Giovanni Battista RUBINI / Large role portrait lithographic caricature 1842

Description

Large role portrait lithographic caricature by Benjamin [Roubaud] as Gualtiero from Bellini's Il pirata
Author:
RUBINI, Giovanni Battista 1794-1854
Title:
Large role portrait lithographic caricature by Benjamin [Roubaud] as Gualtiero from Bellini's Il pirata
Publication:
Paris: Aubert & Cie. [1842]
Description:
Image size 298 x 185 mm, sheet size 345 x 265 mm. On wove paper.
Rubini is depicted full-length, standing, facing forward with large feathered cap, cape, sword, and comically undersized bare legs.
With artist's signature and "Chez Bauger R. du croissant 16" to lower left, "Imp. d'Aubert & Cie." to lower right, and musical rebus poem below image.
The poem reads:
[La-mi-si-re-la-do] oute affaire cessante
D'entendre un air glissant dans un gossier [si-re]
Tu vas voir Rubini, ce chanteur [mi-re]
[La-fa-mi] le beauté de sa voix pénétrante
Dans un re-la tatif même te ravira
Car pour te delecter, le bon Dieu [la-mi-la]
Published in the series Pantheon Charivarique, Chanteurs, with printed titling to head.
From the collection of the distinguished American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne (b. 1934).
Slightly worn; scattered foxing; small tear to right margin; remnants of former mount to verso.
Béraldi II, p. 35, no. 5. RIdIM 5314.
Italian tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini was a central figure in 19th-century opera; he worked particularly closely with Vincenzo Bellini, creating the roles of Gernando in Bianca e Gernando (1826), Gualtiero in Il pirata (1827), Elvino in La sonnambula (1831) and Arturo in I puritani (1835). He collaborated closely with Donizetti as well, premiering Percy in Anna Bolena (1830) and Fernando in Marino Faliero (1835).
"During Rubini's career the tenor, traditionally the young hero of opera buffa, was assuming the same role in the serious genre. In the new Romantic opera of the 1830s Rubini had at his disposal an intensity of expression that far outshone the cool heroics of the castratos and their female successors. His phenomenally high range, which induced Bellini to include a high F for him in the third act of I puritani, must be understood in the context of the convention of his day, when no tenor was expected to sing any note higher than a′ with full chest resonance... He is also credited with introducing Romantic mannerisms such as the 'sob'. He was neither good-looking nor a good actor; his strength lay in the beauty of his tone and the natural artistry of his phrasing." Julian Budden in Grove Music Online.
Benjamin Roubaud (1811-1847) was a noted French printmaker known for his caricatures. His series Panthéon Charivarique was originally published in the journal Le Charivari, then printed separately by Aubert in 1842.
"Horne had a voice of extraordinary range, rich and tangy in timbre, with a stentorian chest register and an exciting top... In concert she once achieved the feat of singing in a single programme Rossini arias and Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene, proof of her exceptional versatility. Throughout her lengthy career she was an admired recitalist, singing lieder, mélodies, Spanish and American songs with equal aplomb." Alan Blyth in Grove Music Online.
Seller ID:
31387
Subject:
Art & Photographs
J & J Lubrano Music Antiquarians
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