The Castrato and His Wife

Helen Berry

336 pages | 8pp black and white plates | 216x135mm

978-0-19-956981-6 | Hardback | 22 September 2011

Also available as: Paperback

Price: £16.99

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The story of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, eighteenth-century opera star, heart-throb, and international celebrity - now told for the first time
Unravels the intriguing tale of his elopement with teenage pupil Dorothea Maunsell - their subsequent marriage and celebrated divorce
Affords a fascinating insight into the world of opera, sex, and marriage in the eighteenth century
Explores fundamental questions about the meaning of marriage that continue to resonate in our own time

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.

Readership: All those interested in the history of opera, eighteenth century Britain, and the history of love and sex

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.

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