Luigi Marchesi

Luigi Marchesi (Italian pronunciation: [luˈiːdʒi marˈkeːzi]; 8 August 1754 – 14 December 1829) was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century.

Luigi Ludovico Marchesi was born in Milan. He joined the Milan Cathedral choir in 1765 and made his operatic debut in Rome in 1773 at the Teatro delle Dame, cast as a female character, in Marcello da Capua's comic opera La contessina. For several years, Marchesi appeared either in minor roles or minor operatic centers, but he found a valuable ally in the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček after he appeared in the latter's opera Ezio and oratorio Isacco figura del redentore in Munich early in the year 1777. Marchesi's singing in both productions was considered to be extraordinary. In a letter written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to his father from Munich on 11 October 1777, it is mentioned that Mysliveček bragged of his influence with the management of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the most prestigious venue for the performance of Italian serious opera in Europe: he apparently had the power to recommend the engagement of singers who were to be featured in productions planned for the 1778–79 operatic season there. Marchesi was one of the singers that Mysliveček recommended. His first appearances in Naples were as successful as those in Munich, and they permanently established him as one of the most talented vocal artists in Italy. In all, Mysliveček created five operatic roles for Marchesi before his premature death in 1781. After Marchesi's triumphs throughout Italy in the late 1770s and early 1780s, he ventured all the way to Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London, where he created a tremendous sensation and was proclaimed to be the greatest singer of his time. The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe described Marchesi's impression at London as following:

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