Mozart Contemporaries / Anton Raaff
Anton Raaff, Tenor and Friend of Mozart
Anton Raaff (also spelt Raaf), German operatic singer (tenor) and a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is baptized in Gelsdorf, near Bonn on May 6, 1714. He was a pupil of Bernacchi in Bologna and became a principal operatic tenor in Naples and Florence in the 1760's when the wunderkind Mozart was about 5 years old.
In later years, Anton Raaff served at the courts of Mannheim and Munich. He sang in the first performance of Mozart's opera Idomeneo, 1781, in Munich.
Image Credit:
In later years, Anton Raaff served at the courts of Mannheim and Munich. He sang in the first performance of Mozart's opera Idomeneo, 1781, in Munich.
Raaff received some vocal experience while being trained for the priesthood as a young man. In 1736 he began studying with Giovanni Battista Ferrandini in Munich and later with Antonio Bernacchi of Bologna. His career took him to Florence, Venice, Bonn, Lisbon, and Madrid. In Madrid he worked under the direction of the renowned castrato Farinelli, who invited him to move to Naples in 1759. He spent the next decade as the foremost tenor in the opera houses in Naples and in Florence.
He returned to Germany in 1770, to the court of the elector Karl Theodor in Mannheim, where he premiered the title roles in two operas of Johann Christian Bach — Temistocle in 1772 and Lucio Silla in 1774. It should be noted that Mozart also composed his own Lucio Silla opera.
While in Mannheim in 1777 he was introduced to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then a young composer, who reset the aria “Se al labbro mio non credi” for him. It's been said that Mozart was sharply critical of Raaff’s singing and acting, although the former also recognized the political importance of being in the favour with the influential singer. Raaff was so pleased with the aria that he arranged for Mozart to be given an opera commission by Karl Theodor and also resulting with Raaff in the title role of Mozart's Idomeneo, when it was first performed in 1781 in Munich.
Raaff died May 28, 1797, in Munich. While in Mannheim in 1777 he was introduced to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then a young composer, who reset the aria “Se al labbro mio non credi” for him. It's been said that Mozart was sharply critical of Raaff’s singing and acting, although the former also recognized the political importance of being in the favour with the influential singer. Raaff was so pleased with the aria that he arranged for Mozart to be given an opera commission by Karl Theodor and also resulting with Raaff in the title role of Mozart's Idomeneo, when it was first performed in 1781 in Munich.
Image Credit:
Anton Raaff, Gemälde von Clemens August Josef Philippart (1751–1825) wikiand.com. Accessed May 6, 2016.
Resources:
Anton Raaff. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed May 6, 2016.
Sadie, Stanley, Ed. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan New Update Edition, 1994.
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