The opera singer Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci was one of the most famous celebrities of the eighteenth century. In collaboration with the English composer Thomas Arne, he popularized Italian opera, translating it for English audiences and making it accessible with his own compositions which he performed in London's pleasure gardens. Mozart and J. C. Bach both composed for him. He was a rock star of his day, with a massive female following. He was also a castrato. Women flocked to his concerts and found him irresistible. His ...
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The opera singer Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci was one of the most famous celebrities of the eighteenth century. In collaboration with the English composer Thomas Arne, he popularized Italian opera, translating it for English audiences and making it accessible with his own compositions which he performed in London's pleasure gardens. Mozart and J. C. Bach both composed for him. He was a rock star of his day, with a massive female following. He was also a castrato. Women flocked to his concerts and found him irresistible. His singing pupil, Dorothea Maunsell, a teenage girl from a genteel Irish family, eloped with him. There was a huge scandal; her father persecuted them mercilessly. Tenducci's wife joined him at his concerts, achieving a status as a performer she could never have dreamed of as a respectable girl. She also wrote a sensational account of their love affair, an early example of a teenage novel. Embroiled in debt, the Tenduccis fled to Italy, and the marriage collapsed when she fell in love with another man. There followed a highly publicized and unique marriage annulment case in the London courts. Everything hinged on the status of the marriage; whether the husband was capable of consummation, and what exactly had happened to him as a small boy in a remote Italian hill village decades before. Ranging from the salons of princes and the grand opera houses of Europe to the remote hill towns of Tuscany, the unconventional love story of the castrato and his wife affords a fascinating insight into the world of opera and the history of sex and marriage in Georgian Britain, while also exploring questions about the meaning of marriage that continue to resonate in our own time.
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Add this copy of Castrato & His Wife C to cart. $3.28, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Oxford University Press (UK).
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Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
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Add this copy of The Castrato and His Wife to cart. $5.00, very good condition, Sold by JDH Lawton OK rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from LAWTON, OK, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Oxford University Press.
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Very good in very good dust jacket. Ex-library. xiv, 312 p. : ill.; 22 cm. LCCN 2011567250 Type of material Book Personal name Berry, Helen, 1969-Main title The castrato and his wife / Helen Berry. Published/Created Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Description xiv, 312 p. : ill.; 22 cm. ISBN 9780199569816 (hbk. ) 0199569819 (hbk. ) LC classification ML420. T3255 B47 2011 LC Subjects Tenducci, Giusto Ferdinando, approximately 1735-1790. Tenducci, Giusto Ferdinando, approximately 1735-1790--Marriage. Kingsman, Dorothea--Marriage. Marriage--History. Marriage--Social aspects. Notes Includes bibliographical references and index. National bib no. GBB161487 National bib agency no. 015813118 Other system no. (OCoLC)ocn751711718 (OCoLC)751711718
