Nicola Vaccai

Nicola Vaccai.

Nicola Vaccai (15 March 1790 - 5 or 6 August 1848) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.

Life and career as a composer

Born at Tolentino, he grew up in Pesaro, and studied music there until his parents sent him to Rome to study law. Having no intention of becoming a lawyer, he took voice lessons and eventually studied counterpoint with Giuseppe Jannaconi, an important Roman composer. When Vaccai turned twenty one, he went to Naples and became a disciple of Paisiello, whose Barber of Seville was considered a comic masterpiece until Rossini's Barber swept it from the stage a few years later.

Vaccai launched his career in Venice, initially earning his living by writing ballets and teaching voice. He had his first operatic success with I solitari di Scozia in Naples in 1815. In Parma he was commissioned to write Pietro il grande, where he was also one of the soloists in the first performance. This was followed by Zadig e Astartea (Naples, 1825) and then his best known opera Giulietta e Romeo (Milan, 1825).

Vaccai's sojourn in London began with a production of his most successful opera, Romeo and Juliet, at Kings Theatre in April, 1832. His charm and continental reputation ingratiated him to society and soon he was much sought after as a teacher.

Ending his wanderings with a return to Italy, Vaccai became a director and professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory in 1838. After six years he retired on account of poor health to his boyhood home, Pesaro, where he wrote his sixteenth opera. He died there in 1848.

Work as a singing teacher and Metodo pratico de canto

Later eclipsed by his rival Bellini, Vaccai is now chiefly remembered as a voice teacher. One of his notable students was soprano Marianna Barbieri-Nini. Nicola Vaccai wrote many books one of which is called Metodo pratico de canto (Practical Vocal Method). This book has been transposed for different types of voice (i.e. high or low), to teach singing in the Italian legato style. The Metodo pratico was written in 1832 and is still in print, from Edition Peters and Ricordi, and used as a teaching tool. Vaccai notes in his introduction that only the voice of a master demonstrating accurately his exercises can really teach the student the correct techniques of true legato. The book is also an important source of information about the performance of early 19th-century opera.

Elio Battaglia, voice teacher, edited a new teacher’s edition of the "Metodo practico" or “Practical Method of Italian Singing” by Nicholas Vaccai (Ricordi 1990, with CD of examples).

Operas

Title	Place, theatre	Première date
I solitari di Scozia	Naples, Teatro Nuovo	18 February 1815
Malvina	Venice, Teatro San Benedetto	8 June 1816
Il lupo di Ostenda, ossia L'innocenza salvata dalla colpa	Venice, Teatro San Benedetto	17 June 1818
Pietro il grande, ossia Un geloso alla tortura	Parma, Teatro Ducale	17 January 1824
La pastorella feudataria	Turin, Teatro Carignano	18 September 1824
Zadig ed Astartea	Naples, Teatro San Carlo	21 February 1825
Giulietta e Romeo	Milan, Teatro della Canobbiana	31 October 1825
Bianca di Messina	Turin, Teatro Regio	20 January 1826
Il precipizio, o Le fucine di Norvegia	Milan, Teatro alla Scala	16 August 1826
Giovanna d'Arco	Venice, Teatro La Fenice	17 February 1827
Saladino e Clotilde	Milan, Teatro alla Scala	4 February 1828
Azmir e Netzareo	Madrid, Principe	28 June 1828
Alexi	Naples, Teatro San Carlo	6 July 1828
Saul	Naples, Teatro San Carlo	11 March 1829, but composed between 1825 and 1826
Giovanna Gray	Milan, Teatro alla Scala	23 February 1836
Marco Visconti	Turin, Teatro Regio	27 January 1838
La sposa di Messina	Venice, Teatro La Fenice	2 March 1839
Virginia	Rome, Teatro Apollo	14 January 1845

Sources

• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
• G Schirmer Inc., Nicola Vaccai, 'Practical Method of Italian Singing', Edited with introduction, translation and notes by John G Paton, Library Vol. 1911
• Legger, Gianni, Drammaturgia musicale italiana, Fondazzione Teatro Reggio di Torino, n.d.

Persondata
Name	Vaccai, Nicola
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 March 1790
Place of birth
Date of death	6 August 1848
Place of death