A sweet bird of youth: Caffarelli in Pistoia

BIG names are frequently associated with big cities, so it comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that that giant of superbia, the castrato singer Gaetano Maiorano (1710-83), known as Caffarelli, once spent a considerable time in the comparatively small Tuscan city of Pistoia, 16 miles from Florence. He made his debut there at 19 years of age, having had three years' experience of singing in the opera houses of Rome and Northern Italy. At the time he came to mix with the musical milieu of the Pistoiese, from 1729 to 1731, he was in the process of tasting the sweet wine of success on his way to the heady heights of stardom he was to reach in following years. No one doubted that his future would be bright; even then his phenomenal voice was attracting much attention wherever he appeared. Pistoia had always appreciated castrato singers. Indeed, there is evidence that there had been a school in the city to train them in the early 17th century. A number of local singers found fame in some of the most prestigious centres of music in Europe, men such as Monsignor Felice Cancellieri, doctor of theology, who served in Vienna as soprano, chaplain and consigliere di corte to the Habsburg emperors Mattias and Ferdinando; Antonio Rivani, who sang at the court of Louis XIV in Paris and at that of Queen Christina of Sweden in Rome; and Atto Melani, who, called by Mazarin, spent most of his life until his death in 1714 at the court of Louis XIV in Paris, serving the royal household not only as a singer, but as diplomat and spy.1 Caffarelli's first visit to the city coincided with his appearances in the opera Viriate, given at the Pergola theatre in nearby Florence. He came on the invitation of a group of Pistoiese patricians who appear to have engaged him to perform at their academy meetings and for various feast-day events. He continued making visits on a fairly regular basis; the journey to Pistoia was a fairly short carriage ride away. To justify some of his protracted stays one must also look to the high fees he was offered, as well as his obvious enjoyment of both the city and its people. Indeed, the appreciation afforded him by the Pistoiese, his open acceptance of their admiration and enthusiasm, and the joy he gained by these visits were to prompt a diarist of the time to comment 'He seems to have fallen in love with the place.'3 In 1729, for his first appearance, he was accompanied by a group of Florentine singers and instrumentalists. They were all familiar with Pistoia itself, its festivities and the theatre, although it seems to have been one particular tenor singer, Giovanni Battista Pinacci, who was to become Caffarelli's guide and mentor.4 Caffarelli, also known as Caffarello, or, in all local records of his visits to Pistoia, by the Neapolitan form, Caffariello, took lodgings at the home of a priest, Padre Antonio Beneforti, a bass singer of the cathedral choir, with whom he appears to have felt at ease. Reports emphasize Caffarelli's good nature and natural, simple approach. The local gentry found his personality to be unassuming and accommodating. He was noted for his sociability, and enjoyed the company of local musicians; although already set apart by virtue of his outstanding talent, he ate at their communal table and joined in their laughter.5 This picture of simple contentedness contrasts with the opulent life he is later reported to have enjoyed.