Domenico Annibali

Who was Domenico Annibali?

Domenico Annibali was an Italian castrato who had an active international career from 1725-1764. He began his career in his native country and was then committed to the Grosses Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden from 1729 until his retirement from the stage 35 years later. In Dresden he excelled in the operas of Johann Adolf Hasse, notably creating roles in the premieres of two of his operas. He was also admired there in works by Nicola Porpora.

Annibali also appeared as a guest artist with theatres in Italy and in Vienna and London. He is best remembered today for originating roles in three operas by George Frideric Handel at Covent Garden in 1737. Musicologist Charles Burney wrote that "his abilities during his stay in England seem to have made no deep impression". However, Mary Delany wrote that he had "the best part of Senesino's voice and Caristini's, with a prodigious fine taste and good action." Other accounts of his time in England praised his coloratura facility highly, but found his acting somewhat wooden.