Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica.mod
Titolo: Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, dal Grove

Tenducci, Giusto Ferdinando
(b Siena, c1735; d Genoa, 25 Jan 1790). Italian soprano castrato and
composer. He made his debut in Cagliari in 1750, during the wedding
festivities of the Duke of Savoy. After appearing both in minor roles
and in comic opera in Milan, Naples, Venice, Dresden and Munich, in
1758 he went to London, where he spent two seasons at the King's
Theatre and sang in Cocchi's Ciro riconosciuto as secondo uomo. His
extravagant living led to a short spell in a debtors' prison in 1760,
but in 1762 he created Arbaces in Arne's Artaxerxes, subsequently
appearing in the premiere of J.C. Bach's Adriano in Siria (1765). He
visited Dublin in 1765 and the following year (despite some scandal)
married Dora Maunsell, the daughter of a Dublin lawyer. Her relations
were outraged; Tenducci was jailed and his wife kidnapped, though
Casanova claimed the couple had two children. Tenducci spent a year or
more in Edinburgh before returning in 1770 to London, where he sang in
a pasticcio of Gluck's Orfeo and was responsible for popularizing 'Che
faro'. Impressed with 'Scotch' songs, he persuaded his friend J.C.
Bach to arrange some for insertion into English operas, a practice
which was then widely adopted by other composers, notably Linley in
The Duenna. Tenducci left England and returned to Italy until 1776
(repeating Orfeo in Florence), and then appeared in London (1777--85),
Paris (1777) and Dublin (1783--4). Smollett described his voice as
particularly lyrical and the ABCDario Musico (Bath, 1780) compared him
with Gioacchino Conti; he was widely known as another Senesino. He
adapted several operas, but none was very successful; his singing
tutor Instruction of Mr Tenducci to his Scholars (London, 1782) is of
more lasting value.
WORKS
operas
all first performed in Dublin
Amintas (R. Rolt, after P. Metastasio), July 1765 [all-sung adaptation
of G. Rush: The Royal Shepherd]; with addns by S. Arnold, London, CG,
15 Dec 1769, Act 2 (London, 1769) 
The Revenge of Athridates, 1767 [trans. and adaptation of D. Perez: Il
Farnace]; Favourite Songs (London, 1767) 
Il castello d'Andalusia, 1783 [? adaptation of Arnold: The Castle of
Andalusia] 
The Campaign (afterpiece with spoken dialogue, Jephson), 1784; arr. W.
Shield, London, CG, 1785 
 
other works
Single songs, incl. 1 for ballad op Love at First Sight (1763) 
6 English Songs 'Sung at Ranelagh' (London, 1763) 
Lessons for the Harpsichord or Piano & Forte (Edinburgh, 1768) 
6 French Songs (London, c1770)  
A Collection of Favorite Airs in Score (London, c1775) 
6 Italian Songs 'perform'd at Mr Bach's Concert' (London, 1778) 
? Overture, lost 
 
Instruction of Mr Tenducci to his Scholars (London, 1782; with
portrait) 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Tenducci: A True and Genuine Narrative of Mr and Mrs Tenducci
(London, 1768) 
J.C. Hadden: George Thomson, the Friend of Burns (London, 1898) 
C.S. Terry: Johann Christian Bach (London, 1929, 2/1967) 
A. Heriot: The Castrati in Opera (London, 1956) 
C.B. Oldman: 'Mozart's Scena for Tenducci', ML, xlii (1961), 44--52 
T.J. Walsh: Opera in Dublin, 1705--1797 (Dublin, 1973) 
D.E. Monson: 'Galuppi, Tenducci, and Motezuma: a Commentary on the
History and Musical Style of Opera Seria after 1750', Galuppiana 1985:
studi e ricerche [Venice 1985], ed. M.T. Muraro and F. Rossi
(Florence, 1986), 279--300 
C. Esch: 'Michele Mortellari, Johann Christian Bach und Wolfgang Amade
Mozart: eine neu aufgefundene Fassung der Arie Io ti lascio kv 621a
(=Anh.245) und die verschollene Szene fur Tenducci (Paris 1778) kv
315b (=Anh.3)', Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum,
xxxix (1991), 133--58 
ROGER FISKE, DALE E. MONSON

Thank you, Lux: I don't think I can afford the New Grove !! Unhappily, I cannot go and look at 
it, as I am housebound, and my time here is short !! There are some interesting extras I could 
have added about Tenducci !
You will be interested to know that Peter Giles, who has just received his doctorate on the 
basis of his published works (and a bit of mine) was asked to write the counter tenor section 
for the New Grove; he proposed me for the castrati, but it wasn't followed up, as my book is 
not yet out, thanks to continued illness and exploding computers !  Next year....d.v.
Best wishes,
Elsa
http://www.cix.co.uk/~velluti
Award: September 2000
Modified: Jan. 2001

not yet out, thanks to continued illness and exploding computers !
exploding... literally?
LUX