Giuseppe Fioravanti

Giuseppe Fioravanti was an Italian opera singer active during the first half of the 19th century. Although one of the most important and popular basso buffos of his generation, there is only a relatively small amount of information available about his life. He had a highly fruitful partnership with the Teatro Nuovo in Naples and is best known today for creating roles in the world premieres of numerous operas by Gaetano Donizetti.

Fioravanti was the son of opera composer Valentino Fioravanti (1764–1837) and the older brother of opera composer Vincenzo Fioravanti (1799–1877). His exact year of birth is unknown but it is likely that he was born sometime in the 1790s. Not much is known about his musical training, although he probably received some education from his father.

Fioravanti's first known stage appearance was in 1817 at the Teatro del Corso in Bologna as Masetto in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. He repeated that role for his debut at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence a year later. In 1818 he was committed to the Teatro San Luca in Venice where he sang Brunone in the world premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's Enrico di Borgogna; notably that composer's first opera to be staged. He sang in several performances at La Scala in 1819-1820, notably portraying Capellio in the world premiere of Gioachino Rossini's Bianca e Falliero (1819), Robert Bruce in the premiere of Giovanni Pacini's Vallace, o L'eroe scozzese (1820), and a part in the premiere of Michele Carafa's I due Figaro (1820). In 1821 he appeared at the Teatro Apollo in Rome as Aliprando in the first performance of Rossini's Matilde di Shabran.

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