Giovanni Battista Verger
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Battista Verger (born 1796 - died after 1844) was an Italian
opera
tic tenor
and impresario
. He particularly excelled in the operas of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti
.
, Verger studied singing in his native city before making his professional opera debut at the Royal Opera House, Valletta
in 1817. At his debut a critic wrote, "Verger tenori sarà uno dei primi d'Italia". He came back to Italy in 1819 to sing at the Teatro San Samuele
as Carlo in the premiere of Donizetti's Pietro il grande
. From this point on he arose at the great stages of the Italian peninsula, having tremendous success throughout the 1820s and 1830s in roles from both the lyrical and dramatic repertoire. He became known as one of the greatest Rossini interpreters of his day, and Rossini himself greatly valued his voice.
Verger was committed to La Scala
from 1824–1826, giving lauded performances there in such Rossini roles as Argirio in Tancredi
, Torvaldo in Torvaldo e Dorliska
, Rodrigo in La donna del lago
, and Idreno in Semiramide
. Other roles he portrayed at that house included Carlo in Giovanni Pacini
's Il barone di Dolsheim, Zepiro in Peter von Winter's Maometto II, Duca di Lavarenne in Giacomo Meyerbeer
's Margherita di Anjou, Capellio in Nicola Vaccai
's Giulietta e Romeo
, and a role in Ferdinando Paër
's Camilla. He also participated in the world premieres of Giuseppe Nicolini
's Aspasia ed Argide (1824, Diamante), Carlo Evasio Soliva
's Elena e Malvina (1824, Enrico), and Michele Carafa
's Il Sonnambulo (1824, Ruggiero).
In 1827 Verger sang the title role in the world premiere of Donizetti's Olivo e Pasquale
at the Teatro Valle
in Rome. In 1828 he was committed to the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
where he was heard as Cleomenes in Rossini's Assedio di Corinto
and Antenore in Rossini's Zelmira
. He also appeared that year as Seide in the world premiere of Donizetti's Alina, regina di Golconda
at the Teatro Carlo Felice
in Genoa. In 1829 he sang in the world premieres of Carlo Coccia
's Rosmonda" and Pietro Generali
's Francesca da Rimini, both at La Fenice
. In 1832 he portrayed the role of Odone in the premiere of Saverio Mercadante
's I normanni a Parigi at the Teatro Regio di Torino.
Verger's stage career began to slow down in the mid 1830s as he became more involved with work as an impresario
. He was particularly active in organizing opera performances in Barcelona at the Teatro Principal. His last known stage performance was at that house in 1844 in the title role of the premiere of G. Piqué's Ernesto, duca di Sicilia.
Verger's second wife was the contralto Amalia Brambilla (1811–80), who came from a famous Italian family of opera singers. From this marriage several children were produced, including the baritone Napoleone Verger and mezzo-soprano Maria Verger, both of whom had significant careers on the stage. He spent his retirement in Palermo.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
and impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
. He particularly excelled in the operas of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
.
Biography
Born in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Verger studied singing in his native city before making his professional opera debut at the Royal Opera House, Valletta
Royal Opera House, Valletta
The Valletta Royal Opera House was an opera house and performing arts venue in Valletta, Malta. It was designed by English architect Edward Middleton Barry and was erected in 1866. In 1873 its interior was extensively damaged by fire but was eventually restored by 1877...
in 1817. At his debut a critic wrote, "Verger tenori sarà uno dei primi d'Italia". He came back to Italy in 1819 to sing at the Teatro San Samuele
Teatro San Samuele
Teatro San Samuele was an opera house and theatre located at the Rio del Duca, between Campo San Samuele and Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice. One of several important theatres built in that city by the Grimani family, the theatre opened in 1656 and operated continuously until a fire destroyed the...
as Carlo in the premiere of Donizetti's Pietro il grande
Pietro il grande
Pietro il Grande zar di tutte le Russie or Il falegname di Livonia also known as Pietro, il grande, tsar delle Russie is a comic melodrama in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini.Pietro il Grande or Il falegname di Livonia was...
. From this point on he arose at the great stages of the Italian peninsula, having tremendous success throughout the 1820s and 1830s in roles from both the lyrical and dramatic repertoire. He became known as one of the greatest Rossini interpreters of his day, and Rossini himself greatly valued his voice.
Verger was committed to La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
from 1824–1826, giving lauded performances there in such Rossini roles as Argirio in Tancredi
Tancredi
Tancredi is a melodramma eroico in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède...
, Torvaldo in Torvaldo e Dorliska
Torvaldo e Dorliska
Torvaldo e Dorliska is an operatic dramma semiserio in two act by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini, based on Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by the revolutionary Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai, whose work was the source of the Lodoïska libretto set by Luigi Cherubini...
, Rodrigo in La donna del lago
La donna del lago
La donna del lago is an opera by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on The Lady of the Lake, a poem by Sir Walter Scott.This opera was the first to be based on Scott's romantic works...
, and Idreno in Semiramide
Semiramide
Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon...
. Other roles he portrayed at that house included Carlo in Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...
's Il barone di Dolsheim, Zepiro in Peter von Winter's Maometto II, Duca di Lavarenne in Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's Margherita di Anjou, Capellio in Nicola Vaccai
Nicola Vaccai
Nicola Vaccai was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.-Life and career as a composer:...
's Giulietta e Romeo
Giulietta e Romeo (Vaccai)
Giulietta e Romeo is an opera in two acts by the Italian composer Nicola Vaccai. The libretto, by Felice Romani, is based on the tragedy by of the same name by Luigi Scevola and, ultimately, on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Canobbiana, Milan on 31...
, and a role in Ferdinando Paër
Ferdinando Paer
-Biography:Paer was born at Parma. His father was a trumpeter with the Ducal Bodyguards and also performed at church and court events. His name, Ferdinando, was after Duke Ferdinand of Parma and was given to him by Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, Duke Ferdinand's wife...
's Camilla. He also participated in the world premieres of Giuseppe Nicolini
Giuseppe Nicolini
Giuseppe Nicolini was an Italian composer who wrote at least 45 operas. From 1819 onwards, he devoted himself primarily to religious music...
's Aspasia ed Argide (1824, Diamante), Carlo Evasio Soliva
Carlo Evasio Soliva
Carlo Evasio Soliva was a Swiss-Italian composer of opera, chamber music, and sacred choral works. Soliva was born in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont to a family of Swiss chocolatiers who had emigrated from the canton of Ticino...
's Elena e Malvina (1824, Enrico), and Michele Carafa
Michele Carafa
Michele Enrico Carafa di Colobrano was an Italian opera composer. He was born in Naples and studied in Paris with Luigi Cherubini. He was Professor of counterpoint at the Paris Conservatoire from 1840 to 1858...
's Il Sonnambulo (1824, Ruggiero).
In 1827 Verger sang the title role in the world premiere of Donizetti's Olivo e Pasquale
Olivo e Pasquale
Olivo e Pasquale is a melodramma giocoso, a romantic comedy opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Jacopo Ferretti wrote the Italian libretto after Simeone Antonio Sografi's play.- Roles :...
at the Teatro Valle
Teatro Valle
The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy.Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli...
in Rome. In 1828 he was committed to the Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Teatro Comunale di Bologna
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season....
where he was heard as Cleomenes in Rossini's Assedio di Corinto
Le siège de Corinthe
Le siège de Corinthe is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, based on Maometto II by Cesare della Valle...
and Antenore in Rossini's Zelmira
Zelmira
Zelmira is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. Based on the French play, Zelmire by de Belloy, it was the last of the composer's Neapolitan operas...
. He also appeared that year as Seide in the world premiere of Donizetti's Alina, regina di Golconda
Alina, regina di Golconda
Alina, regina di Golconda is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Felice Romani after Michel-Jean Sedaine's French libretto for Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's ballet-heroique Aline, reine de Golconde , in its turn based on the novel by Stanislas de Boufflers...
at the Teatro Carlo Felice
Teatro Carlo Felice
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the Piazza De Ferrari....
in Genoa. In 1829 he sang in the world premieres of Carlo Coccia
Carlo Coccia
Carlo Coccia was an Italian opera composer. He was known for the genre of opera semiseria.- Life and career :...
's Rosmonda" and Pietro Generali
Pietro Generali
Pietro Generali is a former basketball player from Italy, who won the silver medal with his national team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.-References:...
's Francesca da Rimini, both at La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
. In 1832 he portrayed the role of Odone in the premiere of Saverio Mercadante
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
's I normanni a Parigi at the Teatro Regio di Torino.
Verger's stage career began to slow down in the mid 1830s as he became more involved with work as an impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
. He was particularly active in organizing opera performances in Barcelona at the Teatro Principal. His last known stage performance was at that house in 1844 in the title role of the premiere of G. Piqué's Ernesto, duca di Sicilia.
Verger's second wife was the contralto Amalia Brambilla (1811–80), who came from a famous Italian family of opera singers. From this marriage several children were produced, including the baritone Napoleone Verger and mezzo-soprano Maria Verger, both of whom had significant careers on the stage. He spent his retirement in Palermo.