Raffaele Mirate

Raffaele Mirate (3 September 1815 – November 1895) was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor who had an active career from the 1830s through the 1860s. Known for his intelligent phrasing and bright and powerful vocal timbre, he was regarded as an outstanding interpreter of the tenor roles in the early and middle period operas of Giuseppe Verdi. He notably created the role of the Duke of Mantua in the world premiere of Verdi's Rigoletto in 1851. He was also a highly regaurded interpreter of bel canto roles, excelling in the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini.

Born in Naples, Mirate was a pupil of Alessandro Busti and the famous castrato Girolamo Crescentini at the Regio Collegio di Musica. His first opera performance was in a school production in 1834. His official opera début came three years later at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples as the title hero in Donizetti's Torquato Tasso. From 1836 through 1839 he worked primarily in Naples, although he did appear as a guest performer at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1839 Mirate arrived at the Théâtre Italien in Paris where he attracted wide acclaim singing roles in operas by Donizetti, Rossini, and Bellini. He made his first appearance at La Scala in 1840 as Amenofi in Rossini's Mosè in Egitto to great success. In 1844 he was again a guest at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. In 1845 he was heard at the Teatro Argentina in Rome as Jacopo in I due Foscari and Charles VII in Giovanna d'Arco. The librettist Francesco Maria Piave, who was a frequent collaborator with Verdi, was in attendance at these Rome performances and likened Mirate's voice to the great lyric tenor, Napoleone Moriani.

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