Margherita Gualandi, "la Campioli" (fl. 1705 – 1738), was one of the most renowned Italian soprano singers of the early 18th century, the interpreter of starring operatic roles in a large number of musical centers, both in Italy and central Europe, and a collaborator of Antonio Vivaldi.At the present time, the most detailed summary of Gualandi’s biography is found in Freeman (1992), pp. 322–26. Famed for her difficult temperament, she could be considered a prototype for the type of Bolognese prima donna satirized in Benedetto Marcello’s famous pamphlet Il teatro alla moda of 1720, a critique of Italian operatic culture of his day. Alongside two other prominent Bolognese singers of this era, Maria Caterina Negri and Antonia Maria Laurenti, she was a member of the musical circle of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice.Biographical information concerning all of the singers who participated in the productions of the Denzio company in Prague between 1724 and 1735 is presented in Freeman (1992), Appendix III. All three sang in Prague between the years 1724 and 1729, probably due to arrangements cultivated between Vivaldi and the impresario of the Sporck theater, Antonio Denzio. As was the case with Laurenti, Gualandi found a husband among the Italian singing personnel active in Prague in the 1720s.
Early career in Italy Much biographical information about Gualandi derives from her mention in the librettos printed for her operatic appearances, including the very first one, in an anonymous opera performed in Modena in 1705 with the title Il trionfo d’amore ne’ tradimenti. In the role of Placilla, she is identified as “Margherita Campioli, bolognese.”Personal information about Gualandi is recorded in printed librettos transcribed in Corago Singers project Margherita Gualandi This is likely a confirmation that her maiden name was Campioli. Her birth date is unknown, but in the first operatic appearance of a long career, she could not have been younger that her late teens, thus probably born sometime in the 1680s. Nothing at all can be claimed about her training as a singer other than to observe that her upbringing in Bologna, one of the leading musical centers in Italy at the time, would have made possible excellent instruction. In the cast lists of librettos beginning with Floriano Arresti’s Crisippo, performed in Ferrara in May 1710, and ending with Giovanni Porta’s Amore e fortuna, performed in Augsburg in May 1733, variants of the designation “Margherita Gualandi, detta la Campioli” are normal. This would indicate a marriage to an individual named Gualandi, about whom nothing is known. If this person were also Bolognese, he might have been related to the Bolognese singer Diamante Maria Gualandi (fl. 1721-1740), who appeared at the Sporck theater in Prague during the operatic season 1725-26, two years before Margherita.Freeman, (1992), p. 322; Corago Singers project Diamante Maria Gualandi At the beginning of her second period of activity in Prague, in an appearance in the anonymous Il più fedel fra vassalli in autumn 1733, she is designated in the cast list as “Margherita Campioli, et ora [and now] Moretti”, another sign that Campioli was her original surname. The new designation clearly indicates that she had just married the much younger Venetian singer Lorenzo Moretti, whom she met originally during the 1728–29 operatic season in Prague (and probably initiated a romantic affair at that time).Freeman (1992), pp. 337–39; Corago Singers Project Lorenzo Moretti Just before their last returns to Prague, they both appeared in Porta’s Amore e fortuna in Augsburg and Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli’s Narciso al fonte in Munich in August 1733. Presumably, Margherita had been a widow for a long period at the time of her marriage to Moretti.
Gualandi’s early roles between 1705 and the autumn of 1710 were generally in lesser operatic centers (Modena, Cremona, Ferrara, and Mantua) in works by composers of lesser talents. She did, however, make her first appearance in Venice, the most prestigious operatic center in the Europe at the time, in Girolamo Polani’s Arato in Sparta at the Teatro Sant’Angelo, albeit in the subsidiary role of Cleone (a “prince of Sparta”). The latter was one of the many male roles (breeches roles) in which she performed throughout her career. The earliest was the role of Endimione (Endymion), the stunningly handsome shepherd of classical mythology, in an anonymous Endimione given in Cremona in 1709 with a cast made up entirely of Bolognese singers. Also, her very last appearance, in the title role of Siroe, re di Persia, given in Ancona in 1738 with music by Antonio Vivaldi, was a breeches role. Cross dressing was common in the Venetian public theaters of the late 17th century, which may at least partially explain her role as Endymion in 1709, but in the early 18th century, it was very common in Europe to cast women in male roles in locations that did not have sufficient funds to hire the best castrato male sopranos. This was a particular problem at the less well funded opera theaters in central Europe who wanted to cast roles properly intended for male sopranos, not only from the aspect of funding, but also from the aspect of availability. Thus, Gualandi appeared in male costume frequently at the Sporck theater in Prague and also in the operas in Augsburg and Munich in 1733 that also featured her husband, the tenor Lorenzo Moretti.As an indication of how much performers of breeches roles were needed, it can be pointed out that a surviving contract between the impresario of the Spork theater, Antonio Denzio, and the singer Barbara Bianchi (fl. 1723-1733). Her career is summarized in Freeman (1992), pp. 303–4. The contract was signed in May 1724 in Venice and is transcribed in Freeman (1992), pp. 284–85. Bianchi was to agree to appear in male costume if asked to do so. As it happens, she never had to do this in the two seasons (1724–26) that she appeared in the Sporck theater; see Corago Singers Project Barbara Bianchi
Peak of fame (1711–1726) The breakthrough roles for Gualandi came in the years 1711–16 at the Teatro Sant’Angelo in Venice. Whereas as her first appearance in the carnival season of 1711 was an isolated appearance, she was engaged more frequently in the operatic seasons of 1711-16, which included productions for the autumn and carnival periods falling between two consecutive calendar years. The Sant’Angelo was closely associated with Antonio Vivaldi, a bit of an irony, considering his exalted position as a composer of instrumental music in Europe, since it was not considered the most prestigious of the Venetian opera theaters; the Teatro San Giovanni Cristosomo occupied that place instead in Vivaldi’s time. The Sant’Angelo was considered a venue for more popularized and commercialized entertainments. In the autumn season of 1714, Gualandi appeared in one of Vivaldi’s earliest operas, Orlando finto pazzo and later appeared in his Nerone fatto Cesare in the carnival season of 1715. Another important appearance was in Giovanni Alberto Ristori’s Orlando furioso, also for the carnival season of 1715. After her last appearance at the Sant’Angelo in carnival 1716, there is no record of her appearing in any operatic productions in Italy until the carnival season of 1718 in Brescia. Whatever the reason, she was without musical employment for nearly two years after she left Venice for the first time, and she never returned to the Sant’Angelo.
When Gualandi’s name reappears in librettos, it is in operas from an interesting venue of great importance both to Gualandi and Vivaldi: the court of Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt (1671–1736), a prince of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt as a son of Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, a field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire and governor of Mantua between 1714 and 1736. Vivaldi served as maestro di capella for Philip in Mantua between 1717 and 1720. Gualandi appeared in two operas of Vivaldi that were written for the court of Mantua, both in title roles written for male characters: Teuzzone (1718) and Tito Manlio (1719). Vivaldi probably took a hand in arranging for her employment, which made it possible for her to advertise her court appointment for many years to come. Singers of this era were always anxious to draw attention to appointments in the musical establishments of royal or aristocratic patrons, and the usual form this took in her case was to have her referred to in librettos as a “virtuosa del s.a.s. [His Serene Highness] il sig. principe Filippo landgravio d’Hassia d’Armestat” or a close variant of that phrase. The first appearance of a title of this type is found in the libretto for an anonymous Vincislao performed in Livorno in 1720, and the last appearance is found in the libretto for an anonymous L’Issipile performed in Prague in 1735.Corago Singers project Margherita Gualandi
The last phase of Gualandi’s principal career in Italy included appearances in Milan in the operatic seasons of 1721–22 (which featured a performance of Vivaldi’s opera La Silvia); Turin in the carnival season of 1722; Milan in the carnival season of 1723; Pesaro in the carnival season of 1724; Genoa during the autumn season of 1724; and Florence in the carnival seasons of 1725 and 1726. The latter appearances were followed by a great crisis in her career. Although there were no great problems surrounding her appearances in Florence itself, the efforts of the impresario of the Teatro della Pergola to assist her in landing a role in a performance in Naples in May 1726 in Johann Adolf Hasse’s opera Sesostrate led to catastrophe.This episode is documented most completely in Holmes (1993), pp. 105–17. Gualandi’s difficult behavior was known in Naples, and it was difficult for the impresario in Florence to convince the management of the Teatro San Bartolomeo to believe that she could be relied upon to show up in time for the run of Hasse’s opera that was supposed to start on 13 May. Gualandi did arrive on time and participated in the rehearsals but was angered by a series of intrigues directed against her that led her to leave Naples unannounced under cover of darkness about a week before Hasse’s opera was to see its first performance. A last-minute arrangement to replace her in the role of Timareta had to be made. Gualandi found both detractors and advocates regarding her behavior in this matter, but for practical purposes, it soon made her impossible to cast in an Italian operatic production for the remainder of her most productive years as a singer. She was able to appear in a performance of Nicola Porpora’s opera Imeneo in Atene in September 1726 at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice, but otherwise, she was unable to arrange for another role in Italy until she was cast in Vivaldi’s Siroe, re di Persia in Ancona in the summer of 1738, when she must have been past fifty years of age. Forced to leave Italy in search of operatic roles, she found work north of the Alps during the intervening period of twelve years.
Later career (1728–1738)