Stefano Mandini

Stefano Mandini; engraving from the late 1780s by Thérèse-Éléonore Lingée after a drawing by Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger. From the collections of the British Museum.

Stefano Mandini (1750–ca. 1810) was an outstanding baritone singer of the second half of the 18th century. He appeared in the premieres of many well-known operas of his day, of which the most famous at the present time is Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, for which Mandini created the role of Count Almaviva.

Career

His career began in Italy with performances in Ferrara in 1774 and Parma in 1776. A key event occurred when Emperor Joseph II of Austria chose to found a top-rank Italian opera company at his capital in Vienna, and sent his representatives seeking the best available talent. Mandini was recruited during this search, and first sang in the Emperor's company on 5 May 1783 as Milord Arespingh in L'italiana in Londra by Domenico Cimarosa. He sang in a number of operas with the company, including the following:

• 1783
  • Mingone in Giuseppe Sarti's Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode
  • Don Fabio in Cimarosa's Il falegname
  • Count Almaviva in Giovanni Paisiello's The Barber of Seville
• 1784
  • Le vicende d'amore (P. A. Guglielmi)
  • La finta amante and Il re Teodoro in Venezia (Paisiello)
  • La vendemmia (Giuseppe Gazzaniga)
• 1785
  • Artidoro in Stephen Storace's Gli sposi malcontenti
  • Plistene in Antonio Salieri's La grotta di Trofonio
• 1786
  • the Poet in Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole
  • Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1 May)
  • Lubino in Martín y Soler's Una cosa rara
  • Sarti's I finti eredi
  • Paisiello's Le gare generose
• 1787–88
  • Leandro in Paisiello's Le due contesse
  • Doristo in Martín y Soler's L'arbore di Diana
  • Biscroma in Salieri's Axur, re d'Ormus

It can be seen that Mandini created the role of Count Almaviva twice: the Count appears as a character in two operas derived from the plays of Pierre de Beaumarchais, The Barber of Seville (set by Paisiello, and later, more famously, by Rossini); and "The Marriage of Figaro", set by Mozart. Remarkably, the Paisiello role is for a tenor, the Mozart role for baritone; Mandini's great vocal range enabled him to take both parts.

Mandini left Vienna, following a gala benefit concert for himself, in 1788. He moved to sing in Naples, later Paris, again Vienna, and Saint Petersburg.

He was married to Maria Mandini, a French soprano, also member of the Vienna company.

Assessment

His singing was admired in Saint Petersburg by the painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

References

Sources

• Raeburn, Christopher (2001). "Mandini, Stefano". Grove Music Online. revised by Dorothea Link (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/omo/9781561592630.013.95000381143. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required)

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