A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Davide, Giacomo
DAVIDE, Giacomo, a very great Italian tenor, better known as 'David le pere,' born at Presezzo, near Bergamo, in 1750. Possessing a naturally beautiful voice, he made the best use of it by long and careful study. To a pure and perfect intonation he joined good taste in the choice of style and ornament. Having studied composition under Sala, he was able to suit his fioriture to the harmony of the passage he wished to embroider; but he was even more distinguished in serious and pathetic music, and that of the church, than in bravura. Lord Mount-Edgcumbe heard him at Naples in 1785, and thought him excellent in opera. In that year he went to Paris, sang at the Concert Spirituel, and made a great sensation in the 'Stabat' of Pergolese. Returning to Italy, he sang during two seasons at the Scala. In 90 he was at Naples again, and in 91 he came to London. Owing, however, to the Pantheon having been licensed as the King's Theatre, it was impossible to obtain a licence for the Haymarket Theatre, at which Davide was engaged, except for concerts and ballets. This, and the want of good singers to support him, prevented him from becoming as well known here as he deserved. 'He was undoubtedly the first tenor of his time,' says Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, 'possessing a powerful and well-toned voice, great execution as well as knowledge of music, and an excellent style of singing. He learned to pronounce English with tolerable correctness, and one of his last performances was in Westminster Abbey, at the last of the Handel festivals.' In 1802 he was at Florence; and, although 52 years of age, had still all his old power, and was able to sing every morning in some church, and at the opera every evening. He returned in 1812 to Bergamo, where he was appointed to sing at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It is said that he sang at Lodi in 1820; but he was then no more than the shadow of his former self. He formed two pupils, one of whom was his son, and the other Nozzari. Davide died at Bergamo December 31, 1830.
2. His son Giovanni was born in 1789, and long enjoyed the reputation in Italy of a great singer, though his method of producing his voice was defective, and he frequently showed want of taste, abusing his magnificent voice, with its prodigious compass of three octaves comprised within four B flats. He had, however, a great deal of energy and spirit, and his style was undoubtedly original. He made his début at Brescia in 1810, and sang with success at Venice, Naples, and Milan. He was engaged at the Scala for the whole of 1814. In the autumn of that year he was first employed by Rossini in his 'Turco in Italia.' Rossini then wrote rôles for him in 'Otello' (1814 [[App. p.608 "1816"]), 'Ricciardo e Zoraide' (1818), 'Ermione' and 'La Donna, del Lago'(1819). In 1818 he sang at Rome, Vienna, and London. Ebers had made overtures to him in 1822, and his engagement was on the point of completion, when he was engaged for seven years by Barbaja, who at that time directed the operas of Naples, Milan, Bologna, and Vienna. Davide appeared here in 29, singing, among other operas, with Mrs. Wood in Pacini's 'L'Ultimo giorno di Pompei'; but he was passé, and his voice so unsteady that he was obliged to conceal its defects by superfluity of ornament. He arrived in Paris in the same year. His voice had now become nasal, and his faults of taste and judgment more apparent. Yet, with all these faults, he was able occasionally to rise to a point that was almost sublime. Edouard Bertin, a French critic, said of him, 'it is impossible for another singer to carry away an audience as he does, and when he will only be simple, he is admirable; he is the Rossini of song. He is a great singer; the greatest I ever heard.' After his return into Italy, Davide sang at Milan and Bergamo in 1831, at Genoa and Florence in 32, at Naples in 32, 34, and 40, at Cremona and Modena in 35, at Verona in 38, and at Vienna in 39. He retired in 41 to Naples, where he founded a school of singing, which was not much frequented. A few years later he accepted the post of manager at the Opera of St. Petersburg, and is said to have died there about 1851.