Tosi, Pier Francesco

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Tosi, Pier Francesco

Tosi, Pier Francesco, prominent Italian castrato contralto, teacher, diplomat, and composer; b. Cesena, c. 1653; d. Faenza, April 1732. He studied with his father, then sang successfully in Italy and throughout Europe; in 1692, settled in London, where he gave regular concerts, and was highly esteemed as a vocal teacher. He was a composer at the Viennese court (1705-11), while concurrently serving as an emissary to Count Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate. About 1723 he returned to London, where he remained until 1727; later returned to Italy and took holy orders in Bologna in 1730; finally settled in Faenza. He wrote the valuable treatise Opinioni de’ canton antichi e moderni, o sieno Osservazioni sopra il canto figurato (Bologna, 1723; in Eng. as Observations on the Florid Song, 1742; in Ger. as Anleitung zur Singkunst, 1757; in Fr. as L’Art du chant, 177 A). He composed some chamber cantatas.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire