Francesco Carattoli was an Italian

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...

 bass buffo, or singer of opera buffa

Opera buffa

Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...

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Carattoli was born in Rome

Rome

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...

, and began singing in the 1740s. He sang in a number of comic operas in various parts of Italy through the 1740s, 1750s, and early 1760s, by composers such as Gaetano Latilla

Gaetano Latilla

Gaetano Latilla was an Italian opera composer, the most important of the period immediately preceding Niccolò Piccinni .Latilla was born in Bari, and studied at the Loreto Conservatory in Naples...

, Baldassare Galuppi, Domenico Fischietti

Domenico Fischietti

Domenico Fischietti was an Italian composer.He was born in Naples and studied at the Conservatory of Sant'Onofrio Porta Capuana under the leadership of Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante....

, and Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day...

, both becoming prominent himself and helping to increase the popularity and prestige of opera buffa through his skillful performances. A number of the prominent comic opera bass roles of the 18th century were written for him, and his combination of voice and acting was much sought after.

In 1764, he went to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 to sing there. During the 1760s, Italian impresarios brought troupes of buffi to Vienna, and opera buffa become quite popular there. Carattoli was, along with Domenico Poggi, one of the most celebrated singers despite being in his 60s by that time, and gained praise from Johann Joseph Khevenhüller-Metsch and Joseph von Sonnenfels

Joseph von Sonnenfels

Joseph von Sonnenfels was an Austrian and German jurist and novelist. He was among the leaders of the Illuminati movement in Austria, and a close friend and patron of Mozart. He is also the dedicatee of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15, Op...

, among others. He had roles written for him by prominent Viennese composers of opera buffa as well, including Florian Leopold Gassmann

Florian Leopold Gassmann

Florian Leopold Gassmann was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of dramma giocoso immediately before Mozart....

 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

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