Francesco Benucci

Francesco Benucci (ca. 1745 – 5 April 1824) was an outstanding Italian bass/baritone singer of the 18th century. He sang a number of important roles in the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and other composers.

He was born ca. 1745 in Livorno and began his early career there around 1768. The start of Benucci's career took place in an already flourishing world of opera buffa, which provided an existing role type, the comic bass singer or buffo, at which Benucci came to excel. The historical background is described by Rice:

He performed in Florence in 1769. No record survives of Benucci's activities between spring 1769 and 1774. He spent the years 1774–1777 in Madrid, and starting in autumn 1777, there is documentation of performances in the major opera houses of Italy, including Venice, Milan, and Rome.

In 1783 the Austrian Emperor Joseph II founded a new opera company specializing in Italian opera buffa. At the time Benucci was singing at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice. Count Giacomo Durazzo, who was both an experienced former theater director and the Emperor's ambassador, was able to secure his services. At the same time Durazzo recruited the outstanding English soprano Nancy Storace, who was also singing at San Samuele. Storace was later to sing the role of Susanna when Benucci sang the title role at the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro. Both singers were offered high salaries, over 4000 florins. With further recruitment (notably the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte), an outstanding ensemble was formed.

The new company opened 2 April 1783 with a performance of Antonio Salieri's La scuola de' gelosi; Benucci took the buffo role of Blasio. This opera was an immediate success, with over 25 performances, and a critic wrote, "the buffo is so natural that he is regarded as the best ever seen here. The others are not worth mentioning." Mozart evidently attended, and on 7 May wrote home to his father Leopold, "The Italian opera buffa has started up here again and is proving very popular. The buffo is particularly good, he's called Benucci."

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