Mingotti, Pietro
Mingotti, Pietro
Mingotti, Pietro, Italian opera impresario; b. Venice, c. 1702; d. Copenhagen, April 28, 1759. His brother, Angelo Mingotti (b. c. 1700; d. after 1767), was also an opera impresario who organized his opera troupe in Prague about 1732. In the meantime, Pietro founded his own opera troupe and from 1736 to 1740 the two brothers worked together in Graz. During the next 10 years, they continued to work together occasionally but frequently also toured with their own troupes in Germany and Austria. By 1746 Regina Mingotti (née Valentini ) had joined Pietro’s troupe and was briefly his wife. In 1747 Gluck became his music director, appearing with the troupe in Dresden and Copenhagen, and in 1748 in Hamburg. Pietro settled with his troupe in Copenhagen in 1748 under contract to the Danish court. Sarti became his music director in 1752. The decline in his fortunes compelled Pietro to ask that his contract with the court be dissolved in 1755. He lost everything when the court seized his assets to pay off his debts, and he spent his last days in poverty.
Bibliography
E. Müller, Die M.schen Opernunternehmungen: 1732 bis 1756 (Leipzig, 1915); idem, Angelo und P. M. (Dresden, 1917).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire