Giovanni Battista Francesco Fasciotti: sobre o castrato que influenciou a prática vocal carioca no Brasil Joanino

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation has as its object of study Giovanni Battista Francesco Fasciotti, the most important among of nine Italian castrati in the service of D. João VI, in Rio de Janeiro Joanino. In this context, we question and seek to absorb what would have been the role of Fasciotti in that the musical practices scenario, on the assumption that his presence in that context has become a reference for the carioca vocal practice in Rio de Janeiro of the time. To this end primary sources have bee consulted, both musical and historical. The most important musical sources are Piramo cantata per voce sola con accompagnamento di forte piano, a work by Fasciotti himself, and Recitativo e Rondó, from the opera Coriolano, Act II, by the composer Sig. Lavigna. Among the historical sources consulted are letters, opera libretti, Fasciottis baptism certificate, newspapers and periodicals of the time. From an analysis of these documents, it has been possible to fill gaps in previous biographical studies about the castrato, as well as to include a description of his voice. We may conclude that Fasciotti, was the most important representative of the eighteenth-century Italian school in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the main figure in the musical influence at the time. We intend, though, to join aspects that contribute with the musicological research in the country to elements of practical order, related to the interpretation of the repertoire of this period.