Associated with the life and times of Faustina Bordoni, and the most
brilliant exponent of the music of her husband, Hasse, Carlo Broschi,
better known as Farinelli, stands out as one of the most remarkable
musical figures of his age. This great artist, born in Naples in 1705,
was the nephew of the composer Farinelli, whose name he adopted. He was
instructed by the celebrated singing-master Porpora, who trained nearly
all the great voices of Europe for over half a century; and at his first
appearance in Rome, in 1722, common report had already made him famous.
So wonderful was his execution, even at this early age, that he was
able to vie with a trumpet-player, then the admiration of Rome for his
remarkable powers. Porpora had written an obligato part to a song, in
which his pupil rivaled the instrument in holding and swelling a note of
extraordinary purity and volume. The virtuoso's execution was masterly,
but the young singer so surpassed him as to carry the enthusiasm of the
audience to the wildest pitch by the brilliance of his singing and the
difficult variations which he introduced. Farinelli left the guidance
of Porpora in 1724, and appeared in different European cities with a
success which made him in three years a European celebrity. In 1727,
while singing in Bologna, he met Bernacchi, at that time known as the
"king of singers." The rivals were matched against each other one night
in a grand duo, and Farinelli, freely admitting that the veteran artist
had vanquished him, begged some lessons from him. Bernacchi generously
accorded these, and took great pains with his young rival. Thus was
perfected the talent of Farinelli, who, to use the words of a modern
critic, was as "superior to the great singers of his own period as they
were to those of more recent times."
After brilliant triumphs at Vienna, Rome, Naples, and Parma, where he
surpassed the most formidable rivals and was heaped with riches and
honors, he appeared before the Emperor Charles VI. of Germany, a
momentous occasion in his art-career. "You have hitherto excited only
astonishment and admiration," said the imperial connoisseur, "but
you have never touched the heart. It would be easy for you to create
emotion, if you would but be more simple and natural." The singer
adopted this counsel, and became the most pathetic as he continued to be
the most brilliant of singers.
The interest of Farinelli's London career will be augmented for the
lovers of music by its connection with the contests carried on between
Handel and his rivals, with which we have seen Faustina and Cuzzoni also
to have been intimately associated. When Handel went on the Continent
to secure artists for the year 1734, some prejudice operated against his
negotiation with Farinelli, and the latter took service with Porpora,
who had been secured by the Pembroke faction to lead the rival opera.
Farinelli's singing turned the scale in favor of Handel's enemies, who
had previously hardly been able to keep the enterprise on its feet, and
had run in debt nineteen thousand pounds. He made his first appearance
at the Lincoln's Inn Opera in "Artaserse," one of Hasse's operas.
Several of the songs, however, were composed by Riccardo Broschi,
the singer's brother, especially for him, and these interpolations
illustrated the powers of Farinelli in the most effective manner. In one
of these the first note was taken with such delicacy, swelled by minute
degrees to such an amazing volume, and afterward diminished in the same
manner to a mere point, that it was applauded for full five minutes.
Afterward he set off with such brilliance and rapidity of execution that
the violins could not keep pace with him. An incident commemorated
in Hogarth's "Rake's Progress" occurred at this time, A lady of rank,
carried beyond herself by admiration of the great singer, leaned out of
her box and exclaimed, "One God and one Farinelli!" The great power of
this singer's art is also happily set forth in the following anecdote:
He was to appear for the first time with Senesino, another great singer,
who of course was jealous of Farinelli's unequaled renown. The former
had the part of a fierce tyrant, and Farinelli that of a hero in chains.
But in the course of the first song by his rival, Senesino forgot his
assumed part altogether. He was so moved and delighted that, in front of
an immense audience, he rushed forward, clasped Farinelli in his arms,
and burst into tears. Never had there been such a ferment among English
patrons of opera as was made by Farinelli's singing. The Prince of Wales
gave him a gold snuff-box set with diamonds and rubies, in which were
inclosed diamond knee-buckles, and a purse of one hundred guineas.
The courtiers and nobles followed in the wake of the Prince, and the
costliest offerings were lavished on this spoiled favorite of art. His
income during three years in London was five thousand pounds a year,
to which must be added quite as much more in gratuities and presents
of different kinds. On his return to Italy he built a splendid mansion,
which he christened the "English Folly."
Farinelli's Spanish life was the most important episode in his career,
if twenty-five years of experience may be called an episode. His purpose
in visiting Madrid in 1736 was to spend but a few months; but he arrived
in the Spanish capital at a critical moment, and Fate decreed that
he should take up a long residence here--a residence marked by
circumstances and honors without parallel in the life of any other
singer. Philip V. at this time was such a prey to depression that he
neglected all the affairs of his kingdom. "When Farinelli arrived,
the Queen arranged a concert at which the monarch could hear the great
singer without being seen. The effect was remarkable, and Farinelli
gained the respect, admiration, and favor of the whole court. When he
was asked by the grateful monarch to name his own reward, he answered
that his best recompense would be to know that the King was again
reconciled to performing the active duties of his state. Philip
considered that he owed his cure to the powers of Farinelli. The final
result was that the singer separated himself from the world of art for
ever, and accepted a salary of fifty thousand francs to sing for the
King, as David harped for the mad King Saul. Farinelli told Dr. Burney
that during ten years he sang four songs to the King every night without
any change." When Ferdinand VI., who was also a victim to his father's
malady, succeeded to the throne, the singer continued to perform his
minstrel cure, and acquired such enormous power and influence that
all court favor and office depended on his breath. Though never prime
minister, Farinelli's political advice had such weight with Ferdinand,
that generals, secretaries, ambassadors, and other high officials
consulted with him, and attended his levee, as being the power behind
the throne. Farinelli acquired great wealth, but no malicious pen has
ever ascribed to him any of the corrupt arts by which royal favorites
are wont to accumulate the spoils of office. In his prosperity he never
forgot prudence, modesty, and moderation. Hearing one day an old veteran
officer complain that the King ignored his thirty years of service while
he enriched "a miserable actor," Farinelli secured promotion for the
grumbler, and, giving the commission to the abashed soldier, mildly
taxed him for calling the King ungrateful. According to another
anecdote, he requested an embassy for one of the courtiers. "Do you not
know," said the King, "that this grandee is your deadly enemy?" "True,"
replied Farinelli; "and this is the way I propose to get revenge." Dr.
Burney also relates the following anecdote: A tailor, who brought him
a splendid court costume, refused any pay but a single song. After long
refusal Farinelli's good nature yielded, and he sang to the enraptured
man of the needle and shears, not one, but several songs. After
concluding he said: "I, too, am proud, and that is the reason perhaps of
my advantage over other singers. I have yielded to you; it is but just
that you should yield to me." Thereupon he forced on the tailor more
than double the price of the clothes.
Farinelli's influence as a politician was always cast on the side of
national honor and territorial integrity. When the new King,
Charles III., ascended the throne, being even then committed to the
Franco-Neapolitan imbroglio, which was such a dark spot in the Spanish
history of that time, Farinelli left Spain at the royal suggestion,
which amounted to a command. The remaining twenty years of his life he
resided in a splendid palace near Bologna, where he devoted his time and
attention to patronage of learning and the arts. He collected a noble
gallery of paintings from the hands of the principal Italian and
Spanish masters. Among them was one representing himself in a group with
Metastasio and Faustina Bordoni, for whose greatness as an artist and
beauty of character he always expressed the warmest admiration. Though
Farinelli was all his life an idol with the women, his appearance was
not prepossessing. Dibdin, speaking of him at the age of thirty, says
he "was tall as a giant and as thin as a shadow; therefore, if he
had grace, it could only be of a sort to be envied by a penguin or a
spider."
To his supreme merit as an artist we have, however, overwhelming
testimony. Out of the many enthusiastic descriptions of his singing,
that of Mancini, after Porpora the greatest singing-master of the age,
and the fellow pupil with Farinelli under Bernacchi, will serve: "His
voice was thought a marvel because it was so perfect, so powerful, so
sonorous, and so rich in its extent, both in the high and low parts of
the register, that its equal has never been heard. He was, moreover,
endowed with a creative genius which inspired him with embellishments so
new and so astonishing that no one was able to imitate them. The art
of taking and keeping the breath so softly and easily that no one could
perceive it, began and died with him. The qualities in which he excelled
were the evenness of his voice, the art of swelling its sound, the
portamento, the union of the registers, a surprising agility, a graceful
and pathetic style, and a shake as admirable as it was rare. There was
no branch of the art which he did not carry to the highest pitch of
perfection.... The successes of his youth did not prevent him from
continuing to study, and this great artist applied himself with so much
perseverance that he contrived to change in some measure his style, and
to acquire another and superior method, when his name was already famous
and his fortune brilliant."