Valentin Adamberger

Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, (b. 22 February 1740, Rothenburg, Bavaria, or 6 July 1743, Munich– 24 August 1804, Vienna) was a German operatic tenor. His voice was universally admired for its pliancy, agility, and precision, and several composers of note, such as Mozart, wrote music specifically for him.

Biography

Beginning in 1755, Adamberger studied singing with Johannes Walleshauser (also known as Giovanni Valesi) while at the Domus Gregoriana, a Jesuit institution in Munich. In 1760 he joined the Kapelle of Duke Clemens and upon the Duke's death in 1770 was taken into the elector's Hofkapelle. He made his opera début at Munich in 1772. This was the beginning of a successful career singing leading tenor roles in opera seria at Modena, Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome. He created roles in operas by J.C. Bach, Giuseppe Sarti, Pietro Guglielmi, Antonio Sacchini, Ferdinando Bertoni and others. The arias they wrote for his voice tended to be moderate in tempo and often were written in B major. Interestingly, many of the composers orchestrated his arias with obbligato clarinets and expressive chromatic inflections.

In Rome Adamberger sang under the italianized stage name Valentino Adamonti from 1775 to 1777. From 1778-1779 he sang at the King's Theatre in London. After returning to Italy briefly for appearances in Florence and Milan, he joined the Singspiel company of the National Court Theatre at Vienna. He made his début there on 21 August 1780. The following yeat he married the Viennese actress Marie Anne Jacquet (1753–1804). In 1783 the Singspiel company disbanded but Adamberger was kept on for the Italian company that replaced it. When the Singspiel company was revived in 1785, alongside the Italian, he again became its leading tenor, and when it was disbanded for the second time, in 1789, he returned to the Italian company. In 1793 he retired from the stage but continued as a member of the imperial Hofkapelle and as an eminent singing teacher.

Although Adamberger's voice was admired where ever he went, he did have his critics. Christian Schubart and Mount Edgcumbe remarked on the nasal quality of his voice in the higher vocal register and Charles Burney, generally a harsh critic of singers, remarked that ‘with a better voice [he] would have been a good singer’. However, he was universally liked by the public in Italy, Germany, and England, and was a particularly popular singer in Vienna. Michtner, a local Vienese journalist, wrote of Adamberger that he was "the favourite singer of softer hearts". Mozart, who admired Adamberger, wrote the part of Belmonte in "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" (1782). In a letter dated 26 September 1781, Mozart wrote, "Let me now turn to Belmonte's aria in A major, ‘O wie ängstlich, o wie feurig’. Would you like to know how I have expressed it – and even indicated his throbbing heart? By the two violins playing in octaves. This is the favourite aria of all who have heard it, and it is mine also. I wrote it expressly to suit Adamberger's voice. You see the trembling, the faltering, you see how his throbbing breast begins to swell; this I have expressed by a crescendo. You hear the whispering and the sighing – which I have indicated by the first violins with mutes and a flute playing in unison." Mozart also composed the role of Vogelsang in "Der Schauspieldirektor" (1786) for Adamberger, as well as several concert arias (K420 and K431) and the cantata "Die Maurerfreude" (K471).

References

* "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie" - at Wikisource
*wikicite|id=idGroveMusicOnline|reference=Thomas Bauman: "Valentin Adamberger", "Grove Music Online" ed. L. Macy (Accessed September 24, 2008), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)]