Senesino biography samples
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Senesino
Italian castrato (1686-1758)
Francesco Bernardi (pronounced[franˈtʃeskoberˈnardi]; 31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758), known as Senesino (pronounced[seneˈziːno]or traditionally[seneˈsiːno]), was an Italian contraltocastrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel.
He was also involved in a public scandal with the soprano Anastasia Robinson in 1724 which was circulated widely by the satirist Jonathan Swift, and inspired a number of anonymously written obscene, misogynistic, and at times sexually subversive epistles written between 1724 and 1736 which have become a topic of study among scholars of Restoration literature.
Senesino biography samples
Early life and career
Senesino was the son of a barber from Siena (hence his stage-name). He joined the cathedral choir there in 1695 and was castrated at the comparatively late age of thirteen. His debut was at Venice in 1707, and during the next decade h