Giorgio Stigelli

Giorgio Stigelli or Stighelli (20 April 1819 in Ingstetten, city of Schelklingen – 13 July 1868 in his Villa Boschetto near Monza, upper Italy) was a German operatic tenor and composer, who had an active international performance career during the 1840s through the 1860s. He used a number of stage names during his career of which Giorgio Stigelli (or Stighelli) became his most frequently used pseudonym.

Biography

Stigelli was born with the name "Johann Georg Stiegele" in the small village of Ingstetten which today forms part of the city of Schelklingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in the district of Alb-Donau. His father was a peasant and innkeeper of the "Tavern of the Sun" (Gasthaus zur Sonne) in Ingstetten, and lived in comfortable economic conditions. Stigelli first studied law before pursuing voice training in Stuttgart with Sebastian Binder, Franz Jäger, and Johann Baptist Krebs. He made his professional opera debut in 1840 at the StadtTheater Bern under the name Georg Stiegele in the role of Belmonte in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio. Later that year he performed at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and at the opera house in Linz.

From 1841-1842 Stigelli was committed to the Vienna State Opera and from 1842-1843 he was active at the Deutsches Theater Budapest. He sang at the Hoftheater Hannover from 1843-1844. He appeared as a guest artist at the Prague State Opera in 1842, the Staatstheater Stuttgart in 1843, Oper Graz in 1843, and at the Berlin State Opera from 1843 to 1845.

In 1845-1846 Stigelli interrupted his career to pursue further studies with the famous tenor and pedagogue, Louis-Antoine-Eléonore Ponchard in Paris and with Michewouk in Milan. In 1846-1847 he appeared in successful performances at the Teatro Carcano in Milan and at the opera houses in Mantua, Padua and Lodi. It is at this point that he adopted the name Giorgio Stigelli with which he would primarily be identified.

After a major revolutionary disturbance broke out in Italy on the 5 January 1848, Stigelli left Italy and established himself as a singer and teacher in Frankfurt. In 1849-1850 he performed very successfully as a member of the Royal Opera House in London, returning there often as a guest artist in following years. In 1861 he returned to Vienna for a lauded portrayal of Pollione in Bellini's Norma. His latter career was spent primarily in Italy, performing at such houses as the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and the Teatro di San Carlo up until his death in 1868. He notably appeared in several world premieres at the latter house, including Paolo Serrao's La duchessa di Guisa (1865), Saverio Mercadante's Virginia (1866), and Giovanni Pacini's Berta di Varnol (1867).

Stigelli's operatic repertoire was focused mainly in the Italian and German repertories. His signature roles included Alamir in Gaetano Donizetti's Belisario, Arnoldo in Gioachino Rossini's William Tell, Arturo in Vincenzo Bellini's I Puritani, Eleazar in Fromental Halévy's La Juive, Elvino in Bellini's La Sonnambula, Gomez in Conradin Kreutzer's Das Nachtlager von Granada, Licinio in Gaspare Spontini's La vestale, Max in Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz, Orombello in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda, Pollione, Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Tebaldo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's Otello.

Stigelli was a gifted composer who primarily wrote vocal music. He composed a number of choral works and art songs for voice and piano. He notably composed two successful song cycles to poems by Heinrich Heine and Ludwig Uhland.

External links

de:Giorgio Stigelli