Raaff, Anton

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Raaff, Anton

Raaff, Anton , esteemed German tenor; b. Gelsdorf, near Bonn (baptized), May 6, 1714; d. Munich, May 28, 1797. He studied with Ferrandini in Munich and Bernacchi in Bologna. He sang in Italy, then in Bonn, in Vienna, and at various German courts (1742–52), in Lisbon (1752–55), Madrid (1755–59), and Naples, returning in 1770 to Germany, where he was attached to the court of the Elector Karl Theodor at Mannheim. In 1778 he went to Paris with Mozart. From 1779 he was in Munich. Mozart wrote the role of Idomeneo for him, and also the aria Se al labbro mio non credi, K. 295.

Bibliography

H. Freiberger, A. R. (1714–1797): Sein Leben und Wirken (Cologne, 1929).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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