Countertenor Franco Fagioli’s new album – The Last Castrato, Arias for Velluti
Franco Fagioli will give a recital at Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 30 January, with a programme dedicated to his new album, which will be released on 28 February. The last castrato, Arias for Velluti, is dedicated to the repertoire of Giovanni Battista Velluti.
Velluti’s castration in 1788 was not for him to retain a soprano voice but, bizarrely, was carried out by a local doctor when he was eight as a treatment for a cough and high fever. However, afterwards, his father enrolled him in musical training rather than continuing with his planned military career.
Velluti retired from singing operas in the 1830s when the fashion for castrati was on the wane and the supply of castrati for Italian opera houses began to dry up. Luigi Marchesi, born in 1754, had retired in 1806, and Velluti, together with Crescentini in France, were the only castratos of the first rank still performing on stage. By the beginning of the 19th century, composers in Florence and Naples started writing for female sopranos, though still calling them roles for a “primo uomo”.
Velluti first met Rossini when he appeared in the first performance of the composer’s Aureliano in Palmira in Milan. Velluti was famous for his virtuosity, and here it is worth quoting Stendhal from his “Life of Rossini”:
At the first rehearsal with orchestra, Velluti sang the aria straight through, and Rossini was dazzled with admiration; at the second rehearsal, Velluti began to embroider the melody, and Rossini, finding the result both exquisite in performance and well in keeping with his own intentions as composer, approved, but at the third rehearsal, the original pattern of the melody had almost disappeared beneath a marvellous filigree work of embroidery and arabesque.
At last there dawned the great day of the premiere. The cavatina itself and Velluti’s whole performance created a furore; but Rossini found himself confronted with insuperable difficulties in trying to identify what Velluti was supposed to be singing; his own music had grown completely unrecognisable…
The young composer’s vanity was deeply wounded: his opera was a failure and all the applause had gone to Velluti, his soprano.
After this, Rossini decided to write the singer’s variations himself.
Velluti was the last castrato to appear on the operatic stage when he sang in Meyerbeer’s ll Crociato in Egitto in 1833. Until late in life – he died in 1861 when he was 80 – he continued to give singing lessons free of charge and to appear in concerts. In 1855, Stendhal heard him again in Venice and wrote enthusiastically about the 75-year-old singer.
For his new album, Fagioli has selected some of Velluti’s greatest successes by composers such as Gioachino Rossini and Saverio Mercadante – among the most celebrated opera composers of the time – together with some lesser-known musicians who are just as worthy of attention thanks to their collaborations with Velluti, like Paolo Bonfichi, Giuseppe Nicolini, and Francesco Morlacchi.
“This project has its roots in my love for Belcanto,” says Franco Fagioli, “A love that I developed while I was studying at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, a place that has a solid tradition of Italian opera.
At the time I was the first countertenor to study at the theatre’s singing school, and there were no music scores for my repertoire. That’s why I started by interpreting mezzo roles, a term that still defines my vocal range better than the word countertenor, and one that I believe should be used beyond the singer’s gender.”
The last castrato. Arias for Velluti
Paolo Bonfichi (1769-1840)
1 Attila, Scena e cavatina di Lotario: «Qual mi circonda e agghiaccia…
Dolenti e care immagini… Vedrai quest’anima», ed. G.A. Sechi 5’38
Giuseppe Nicolini (1762-1842)
2 Balduino, Recitativo e aria di Balduino:
«Ma i figli miei… Vederla dolente», ed. G.A. Sechi 2‘46
3 Traiano in Dacia, Aria di Decebalo: «Ah se mi lasci o cara», ed. G.A. Sechi 5‘19
4 Carlo Magno, Scena e rondo di Vitekindo: «Ecco o numi compiuto…
Ah quando cesserà… Lo sdegno io non pavento», ed. G.A. Sechi 13‘11
Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870)
5 Andronico, Cavatina di Andronico: «Dove m’aggiro… Era felice un dì…
Sì bel contento in giubilo», ed. G. Rossi 8’10
6 Andronico, Gran scena di Andronico: «Di grida insolite… O solinghe dimore…
Soave immagine… Non tradirmi o bella speme», ed. G. Rossi 16’04
Francesco Morlacchi (1784-1841)
7 Tebaldo e Isolina, Scene e romanza di Tebaldo: «Notte tremenda…
Caro suono lusinghier», ed. G.A. Sechi 7’39
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
8 Il vero omaggio, «Al conforto inaspettato» 6’39
“The last castrato. Arias for Velluti” will be released on Friday 28 February 2025 by Château de Versailles Spectacles with Franco Fagioli, conductor Stefan Plewniak, and the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra Royal.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
Thank you for this informative article.