- Giuseppe Millico
Giuseppe Millico (
19 January 1737 –2 October 1802 ) was an Italiansoprano castrato ,composer , and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in theopera s ofChristoph Willibald Gluck .Millico was born at
Terlizzi , nearBari . In 1754, he came to Naples. In 1757 in Rome, he had his first performance as a singer. From 1758 to 1765, he worked in Russia, and then returned to Italy. In 1769, Gluck adapted role of Orpheus in his "Orfeo ed Euridice " for Millico to perform atParma — the original role, composed for thealto castratoGaetano Guadagni , was transposed up for Millico's soprano voice. [Hayes] In 1772, he travelled toLondon in order to perform the role of Orpheus again. In 1770, Millico created the role of Paris in Gluck's "Paride ed Elena ", the last in the trilogy of the composer's Italian reform operas. [Hayes]After performing at
Venice ,Florence ,Rome andMilan , Millico returned to Naples in 1780, where he became highly popular as a composer and teacher. [Croll and Brandenburg] He taught singing to the Bourbon princesses Maria Teresa and Luisa Maria, and toEmma Hamilton , not yet the lover ofLord Nelson . [Croll and Brandenburg] During this time at Naples, he composed eight operas that are confirmed as being his work, nearly all of which premiered in Naples — two to libretti byMetastasio and one to words byRanieri de' Calzabigi , Gluck's librettist for all three of his Italian reform operas. The published score of Millico's opera "La pietà d’amore" includes a message of support for Gluck's attempted reforms of "opera seria ". Millico also composed eightcantata s, a "Salve regina", 23aria s and 22 duets unattached to a dramatic work, and 82canzonet s. These works are usually composed forharp accompaniment and were extremely popular at the time; many of them were published, both individually and as a part of collections. A collection of his keyboard compositions, "Musical Trifles: a Collection of Sonatine", was published in 1791 in London. [Croll and Brandenburg] He remained atNaples , where he died.Notes
References
*Gerhard Croll and Irene Brandenburg: "Millico, Giuseppe", "
Grove Music Online " ed L. Macy (Accessed 07 March 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] , subscription access.
*Jeremy Hayes: "Paride ed Elena" and "Orfeo ed Euridice", "Grove Music Online" ed L. Macy (Accessed 07 March 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] , subscription access.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.