Pio Botticelli

Pio Botticelli (8 January 1789 – 6 September 1855) was an Italian bass-baritone active in the opera houses of Italy from 1810 until the mid-1840s. Amongst the numerous roles he created in world premieres were Pietro il Grande (Peter the Great) in Donizetti's Il falegname di Livonia and The Caliph in Pacini's La schiava in Bagdad. He also sang the role of Leucippo in the Austrian premiere of Rossini's Zelmira.

Pio Botticelli
Born(1789-01-08)8 January 1789
Rome, Italy
Died6 September 1855(1855-09-06) (aged 66)
Venice, Italy
OccupationOpera singer (bass-baritone)

Life and career

Botticelli, was born in Rome, the son of Salvatore Botticelli who was also a noted bass. His earliest recorded performance was in 1810 when he sang the role of Montezo in Nicola Antonio Manfroce's Alzira at the Teatro Valle in Rome. From 1813 until 1816, he was a singer in the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto. During that time he also appeared on the opera stage, creating the roles of Aldano in the premiere of Carlo Coccia's Evellina at the Teatro Re in 1814 and The Spirit of Austria in Vincenzo Federici and Ferdinando Orlandi's Il mistico omaggio at La Scala in 1815.[1][2][3]

From the 1820s he began appearing in the leading bass roles of numerous Rossini operas — Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Walter in William Tell, Douglas in La donna del lago, Leucippo in Zelmira, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Fernando in La gazza ladra, Guglielmo in Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Mosè in Mosè in Egitto, and Mustafà in L'italiana in Algeri.[4][3]

Botticelli's last stage performances were in Zara, where he appeared in the 1845 carnival season as Alcandro in Pacini's Saffo and in the title roles of Nabucco and Marino Faliero. He spent his later years in Venice where he died at the age of 66 after a three-week illness. He was survived by his wife and several children.[5][4][2]

Roles created

Roles created by Botticelli in world premieres include:[6]

  • Aldano in Evellina – composed by Carlo Coccia, libretto by Gaetano Rossi; premiered Teatro Re, Milan, 26 December 1814
  • Manete-Setosi in Emira, regina d'Egitto – composed by Giuseppe Mosca, libretto by N.Cervelli; premiered La Scala, Milan, 6 March 1821
  • Tiberio in La sciocca per astuzia – composed by Giuseppe Mosca, libretto by Luigi Romanelli; premiered La Scala, Milan, 15 May 1821
  • Gusmano in Elvira e Lucindo composed by Joseph Hartmann Stuntz, libretto by Luigi Romanelli; premiered La Scala, Milan, 9 June 1821
  • Clementi in Il segreto – composed by Luigi Majocchi, libretto by Felice Romani; premiered, Teatro Ducale, Parma, 26 January 1833
  • Cedrico in Il templario – composed by Otto Nicolai, libretto by Girolamo Maria Marini; premiered Teatro Regio, Turin, 1 February 1840

References
  1. Grimaldi, Floriano (2007). La Cappella musicale di Loreto tra storia e liturgia, 1507-1976, Vol 2, p. 643. Fondazione Cassa di risparmio di Loreto
  2. Contarini, Giovanni Battista (1855). Menzioni onorifiche de'defunti scritte nel nostro secolo, p. 42. F.A. Perrini (in Italian)
  3. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Pio Botticelli". Almanacco Amadeus. Retrieved 7 December 2020 (in Italian).
  4. Kutsch, Karl-Josef and Riemens, Leo (2004). "Botticelli, Pio". Großes Sängerlexikon (4th edition), pp. 538–539. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 359844088X (in German)
  5. s.n. (14 February 1845). "Gazzetta teatrale: Zara". Il pirata, p. 275 (in Italian)
  6. Unless otherwise indicated. all roles in this list are sourced from Casaglia (2005).
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