antonio baglioni, mozart's first ottavio and tito, in italy and prague

7/22/2019 Antonio Baglioni, Mozart's First Ottavio and Tito, In Italy and Prague

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John A. Rice

Antonio Baglioni, Mozart's First Ottavio and Tito, in Italy and Prague

One of the few singers for whom Mozart wrote more than one important operatic role, Antonio

Baglioni created the roles of Don Ottavio and, four years later, Tito. His achievement reflects the

length of his engagement in Domenico Guardasoni's opera troupe--he served for slightly less than

a decade, from 1787 to 1795 (or early 1796), as Guardasoni's leading tenor in Prague, Leipzig, and

Warsaw.

The length of Baglioni's involvement with the Guardasoni company, the quantity and

importance of the roles with which he was entrusted and of the music he sang, and especially the

difficulty of the music that Mozart wrote for him, might lead us to conclude that he was a first-

rate singer. Yet critical appraisals of Baglioni by his contemporaries were mixed; and he never

seems to have reached the highest rank in his profession, either as a mezzo caratteretenor--the

singer who typically portrayed the serious young lover in comic operas--or as a tenor in opera

seria.

One listener appreciated Baglioni's singing enough to write poetry for him. In Warsaw

(where the Guardasoni troupe performed from 1789 to 1791) one Antonio Carpaccio published

in 1790 a sonnet addressed to "Signor Baglioni, il quale sostiene con universale applauso la parte

di mezzo carattere nell'opera italiana":

Al ritornar della Stagion novella

Quando natura con ridente viso

Sparge sul Mondo la letizia, e il riso,

Cacciato in bando il verno e la procella.

De pinti augelli in questa parte, e in quella


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Il canto a noi dischiude il Paradiso,

E sull'alto dell'aere l'Eco assiso

Ripete il suono ai venti in sua favella.

Sei vaga Primavera, ma l'eterno

Volger degl'anni, e d'astri, e d'elementi

A noi ti toglie con suo corso alterno.

Sol di tua voce agli armoniosi accenti

Anco nel tempestoso orrido verno

La ridente stagione a noi rammenti.1

A discussion of the Guardasoni company published in 1792 contains more useful praise

of Baglioni's "armoniosi accenti," singling out a particular mezzo carattererole in which excelled:

Hr. Baglioni. Erster Tenorist. Gewi verdient er mit Recht Beifall. Seine Stimme hat sich

ausgebildet, ist wohlklingend, rein und voll Ausdruck, so da wenig Theater sich eines

solchen Tenoristen werden rhmen knnen. Wir haben seit langer Zeit seines Gleichen

nicht gehrt. Seine Hauptrolle ist Colloardo [recte: Calloandro] in [Paisiello's] 'la molinara'.

Hier verbindet er Gesang und Spiel auf das Meisterhafteste.2

That approbation was countered by a hostile appraisal of Baglioni in a report on the

Italian opera in Prague published in the December 1794 issue of theAllgemeines europisches

Journalof Brno. The anonymous article has been plausibly attributed to Mozart's early

1 Poesie di Antonio Carpaccio fra gli Arcadi Carippo Megalense (Warsaw, 1790), 116. Mythanks to Daniel Brandenburg for telling me of this poem and sending me a copy of it.

2 Quoted from an unknown source in Oscar Teuber, Geschichte des Prager Theaters von denAnfngen bis auf die neueste Zeit, 3 vols. (Prague, 1883-1888), II, 322-24.


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biographer Franz Xaver Niemetschek:

... der erste Tenorist, Hr. Baglioni. Dieser Snger gieng vor einem Jahre von der

Gesellschaft ab, und hielt sich einige Zeit in Italien auf [the critic refers here to Baglioni's

appearances in the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice during Fall 1793 and Carnival 1794;

see Table 3]; hier sammelte er nun alle Unarten der italienischen Knstler und

Nichtknstler emsig auf, und so begabt, kehrte er zum Hrn. Guardasoni zurck. Er spricht

keine Note so aus wie sie der Kompositeur gesetzt hat und haben wollte, ersuft den

schnsten Gedanken in seinen wlschen Sprngen und Trillern, und lt uns sein

einfrmiges Herumschlagen mit den Hnden fr Akzion gelten, so da man Noth hat, die

Arie zu erkennen, wenn er sie singt. Freilich bedarf er solcher Schnrkel, um seine

mangelhafte Stimme, die mehr ein mezzo bassoist, zu bedecken: aber weil Hr. Baglioni

seine Arien in Mozarts Cos fan tuttenicht aussingen kann, soll er deshalb die Arien ja

nicht fr schlecht geschrieben ausgeben; denn der grosse Mozart, dessen Geist allerdings

fr faselnde Wlsche zu unverstndlich ist, hat sich Hrn. Baglioni bei seiner Arbeit sicher

nicht zum Mastabbe genommen!3

Elsewhere the critic expressed his disapproval of Baglioni simply by ignoring him, never even

mentioning, in his discussions ofDon Giovanniand Tito, the roles he created.4

3 "Einige Nachrichten ber den Zustand des Theaters in Prag. Im Dezember 1794," signed"***k,"Allgemeines europisches Journal, 564-70 (565); modern editions in Christopher Raeburn,"Mozarts Opern in Prag,"MusicaXIII (1959), 158-63; andMozart: Die Dokumente seines Lebens,Addenda und Corrigenda, ed. Joseph Heinz Eibl (Kassel, 1978), 81.

4 The critic's remarks on Guardasoni's production ofDie Zauberfltein Italian translation ("EinigeNachrichten ber den Zustand des Theaters in Prag," 568) likewise carefully avoid mentioningTamino, from which we might that Baglioni portrayed Tamino. But Il flauto magico was firstperformed in Prague on 22 January 1794, when Baglioni was in Venice (Prager Neue Zeitung, 1794,24 January 1794, quoted in Ji_ Berkovec, Musicalia v pra_skm periodickm tisku 18. stolet[Prague, 1989], 86-87); so the tenor who created the role of Tamino in Il flauto magicomust have


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The contributor to theAllgemeines europisches Journalwas not alone in ignoring

Baglioni. The few surviving assessments of the first production of Titoare silent on Baglioni's

singing. We know from Johann Carl Zinzendorf that Emperor Leopold II was delighted with

Maria Marchetti Fantozzi (the first Vitellia).5Mozart, informed by the clarinetist Anton Stadler

of the success of the last performance of Titoon 30 September 1791, wrote to his wife: "der

Bedini [as Sesto] sang besser als allezeit. -- Das Duettschen ex Avon die 2 Mdchens [Carolina

Perini and Antonia Campi] wurde wiederhollet -- und gerne -- htte man nicht die Marchetti

geschonet -- htte man auch das Rond repetirt."6Again Baglioni is nowhere mentioned.

All this raises interesting questions, since Mozart wrote some of the finest and most

characteristic music inDon Giovanniand Titofor Baglioni, who presumably continued to sing

this music (together with that of Ferrando in Cos fan tutte) during the productions of these

operas that occurred while he remained a member of the troupe. If Baglioni really was a mediocre

singer--of if he excelled only in Paisiello'sLa molinara--how could Mozart have written such

difficult and beautiful music for him? Did Mozart, in portraying Ottavio and Tito, write for an

imaginary virtuoso in the hope that sometime in the future those roles would be performed as

they should be? Everything that we know of Mozart's relations with singers tells us that he did

not.

Background and Early Career

been someone other than Baglioni.

5 Mozart: Dokumente seines Lebens, Addenda und Corrigenda, 70.

6 Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, ed. Wihelm A. Bauer, Otto Erich Deutsch, and JosephHeinz Eibl, 7 vols. (Kassel, 1962-75), IV, 157.


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Antonio Baglioni was one of thirteen eighteenth-century opera singers named Baglioni, all of

whom are listed in Table 1 in the order in which they first appeared on stage. Although it is

tempting to conclude that all these singers belonged to a single great operatic dynasty, there is

actually very little evidence of familial connections between them.7

The first important Baglioni was Francesco--a brilliant comic singer-actor who played a

crucial role in the development of opera buffa during the thirty years between 1730 and 1760.8

Francesco had several daughters who became professional singers, and sometimes appeared on

stage with him. The playwright Vittorio Alfieri wrote in his memoirs of a performance of an

opera buffa in the early 1760s, "cantata dai migliori buffi d'Italia, il Carratoli, il Baglioni, e le di lui

figlie."9Unfortunately Alfieri did not name the daughters whose performance he witnessed, and

no surviving libretto can be associated with this performance. That leaves us uncertain about

which of the women on our list were Francesco's daughters. Quite possibly he fathered all the

Baglioni--seven women and one man--who reached the stage between 1752 and 1764; but

definitive evidence is lacking.

Three of these women sang frequently in Vienna, and we know from Viennese documents

that these three--Clementina, Costanza, and Rosa--were sisters.10That increases the probability

7 On the singers named Baglioni and possible family ties between them see the articles by DanielBrandenburg in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd edition; Brandenburg's article "Operabuffa: The European Success of Traveling Performers," forthcoming in the proceedings of theconference "Il trionfo d'Italia: Singing in Italian Opera" (Utrecht, August 2004); and Brandenburg'sforthcoming book "Far rider i savi grand'impegno!" Studien zum Sngern, Gesang undDarstellungskunst in der Opera buffa des 18. Jahrhunderts, Habilitationsschrift, UniversittBayreuth, 2005.

8 Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie, The Creation of a Genre: Comic Opera's Dissemination in Italy inthe 1740s, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1993; Daniel Heartz, From Garrick toGluck: Essays on Opera in the Age of Enlightenment(Hillsdale, NY, 2004), 14-17, 52-54.

9 "Vita di Vittorio Alfieri da Asti scritta da esso," in Opere di Vittorio Alfieri, ed. Vittorio Branca(Milan, 1968), 34.

10 That Costanza and Rosa Baglioni were sisters we know from a contract dated Vienna, 13 April


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Table 1. Eighteenth-Century Singers named Baglioni

Sources: Claudio Sartori,I libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800, VII; and (for Antonio

Baglioni) Theaterzettelin the library of the sterreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna

Name City of Origin Period of Activity as Opera Singer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Francesco Rome 1729-1761

Giuseppe Milan 1732

Giovanna Rome 1752-1771

Clementina Rome 1753-1786

Vincenza Rome 1757-1771

Giovanni Roma 1759-1771

Anna Maria Rome 1760-1766

Costanza Rome 1760-1782

Caterina ? 1760

Rosa ? 1764-1787

Antonio ? 1786-1797

Camilla ? 1790-1795

Anna ? 1791

1772, in which they are referred to as "la Sig.aCostanza Baglioni, e la Signora Rosa Baglioni sorelle"(reproduced in John A. Rice,Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera[Chicago, 1998], 58. An article inthe Theatralkalendar von Wien, fr das Jahr 1772 refers to Clementina, Costanza, and Rosa assisters: "Mademoiselle Constantia Baglioni, eine Schwester der Vorigen [i.e. Clementina] hat einestrkere, aber nicht so angenehme und richtige Stimme.... Mademoiselle Rosinen, ihrer jngernSchwester, fehlt nichts zu einer angenehmen Sngerinn" (quoted in Rice,Antonio Salieri, 57).


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that they were among Francesco's singing daughters. These sisters not only sang in Vienna.

Clementina also sang in Regensburg near the end of a career that lasted more than thirty years. 11

Rosa sang in Paris, Leipzig, Dresden, and--of particular interest to us--in Prague. She was in the

Guardasoni troupe when it presentedFigaroduring Carnival 1787 andDon Giovannilater the

same year.12

Joining Guardasoni that same year was a young tenor, Antonio Baglioni, who had made

his professional debut in Bologna two years earlier.13The presence of Rosa Baglioni in the

Guardasoni troupe makes it likely that she and Antonio belonged to the same family. Possibly he

was a late son of Francesco; but more likely he was Rosa's son or nephew--in other words, the

son of Clementina or Costanza.

The reason I think Antonio was the son of one of the three Baglioni sisters who had sung

in Vienna is that Antonio Salieri referred to himself as a friend of Antonio Baglioni's mother. In a

letter to the tenor dated 1803 Salieri wrote: "Mi saluti distintamente la Signora madre, si

conservino in buona salute, e mi credino ambidue constantissimamente il Loro aff.moamico

Salieri."14The most obvious way in which Salieri and the mother of Antonio Baglioni could have

become friends is operatic collaboration. During his early years in Vienna Salieri wrote roles for

all three Baglioni sisters, so he might naturally have thought of Clementina, Costanza, and Rosa

as friends.15Any of these women could have been the tenor's mother. But if any of them played

11 Claudio Sartori, I libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800: Catalogo analitico con 16indici, 7 vols. (Cuneo, 1990-94), VII, 39-40; Clementina's engagement in Regensburg is documentedin Indice de' teatrali spettacoli (fascimile in 2 vols., ed. Roberto Verti, Pesaro, 1996), hereafterabbreviatedITS, 1784-85, 71 andITS1785-86, 144.

12 Sartori, VII, 38;ITS1786-87, 166, 1787-88, 147.

13 For sources documenting Baglioni's career see Tables 2 and 3 and accompanying notes.

14 Salieri to Antonio Baglioni, Vienna, 8 October 1803, in Rudolph Angermller,Antonio Salieri:Fatti e documenti(Legnago, 1985), 149.

15 Clementina created the role of Artemia in Salieri's first opera, Le donne letterate (1770), she


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an active role in encouraging Guardasoni to engage Antonio Baglioni, the one most likely to have

done so was the one already in Prague, and in close contact with the impresario, namely Rosa.

Antonio's use of his mother's maiden name suggests that he was illegitimate.

Table 2 is a list of Antonio Baglioni's early roles in Italy. After singing minor roles--as

secondo tenoreandsecondo mezzo carattere, and in parts designated as "seconde parti," he rose,

in spring 1787, to the level ofprimo mezzo carattere, in Parma and Bologna.

Among the operas in which Baglioni sang in the first phase of his career (that is, before he

became aprimo mezzo carattere) was Giuseppe Gazzaniga's setting of Giovanni Bertati'sIl

convitato di pietra: the second part of a two-part entertainment presented in Venice during

Carnival 1787--and a work that was to have important repercussions on Baglioni's career. The

evening began withIl capriccio drammatico, in which a troupe of Italian opera singers in

Germany decides, after much argument, to present an opera based on the story of Don Juan; that

opera constituted the second part of the evening's entertainment. The libretto published for this

production lists the singers and their roles inIl capriccio drammatico(in which Baglioni created

the role of Valerio) but notIl convitato di pietra. This has led to some disagreement as to what

role Baglioni sang inIl convitato di pietra. Some state that he portrayed Don Giovanni;16others

that he was the first Duca Ottavio.17I believe Ottavio is more likely to have been his role. In

some librettos printed for productions ofIl capriccio drammaticoandIl convitato di pietra, the

cast for the second opera is given; and in such librettos the singer who portrayed Valerio inIl

sang Delmita in Daliso e Delmita (1776); Costanza was the first Mirandolina and Rosa the firstLena inLa locandiera(1773). One of the Baglioni sisters created the role of Beatrice inIl barone di

Rocca Antica(1772). See Rice,Antonio Salieri, 120, 178, 195, 245.16 Stanley Sadie, "Some Operas of 1787,"Musical TimesCXXII (1981), 474-77; Daniel Heartz,

Mozart's Operas(Berkeley, 1990), 160.

17 Nino Pirotta, Don Giovanni's Progress: A Rake Goes to the Opera (New York, 1994), 90,188; Michel Noiray, "La Construction de Don Giovanni," L'Avant-scne Opra: Don Giovanni(Paris, 1996), 126-33.


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Table 2. Antonio Baglioni's Career Before Coming to Prague

Abbreviations

S Sartori

ITS Indice de' teatrali spettacoli

Year Season City Role Opera Compo

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1786 Spring Bologna Vamiro (secondo tenore18) Ariarate(S) Tarchi

Autumn Venice Pasquinello Le donne fanatiche(S) Gazzan

(secondo mezzo car.19)

Sig. Guerini La contessa di Novaluna(S) Fabrizi

(secondo mezzo car.)

1787 Carnival Venice Gioher (1 of 2 "seconde L'amore costante(S) Gazzan

parti"20)

Valerio Il capriccio drammatico/ pasticc

18 This designation fromITS, 1786-87, 13.




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Duca Ottavio21 Il convitato di pietra(S) Gazzan

Spring Parma22 primo mezzo car. Fra i due litiganti Sarti

primo mezzo car. (Roberto23)Gli amanti alla prova Caruso

primo mezzo car. La secchia rapita Salieri

Summer Bologna24 primo mezzo car. (Roberto) Gli amanti alla prova Caruso

primo mezzo car. (Balena25) La statua matematica Valenti

21 Whenever casts of both Il capriccio drammatico and Il convitato di pietra are listed in alibretto, the singer who sings Valerio inIl capriccio drammaticosings Duca Ottavio inIl convitato dipietra; see Padova, 1788; Forl, 1789; Pavia, 1793 (asL'impresario in rovina). In the libretto printedfor the production of Il capriccio drammatico in Udine, 1788, Valerio is described as "secondomezzo carattere."

22 Baglioni's appearances in Parma as primo mezzo carettere are documented in ITS, 1787-88,133.

23

Roberto defined as primo mezzo carattere in libretto printed for premiere (Venice, 1784).24 Baglioni's appearances in Bologna as primo mezzo carattere nelle due prime opere is

documented inITS, 1787-88, 17, according to which the summer season continued with two moreoperas in which Baglioni did not sing.

25 Cav. Balena is described as the "primo mezzo carettere" role in librettos printed forproductions in Udine (1783) and Pavia (1784).


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capriccio drammaticoportrayed Duca Ottavio inIl convitato di pietra.26

This is an important issue, becauseIl convitato di pietrais one of the very few surviving

operas written before Mozart'sDon Giovannifor a cast that included Baglioni; most of the other

operas in Table 2 are either lost or were composed for a cast that did not include Baglioni. ThusIl

convitato di pietracontains valuable evidence of Baglioni's vocal profile--as long as we can be

relatively sure about what role was written for him. The only other opera with a part written for

Baglioni that I have been able to identify and examine is Gazzaniga's L'amore costante, in which

Baglioni created the role of Gioher in Venice during Fall 1786.L'amore costantesurvives in the

form of a manuscript score (possibly an autograph) in the Bibliothque Nationale, Paris.

Vocal Profile and Vocal Development in Prague, Leipzig, and Warsaw

L'amore costanteandIl convitato di pietraeach contain one aria written for Baglioni. The two

arias are quite different in character. Gioher's "Se rimiro quel visetto" (published, for the first

time, as an appendix to this article) is an expression of love set to music in a light, comic style.27

Duca Ottavio's "Vicin sperai l'istante," the first of at least four arias in B flat writ ten for Baglioni

by Gazzaniga, Mozart, and Salieri, adopts the heroic language of opera seria. "Se rimiro quel

visetto" is completelyparlando; "Vicin sperai l'istante" has some simple coloratura. But the two

arias have the same tessitura and range.

By tessitura I mean the pitches to which most of the vocal part is limited; the range

includes a few notes beyond the tessitura, sung rarely--for special effect--often near the end of

26 For example, in Padua, 1788 and Forl, 1789.

27 My thanks to Michel Noiray for sending me a photocopy of "S'io rimiro quel visetto" fromthe Paris manuscript.


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the aria. Gazzaniga treated Baglioni as having a tessitura of one octave, from the F below middle

C to F above, which he occasionally extended up to G, for a range of a ninth. A composer

typically used the opening melody of an aria to display a singer's tessitura, and we can see

Gazzaniga doing so in the opening melody of "Se rimiro quel visetto" (where only a few grace

notes touch high G) and in the tune at the beginning of the Allegretto (mm. 42-54). He did the

same in "Vicin sperai l'istante (Ex. 1), later requiring Baglioni to show off his ability to sing

coloratura (Ex. 2) and exploiting his high G for climactic effect near the end of the aria (Ex. 3).

Ex. 1. Giuseppe Gazzaniga, "Vicin sperai l'istante," mm. 14-20, fromDon Giovanni o sia Il

convitato di pietra, ed. Stefan Kunze (Kassel, 1974)

Ex. 2. Gazzaniga, "Vicin sperai l'istante," mm. 44-49


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Ex. 3. Gazzaniga, "Vicin sperai l'istante," mm. 79-85

"Sperai vicin l'istante" documents, more fully than "Se rimiro," the vocal qualities that Baglionibrought with him to Prague--the raw material from which Mozart crafted the roles of Ottavio and

Tito. In writing these roles, Mozart subjected Baglioni to a series of challenges, gradually

expanding his tessi tura and range and increasing the complexity and difficulty of coloratura. The

challenges began with "Il mio tesoro," where Mozart widened Baglioni's tessitura slightly by

asking him repeatedly to sing G above the staff (starting with the opening melody, Ex. 4), to

delve suddenly down to an isolated D below the staff, and to spin out much longer strands of

coloratura than in "Sperai vicin l'istante." As if to compensate for these demands, Mozart wrote

the aria in the same key as "Sperai vicin l'istante," and he allowed Baglioni to dwell often (at great

length, already in the opening melody) on the F at the top of his tessitura, a note that he must

have been able to sing with particular ease and effectiveness.

That Baglioni was a willing participant in this process of vocal development is suggested

by the vocal training he engaged in while in Prague, with enough frequency to exasperate one of

his neighbors. The young composer Wenzel Johann Tomaschek, who settled in Prague in 1790,

lived next door to Baglioni, and recalled in his memoirs that the tenor's vocal exercises annoyed

him greatly.28We can get some idea of the challenges posed by Baglioni's exercises by those he

28 The passage in which Tomaschek complains about Baglioni's vocal exercises is quoted below.


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Ex. 4. Mozart, "Il mio tesoro intanto," mm. 8-29

published later, after he retired from the stage to become a singing teacher: two volumes entitled

Nuovi esercizi per il canto composti e dedicati al nobile SigrCostantino Maruzzi... da Antonio

Baglioni(published by Ricordi in Milan). The notes that accompany some of these exercises

convey Baglioni's pedagogical priorities: "per formare la voce ed unire le corde di testa con quella

di petto"; "per il trillo"; "per li mordenti e gruppetti"; "per le appoggiature"; "per le terzine"; "per

li salti"; "per il portamento di voce"; "per l'arpeggio." The other exercises consist mostly of very

florid passagework, with elaborate lead-ins and cadenzas that bring to mind the "Sprngen und

Trillern" that annoyed the critic in theAllgemeines europisches Journal.

Also crucial to Baglioni's development as a singer was his exposure to opera seria. Although he m

his professional debut in an opera seria, he must have found comic opera more congenial to his voice and

stage personality. In Prague during the late 1780s the repertory was exclusively comic (see Table 3). But

Warsaw the Guardasoni troupe responded to an interest in serious opera with performances of Pietro

Persichini'sAndromeda, Paisiello'sPirro,


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Table 3. Baglioni's Career After Coming to Prague

From Autumn 1787 Baglioni sang in the Guardasoni troupe, which performed in Prague, Warsaw, and Leipzig with

the following repertory. Except in a few cases (such as the first production of Don GiovanniandLa clemenza di Ti

we do not know in which operas Baglioni sang, and what roles he took (uncertainty compounded by the fact that

Guardasoni usually employed two mezzo caratteretenors), but he probably sang in most of the operas listed below

Year Season/date City Role Opera Composer

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1787 14 October Prague29 Basilio? Le nozze di Figaro Mozart

29 October Don Ottavio Don Giovanni(S) Mozart

Autumn Giovanni? Una cosa rara(S) Martin

Pantaleo? Lo sposo senza moglie Cimarosa

Endimione? L'arbore di Diana Martin

1788 Carnival [repertory as above]

Summer Leipzig30 [repertory unknown]

? Prague ? Elisa(S) Naumann

Autumn31 Atar? Axur re d'Ormus(S) Salieri

29 Repertory for Autumn 1787 and Carnival 1788 fromITS, 1787-88, 147, which lists Baglioni

among thesignori attori.30ITS, 1788-89, p. 90: "Lipsia, Estate 1788. Si rappresentarono in quel Teatro varie Opere buffe

in Musica dagli stessi Signori Attori addetti al Teatro Nazionale di Praga per Autunno [1788] eCarnevale [1789], col descritti."

31 Repertory for Autumn 1788 and Carnival 1789 fromITS, 1788-89, 177, which lists Baglioni asone of two tenori mezzi-caratteri.


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Don Ottavio? Don Giovanni Mozart

Endimione? L'arbore di Diana(S) Martin

Basilio? Le nozze di Figaro Mozart

Giovanni? Una cosa rara Martin

Lindoro? Il talismano(S) Salieri


? Ernesto? Il mondo della luna(S) Paisiello

? Gerrardo? Il trionfo dell'amore sulla magia (S) Schuster

? Warsaw32 Endimione? L'arbore di Diana Martin

Giovanni? Una cosa rara(S) Martin

Artemidoro? La grotto di Trofonio Salieri

Lindoro? Il talismano Salieri

Atar? Axur re d'Ormus Salieri

Sandrino? Il re Teodoro Paisiello

[no tenor role]La serva padrona Paisiello

Giorgino? La contadina di spirito Paisiello

Don Ottavio? Don Giovanni(S) Mozart


Giocondo L'isola d'amore Sacchini

? Il trionfo d'amore Schuster

? L'impresario innamorato33 Maestro

Guardasino

32 Repertory for 1789 and Carnival 1790 fromITS, 1789-90, 231-32, where Baglioni is listed asone of twoprimi mezzi caratteri.

33 The opera entitled L'impresario innamorato is probably fictive; the name of its composer"Guardasino" is obviously a play on the name of the impresario Guardasoni.


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di Littuania (si

Gianferrante? La modista raggiratrice(S) Paisiello

Orfeo? Orfeo ed Euridice(S) Gluck?


? ? Andromeda(S) Persichini

17 January Pirro? Pirro(S) Paisiello

3 July Palmoro? La vergine del sole(S) Cimarosa

Autumn34 Palmoro? La vergine del sole Cimarosa

Aureliano? Zenobia di Palmira Anfossi

Sandrino? Il re Teodoro in Venezia Paisiello

Cav. dell'Oca? I finti eredi Sarti


Lent35 ? La passione di Ges Cristo Paisiello

Sisara? Debora e Sisara(S) Guglielmi

Spring ? Andromeda Persichini


"in tutto Prague36 Atar? Axur re d'Ormus Salieri

l'anno"

"in tutto Don Ottavio? Don Giovanni Mozart

l'anno"

34

Repertory for Fall 1790 and Carnival 1791 fromITS, 1790-91, which lists Antonio Baglioni asone of twoprimi mezzi caratteriduring these seasons.

35 Repertory for Lent and Spring, 1791 from ITS, 1791-92, which lists Baglioni among thesignori cantanti.

36 According toITS, 1791-92, 147, a troupe that included Baglioni performedDon GiovanniandAxurin Prague "in tutto l'anno" 1791.


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29 August Pirro? Pirro Paisiell

2 September Don Ottavio? Don Giovanni Mozar

6 September Tito La clemenza di Tito(S) Mozar

? Ferrando? Cos fan tutte(S) Mozar

? Calloandro? La molinara(S) Paisiell

? Lindoro? Nina(S) Paisiell

December Sisara? Debora e Sisara(S) Gugliel

1792 ? Capitano? La dama soldato(S) Nauma

? Paolino? Il matrimonio segreto(S) Cimaro

? Astolfo? La pastorella nobile(S) Gugliel

Summer Leipzig37 Paolino? Il matrimonio segreto Cimaro

Ferrando? Cos fan tutte Mozar

Astolfo? La pastorella nobile Gugliel

Capitano? La dama soldato Nauma

Calloandro? La molinara Paisiell

Lindoro? Il talismano Salieri

3 August Aureliano? Zenobia di Palmira(S) Anfoss

Autumn Prague Mont'Albore? Lo spazzacamino principe(S) Tarchi

1793 ? ? Gli equivoci(S) Storace

? Nocesecca? La maga Circe(S) Anfoss

? ? L'incanto superato(S) Sssma

? Rubicone? Il mercato di Monfregoso(S) Zingare

3 August Leipzig Pirro? Pirro(S) Paisiell

Autumn Venice Costanzo I fratelli rivali(S) Winter

37Repertory fromITS, 1792-93, 77, which names Baglioni asprimo mezzo carattere.


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1794 Carnival Simoncino Gabbia dei matti(S) ?

Clitandro38 Belisa(S) Winter

Barbadoro I zingari in fiera(S) Paisiell

Autumn Prague Costanzo or Silvio I fratelli rivali(S) Winter

Cleante? Le confusioni della somiglianza(S) Portoga

Duca? Giulietta e Pierotto(S) Weigl

3 December39 Tito? La clemenza di Tito Mozar

? ? Il trionfo del bel sesso(S) Winter

September40 ? Lo specchio d'Arcadia Sssma

1796 10 April41 Vienna Silvio I fratelli rivali Winter

6 May Lelio La pietra simpatica Palma

7 August Ramiro Il moro(S) Salieri

11 December Polidoro L'astuta in amore Fiorava

1797 12 March42 Lelio La pieta simpatica Palma

38 Librettos assign this role and that of Barbadoro to Giuseppe Baglioni (otherwise unknown),evidently a mistake resulting from confusion between two primi mezzi caratteri (as designated inITS, 1793-94, 168): Giuseppe Viganoni and Antonio Baglioni.

39

"Einige Nachrichten ber den Zustand des Theaters in Prag," 569.40 Prager Neue Zeitung, 7 September 1795, quoted in Ji_ Berkovec, Musicalia v pra_skm

periodickm tisku 18. stolet(Prague, 1989), 93.

41 All information on Baglioni's roles in Vienna is from Theaterzettel(playbills) preserved in thelibrary of the sterreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna.

42 This was Baglioni's last performance in Vienna.


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Cimarosa'sLa vergine del sole, Anfossi'sZenobia in Palmira, and opera seria-like oratorios by

Paisiello (La passione di Ges Cristo) and Guglielmi (Debora e Sisara). Although we do not

know in what operas Baglioni appeared in Warsaw, he almost certainly sang in some of these

oratorios and serious operas.

When Guardasoni returned to Prague in June 1791, a few weeks before signing a contract

in which he promised to present an opera seria in celebration of the coronation of Leopold II as

king of Bohemia, he brought with him not only a repertory that included some of the serious

dramas he had presented in Warsaw--within a few months of his reestablishment in Prague he

presentedPirroandDebora e Sisara--but also a tenor experienced in opera seria and willing to

challenge and shape his own voice. Mozart, in writing the part of Tito for him, took full

advantage of the "new" Baglioni, whose development as a singer reached it climax in his third aria

in Tito. "Se all'impero" is in the same key as "Vicin sperai l'istante" and "Il mio tesoro," but its

opening melody (Ex. 5) announces a tessitura wider and higher than the one exploited by

Gazzaniga a few years earlier. Baglioni was familiar with a motive in this melody from having

sung it in "Il mio tesoro": the sustained F in m. 20 of Tito's aria is followed by a sixteenth-note

Ex. 5. Mozart, "Se al impero, amici dei," mm. 11-22


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descent from G exactly as in mm. 26-27 of Ottavio's aria. The coloratura later in "Se all'impero"

(Ex. 6) grows out of this motive; but at same time it must have pushed Baglioni to his limits of

flexibility and range (up to B flat, a minor third higher than Gazzaniga required). Firmly based on

Mozart's knowledge of Baglioni's voice and experience, "Se all'impero" was the ultimate test of

the tenor's vocal powers and musicianship.

Ex. 6. Mozart, "Se al impero," mm. 98-115

Baglioni and the Operatic Repertory in Prague

Baglioni contributed to musical life in Prague not only as a singer for whom Mozart wrote

wonderful music, but also as a shaper of the operatic repertory according to his experiences in

Venice. He moved from Italy to Prague twice--in 1787 and 1794. Both times he seems to have


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brought elements of Venetian operatic culture with him, and both times Guardasoni was eager to

incorporate these elements of Venetian opera into his repertory in Prague.

Baglioni's engagement in Bologna during summer 1787 lasted less than this one season.

TheIndice de' teatrali spettacolitells us that four opere buffe were performed in Bologna during

Summer 1787, but that Baglioni sang in only the first two. Why did he have to be replaced

halfway through the summer? Presumably because it was then that he travelled to Prague to take

up his new position in the Guardasoni troupe.

Baglioni's presence in Bologna until mid-summer 1787 has not, to the best of my

knowledge, been cited in discussions of the chronology ofDon Giovanni. Lorenzo da Ponte, in

the early version of the memoirs published under the titleExtract from the Life of Lorenzo da

Pontewrote of the origins ofDon Giovanni: "Why did Mozart refuse to set to music theDon

Giovanni... by Bertatti, and offered to him by one Guardassoni..., manager of the Italian theatre

of Prague? Why did he [i.e. Mozart] insist upon having a book written by Da Ponte on the same

subject?"43Da Ponte's questions raise others. How did Guaradasoni get his hands on Bertati's

libretto forIl convitato di pietra, performed earlier the same year in Venice? And how did he get

the idea of presenting a setting of it in Prague?

Several scholars have suggested that Baglioni, having created a role inIl convitato di pietra,

brought Bertati's libretto--and possibly Gazzaniga's score as well--with him to Prague, with the

hope that Guardasoni might perform it. Perhaps the fact thatIl capriccio drammaticotakes place

in "una citt della Germania" and that the impresario Policastro is himself a singer (like his new

boss Guardasoni, a former mezzo caratteretenor) suggested to Baglioni the idea of a production

ofIl convitato di pietrain Prague.44If the discussion or correspondence between Guardasoni and

43 Lorenzo Da Ponte,An Extract from the Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, ed. with Italian translationby Lorenzo della Ch (Milan, 1999), 58.

44 Eighteenth-century Italians could have reasonably thought of Bohemia as part of Germany,since it belonged to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.


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Mozart reported by Da Ponte did not take place until after Baglioni's arrival in Prague, and if

Baglioni did not arrive in Prague until late summer 1787, then Da Ponte probably did not start

working on his libretto forDon Giovanniuntil August, leaving Mozart only a few weeks to write

the score before the date originally planned for the premiere, 14 October.45That would help to

explain why the opera's premiere had to be postponed for two weeks.

Much later in his career Baglioni had another opportunity to bring Venetian operatic

culture to Prague. In Venice during Fall 1793 and Carnival 1794 he sang in four operas, including

two by Peter Winter: he created the roles of Costanzo in I fratelli rivaliand of Clitandro in

Belisa. Shortly after Baglioni's return to Prague later in 1794, Guardasoni suddenly became

interested in Winter. The critic who disparaged Baglioni so vehemently in theAllgemeines

europisches Journalwelcomed Winter's music to Prague, including one of the operas that

Baglioni had sung in Venice:

Unter den brigen Stcken, die diese Gesellschaft seither gab, gefiel am meisten die Oper

Fratelli rivali, vom Kurf. baierschen Kapellmeister Hrn. Winter. Sie hat auch in Venedig

das vorige Jahr Beifall erhalten, und verdient ihn. Hr. Winter hat sich Mozart zum Muster

gewhlt, und lieferte im gegenwrtigen Stcke einen lieblichen Abdruck des Mozartschen

Geistes. Er ist gegenwrtig in Prag, und komponirt fr Hrn. Guardasoni eine neue Oper;

wir wnschen, da er seinen Ruhm damit vermehre.46

This critic's knowledge of the recent Venetian origins ofI fratelli rivalisuggests that

the opera came directly from Venice to Prague. The most likely conduit was Baglioni.

45 Mozart is in any case unlikely to have started composingDon Giovanniuntil he cleared hisdesk by completing the Sonata for Piano and Violin, K. 526, on 24 August 1787.

46 "Einige Nachrichten ber den Zustand des Theaters in Prag," 570.


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History seems to have repeated itself: the tenor apparently brought a score of an opera in which

he had recently created a role in Venice, and urged Guardasoni to perform it. As in 1787, a new

opera resulted, this time not by Mozart, of course, but by a composer whom music lovers in

Prague (if the contributor to the Allgemeines europisches Journal was typical) considered a

successor to Mozart. Winter, following in Mozart's footsteps, came to Prague in 1795 and

presentedIl trionfo del bel sesso (ironically, on an old libretto by Bertati).

That Baglioni played some role in the origins ofIl trionfo del bel sessois hinted by an

anecdote in the autobiography of the singer's next-door neighbor Tomaschek, who closely

associated the new opera with Winter's relations with Baglioni:

Whrend der Zeit [1795] fgte es sich, da der Kompositeur Winter, der damals die Oper

Il trionfo dell bell sessofr's Prager Theater schrieb, den ersten Tenoristen Baglioni

aufsuchend, in mein Zimmer trat, und mich beim Klavier antreffend nach der Wohnung

des Gesuchten frug, der gerade neben mir wohnte, und mir durch seine Sangbungen oft

sehr lstig war. Winter nannte sich und sprach sehr freundlich mit mir.... Er ging zum

Baglioni, und ich hrte in einigen Tagen darauf seine Oper, die nicht ansprach, und dem

Impressario Quardasoni mehr als Don Juan kostete.47

Tomaschek's pairing ofDon GiovanniandIl trionfo del bel sessoin that last sentence is

significant. Guardasoni did not commission many operas.Don GiovanniandIl trionfo del bel

sessoare, to the best of my knowledge, the only drammi giocosi per musicahe commissioned for

Prague during the years when Baglioni sang there. Exactly what role Baglioni played in the origins

47 "Wenzel Johann Tomaschek, geboren zu Skutsch am 17. April 1774. Selbstbiographie,"Libussa: Jahrbuch fr 1845, 349-98; continued inJahrbuch fr 1846, 321-76;Jahrbuch fr 1847,411-41;Jahrbuch fr 1848, 487-94;Jahrbuch fr 1849, 485-503; andJahrbuch fr 1850, 323-50.The passage quoted here is fromJahrbuch fr 1845, 371.


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of these operas we do not know, but it seems likely that without him neitherDon Giovanninor

Il trionfo del bel sessowould exist. Apart from the music that Mozart wrote for him, Baglioni's

behind-the-scenes shaping of the operatic repertory in Prague was probably his most important

contribution to musical life in the Bohemian capital.

Vienna and Venice

The production ofIl trionfo del bel sessocame close to the end of Baglioni's tenure in Prague. In

April 1796 we find him in Vienna, making his debut as Silvio in Winter'sI fratelli rivali. He sang

in Vienna during the entire theatrical year 1796-97. On 7 August 1796 he created the role of

Ramiro, the romantic young lover in Salieri'sIl moro. In Ramiro's "Quanto, quanto o Stella

amabile," perhaps the last in the series of arias in B flat written for Baglioni since 1787, Salieri

exploited exactly the same tessitura as Mozart in "Se all'impero" (Ex. 7) and the same long-held F

to which Mozart had gravitated in "Il mio tesoro" (Ex. 8). Baglioni's last appearance in Vienna,

Ex. 7 Antonio Salieri, "Quanto, quanto o Stella amabile," mm. 1-12, fromIl moro, A-Wn,

KT 301


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Ex. 8. Salieri, "Quanto, quanto o Stella amabile," mm. 20-33

in a performance of Palma'sLa pietra simpaticaon 12 March 1797, seems to have marked the

end of his career on the professional stage.48He returned to Venice, where he spent the rest of his

life as a singing teacher--"il bravissimo Signor Baglioni" who taught Da Ponte's niece and

published vocal exercises for singers entering an operatic world soon to be dominated by Rossini.

48 He did not apparently return to Prague, where several tenors succeeded him: Santo Sala andLuigi Benedetti,primi tenori (ITS, 1796-97, 81), Luigi Benedetti and Vincenzo Zardi, primi mezzicaratteri (ITS, 1797-98, 108), and Filippo Scalzi and Cesare Massa, primi mezzi caratteri (ITS,1798-99, 118).

antonio baglioni, mozart's first ottavio and tito, in italy and prague

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