creation of the role of Romeo in Zingarelli's "Giulietta e Romeo" at Teatro alla Scala di Milano (1796), "Stendhal said that no composer could have written the infinitely small nuances that formed the perfection of Crescentini's singing in his aria 'Ombra adorata aspetta,' " in that opera. He gave numerous other important first performances in works by Paisiello, Andreozzi and Cimarosa and was singing teacher in Paris to the royal family at Napoleon I's court. A famous teacher in Bologna - Isabella Colbran was among his students - he also "he composed didactic and vocal chamber works, which were famous throughout the 19th century. His vocalizzi were reprinted (by Ricordi and Lucca) up to the last decade of the century, and were used extensively by singing teachers in conservatories throughout Italy. He was a member of the Accademia di S Cecilia (Rome) and the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna." (Grove Music Online)
In Italian: "Dispiacermi assai di non poter venire al Vomero nella giornata nè tampoco della sera. Ho impegnato di pranza- re due miei amici oggi da me; e nella sera debbo andare a far un dovere e baciare la mano ai sovrani (...) Le rimando il pianoforte che troverà assai sudicio. Se sì presto non l’avesse mandato a prendere l’avrebbe ricevuto un poco più netto giacchè avrei convenuto con il mio accordatore che nella giornata lo avrebbe ripulito."
[Dear ("Loveable") Mrs. Irene, I am very sorry that I will not be able to come to Vomero during the day nor tonight. I have invited two friends to have lunch with me and in the evening I have to pay a visit and go kiss the hand of the sovereigns. Sometime tomorrow I will have the pleasure to see you and pay my homage to you and to everybody in your family to whom I prey you to remember me today. I send you back the pianoforte which you will find very dirty. Had you not sent for it so early you would have found it clean since I had arranged with my piano tuner to have it cleaned sometime today. I remain as usual your G. Crescentini."
Celebrated for his creation of the role of Romeo in Zingarelli's "Giulietta e Romeo" at Teatro alla Scala di Milano (1796), "Stendhal said that no composer could have written the infinitely small nuances that formed the perfection of Crescentini's singing in his aria 'Ombra adorata aspetta,' " in that opera. He gave numerous other important first performances in works by Paisiello, Andreozzi and Cimarosa and was singing teacher in Paris to the royal family at Napoleon I's court. A famous teacher in Bologna - Isabella Colbran was among his students - he also "he composed didactic and vocal chamber works, which were famous throughout the 19th century. His vocalizzi were reprinted (by Ricordi and Lucca) up to the last decade of the century, and were used extensively by singing teachers in conservatories throughout Italy. He was a member of the Accademia di S Cecilia (Rome) and the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna." (Grove Music Online)
[Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)] Crescentini, Girolamo. (1766-1846). Autograph Letter, returning a dirty pianoforte!. A rare autograph letter from one of the last internationally renowned castrati singers, reputed to have been one of Napoleon's lovers. 1 page. Addressed to the poet Irene Ricciardi, dated "Venerdi 3 Ottobre," without year but after 1812, the year of his retirement from the stage. Minor losses at margins and one corner, usual folds and light foxing, overall fine.
In Italian: "Dispiacermi assai di non poter venire al Vomero nella giornata nè tampoco della sera. Ho impegnato di pranza- re due miei amici oggi da me; e nella sera debbo andare a far un dovere e baciare la mano ai sovrani (...) Le rimando il pianoforte che troverà assai sudicio. Se sì presto non l’avesse mandato a prendere l’avrebbe ricevuto un poco più netto giacchè avrei convenuto con il mio accordatore che nella giornata lo avrebbe ripulito."
[Dear ("Loveable") Mrs. Irene, I am very sorry that I will not be able to come to Vomero during the day nor tonight. I have invited two friends to have lunch with me and in the evening I have to pay a visit and go kiss the hand of the sovereigns. Sometime tomorrow I will have the pleasure to see you and pay my homage to you and to everybody in your family to whom I prey you to remember me today. I send you back the pianoforte which you will find very dirty. Had you not sent for it so early you would have found it clean since I had arranged with my piano tuner to have it cleaned sometime today. I remain as usual your G. Crescentini."
Celebrated for his creation of the role of Romeo in Zingarelli's "Giulietta e Romeo" at Teatro alla Scala di Milano (1796), "Stendhal said that no composer could have written the infinitely small nuances that formed the perfection of Crescentini's singing in his aria 'Ombra adorata aspetta,' " in that opera. He gave numerous other important first performances in works by Paisiello, Andreozzi and Cimarosa and was singing teacher in Paris to the royal family at Napoleon I's court. A famous teacher in Bologna - Isabella Colbran was among his students - he also "he composed didactic and vocal chamber works, which were famous throughout the 19th century. His vocalizzi were reprinted (by Ricordi and Lucca) up to the last decade of the century, and were used extensively by singing teachers in conservatories throughout Italy. He was a member of the Accademia di S Cecilia (Rome) and the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna." (Grove Music Online)
In Italian: "Dispiacermi assai di non poter venire al Vomero nella giornata nè tampoco della sera. Ho impegnato di pranza- re due miei amici oggi da me; e nella sera debbo andare a far un dovere e baciare la mano ai sovrani (...) Le rimando il pianoforte che troverà assai sudicio. Se sì presto non l’avesse mandato a prendere l’avrebbe ricevuto un poco più netto giacchè avrei convenuto con il mio accordatore che nella giornata lo avrebbe ripulito."
[Dear ("Loveable") Mrs. Irene, I am very sorry that I will not be able to come to Vomero during the day nor tonight. I have invited two friends to have lunch with me and in the evening I have to pay a visit and go kiss the hand of the sovereigns. Sometime tomorrow I will have the pleasure to see you and pay my homage to you and to everybody in your family to whom I prey you to remember me today. I send you back the pianoforte which you will find very dirty. Had you not sent for it so early you would have found it clean since I had arranged with my piano tuner to have it cleaned sometime today. I remain as usual your G. Crescentini."
Celebrated for his creation of the role of Romeo in Zingarelli's "Giulietta e Romeo" at Teatro alla Scala di Milano (1796), "Stendhal said that no composer could have written the infinitely small nuances that formed the perfection of Crescentini's singing in his aria 'Ombra adorata aspetta,' " in that opera. He gave numerous other important first performances in works by Paisiello, Andreozzi and Cimarosa and was singing teacher in Paris to the royal family at Napoleon I's court. A famous teacher in Bologna - Isabella Colbran was among his students - he also "he composed didactic and vocal chamber works, which were famous throughout the 19th century. His vocalizzi were reprinted (by Ricordi and Lucca) up to the last decade of the century, and were used extensively by singing teachers in conservatories throughout Italy. He was a member of the Accademia di S Cecilia (Rome) and the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna." (Grove Music Online)