#caffarelli

[yefrosinya]

Я все ещё не забыл и продолжаю рисовать певцов кастратов

[assortedantics]

Ok let me get this straight:

According to Wikipedia the “anti-Handel clique” invite Porpora to London so he can set up a company and rival Handel (because Farinelli) and it’s not even successful because Handel is that good, Farinelli retires early anyway to go and work for the Spanish royal family, and then years later Caffarelli betrays his tutor to go and sing in Serse and the first song he sings is a famous song to this day 😭 I feel bad for Porpora

[potatostoreon]

NOTE: Just because I am interested in someone, does not mean I agree with their actions. I do find some of the people listed above attractive (in case you want to gush about them with me). I dont do politics and I dont speculate on dead people's sexuality, gender, etc. I am open to "headcanons" if you wish to discuss within measure. I do not name and shame so please be assured that if I am uncomfortable interacting with you, Ill POLITELY let you know, so if you are shy, do not hesitate to dm me. People looking for drama/hate will be blocked.

Talk to me if you are interested in:

Please check the tags on my blog, the list has gotten waaaay too big to fit in here.

Have a nice day/night! 🌈

[hanshoelzel-falco]

Caricature of Caffarelli, 1750 circa by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755)

[fantomusique]

🪞 Senza sentimento oscuro, — @gaetanomajoranocaffarelli

Mai fui in codesta maniera baciato o trattato, e tanti baci in viso l'ebbi raramente, moltissimi anni fa, tanti da non poterli contare.

Diedi al giovane la partitura d'un'aria di Porpora. La voce non più giovane, ma non mi si può rimproverare d'averla perduta. Ciò che è è molto ancora, e quanto è stato si intuisce chiaramente, e solo da benessere mio e mio lavoro, castrense, m'è rimasta.

Allora rinvenni all'ultima volta che ebbi cantato tal aria. Non ero io ad educare un giovane, seduto accanto al cembalo mio favorito, ma in giardini antichi, e sotto l'eclisse, e sotto un cielo nero che mai più intesi: pochi anni dopo sarebbe caduto il terremoto; ma mai m'avrebbe potuto essere stato raccontato. Pietro mio, molte cose laggiù capitarono che non tutte vi posso descrivere senza perdere il fiato come rivivessi. Nulla se non oggetto mi rimase e molti di chi vi parlerei son morti o morti per me perlomeno. Ma l'eclisse adombrò ognuno di noi già allora e già ci abituó all'ignoto. Allora già si ripeté l'Alto Giove, ma senza musicisti accompagnatori.

[frevandrest]

For the historical figure ask game: Doooo, someone not from the Frev, anyone you'd like!

Ooh. Ok, get ready, this will be wild. Gaetano Carmine Francesco Paolo Majorano, better known as castrato Caffarelli.

Why I like them: The dude was just so messy and wild in the best (read: worst) ways. One of the most famous of the 18c Italian castrati (often - to his dismay - known as the "second best" after Farinelli). The dude requested to be castrated at 12 to preserve his wonderful voice; his grandmother's vineyard was sold to pay for his education. In the following decades, he became famous for his amazing voice, but also his diva behaviour, his womanizing and his bad temper (the dude started duels left and right, and was also chased out of France for it, see below).

Why I don’t: Well, all of the above. He was not the most pleasant person to be around. Demanding, self-centered, uncooperative (did not like to go to rehearsals, and during performances often ridiculed other singers). Also, the whole thing about seducing wives and starting duels over petty shit was not really great. (Who am I kidding he is super interesting for this stuff but I understand he wasn't the best person to be around.)

Favorite anecdote: Bljasfdbsafds So many to choose from. Once he was with a woman when her husband unexpectedly came back home, so Caffarelli had to jump out of the window and hide in the garden. He hid in a well (cistern?) for hours, and caught a cold, so he whined about ruining his voice. Or how about when Louis XV invited him to sing for his pregnant daughter in law, but Caffarelli started a petty fight over Italian vs French opera, which ended in Caffarelli (of course) challenging the dude to a duel. Duels were illegal in France so he had to run tf away from the country as soon as possible.

This person is an expert on Caffarrelli, and here are some of the other anecdotes listed: In which Caffarelli gets in a duel because the composer called him out for not bothering to show up for rehersals; In which Caffarelli pretends to poop in his living room to tease a friend; In which Caffarelli and another castrato beat each other with sticks at a nun's consecration; In which Caffarelli ruins Carlo Goldoni's opera before it's even been read.

Favorite quote (from them or about them): With his fortune, he bought large estates and in a palazzo he built, he wrote: "Amphion built Thebes, I this house". But then someone wrote under it: "he with, you without".

BrOTP: Caffarelli/Caffarelli

OTP: Caffarelli/other men's wives

an-oh-god-what-did-that-have-to-happen: Just take a pick; the dude's whole life is this

Unpopular opinion: He is often presented as a stereotype of a diva compared to a more dignified Farinelli but they both had their nasty sides.

A wish: For people to know of him. It's such an interesting life, and it tells us a lot about 18th century, opera, gender and so many other things.

5 words to best describe them: Castrato diva womanizer wild mess

My nickname for them: Hmm not sure. Resident Enfant Terrible?

if you could say one thing to them: Bold of you to assume I'd dare

Favourite portrayal of them/LEAST favourite portrayal of them: I am not sure if he was ever a character in anything, so a portrait:

[bougredane]

(Print of a painting of a tracing of a drawing) ‘from the Life!’

Napoleon reviewing the Consular Guard (« La Revue du Quintidi », 1802). Lannes is with his back to the viewer on the right, Duroc looking over Napoleon’s shoulder and Berthier between them facing left. Caffarelli is on the far left with his sword drawn and Eugène in the bicorne next to Roustam.

In the background is the no-longer-there Palais des Tuileries (Consular Palace) inscribed with the date 10 August, 1792 (massacre of the Swiss Guards) and still showing damage to the exterior and windows from the explosion of the infernal machine (24 December, 1800).

Mezzotint print by Charles Turner after John James Masquerier, based on a drawing by Isabey. British Museum.

---

Some trickery was apparently involved in its London promotion (from the curator’s notes) :

« Masquerier states that he was in Paris In December/January 1800/01 and obtained permission to paint Napoleon, making the painting the 'Only Likeness, in London, painted from the Life'. Turner responds to this with the annotation, 'False!!!!' noting as follows: 'Masquerier obtain'd the composition of this Picture by giving the Valet of Isabey the Painter a premium to let him trace His drawing of the same subject from which tracing a small picture was made here, & the large one painted from that. The head of Napoleon was from a small china bust; all the officers were copied from Prints he brought over. He never saw Buonaparte or any of his Generals. The large Picture was painted in my Room in Warren Street, & I painted all the Bridles, Saddles; & Mr H.B. Chalon the horses »

(This isn’t the sketch itself, just the outline key for how to « read » the print. With half the names misspelt.)

[reinekes-fox]

Honestly the Opera War in England in the 18th century sounds like a book. On the one Side the Opera of the Nobility: they have Porpora (greatest composer of that time) and Farinelli (one of Porporas Students and one of the most well known castratos till today). Then there is Händel on the other Side, with Senesino (who will later join the Opera of the Nobility) and then Caffarelli (also a Student of Porpora and also one of the best known castaratos).

Except that Caffarelli waited till Farinelli left London (he was singing for two spanish Kings and stayed in Spain for like 25 years) and then he started singing for Händel.