Giovanni Battista Mancini (January 1, 1714 – January 4, 1800) was an Italian soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 castrato

Castrato

A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...

, voice teacher, and author of books on singing.

Mancini was born at Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno

Ascoli Piceno is a town and comune in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is c. 51,400.-Geography:...

, Italy

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...

. He studied singing in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 with Leonardo Leo

Leonardo Leo

Leonardo Leo , more correctly Lionardo Oronzo Salvatore de Leo, was an Italian Baroque composer.-Biography:...

 and in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 with Antonio Bernacchi

Antonio Bernacchi

Antonio Maria Bernacchi was an Italian castrato, composer, and teacher of singing. He studied with Francesco Antonio Pistocchi. His pupils included Farinelli, for a brief period during 1727, and the tenor Anton Raaff...

. He also studied composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 and counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 there with Giovanni Battista Martini

Giovanni Battista Martini

Giovanni Battista Martini , also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian musician.-Biography:Martini was born at Bologna....

.

He began his singing career when he was 16, appearing in both Italy and Germany. His even greater success as a teacher led to an invitation in 1757 by Empress Maria Theresia of Austria to become "k. k. Cammer-Musicus" and thereby teach her daughters singing. In 1774 in Vienna he published an important book on singing Pensieri, e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato. His views and publications brought him into conflict with another voice teacher, Vincenzo Manfredini

Vincenzo Manfredini

Vincenzo Manfredini was an Italian composer, harpsichordist and a music theorist.-Biography:Manfredini was born in Pistoia, near Florence....

. He remained in 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...

 and died there as "Retired Singing Master", leaving behind a considerable fortune.

Publications

• Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato. Vienna, 1774.
• Practical Reflections on the Figurative Art of Singing. Milan, 1776. Translated into English by Pietro Buzzi. Boston: The Gorham Press, 1912.
• Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. (1774). Translated into English by Edward Foreman. Champaign, IL: Pro Musica Press, 1967.
• Riflessioni pratiche sul Canto figurato. Third edition (revised, corrected and augmented). Includes musical examples. Milan: Galeazzi, 1777.

External links