A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ferri, Baldassare

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1504341A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Ferri, Baldassare


FERRI, Baldassare, one of the most extraordinary singers who ever lived, was born at Perugia, Dec. 9, 1610. He owed to an accident in his boyhood the operation by which he became a sopranist. At the age of 11 he entered the service of the Bishop of Orvieto as a chorister, and remained there until 1625, when Prince Vladislas of Poland, then on a visit at Rome, carried him off to his father's Court. In 1665 he was transferred to Ferdinand III, Emperor of Germany, whose successor, Leopold I, loaded him with riches and honours. This prince had a portrait of Ferri, crowned with laurels, hanging in his bed-chamber, and inscribed, 'Baldassare Perugino, Re dei Musici.' At the age of 65 he received permission to retire to his native country, with a passport, the terms of which indicated sufficiently the consideration in which he was held. He reached Italy in 1675, and died at Perugia, Sept. 8, 1680.

Ferri was made a Knight of S. Mark of Venice in 1643; and, therefore, probably visited Italy at that time. He aroused the greatest enthusiasm wherever he appeared; hundreds of sonnets were written in his honour, he was covered with rosss in his carriage after simply singing a cantata, and at Florence a number of distinguished persons went three miles out of the town, to escort him into it. (Ginguené.) He is said also to have visited London, and to have sung here the part of 'Zephyr': but this must be a fable, as Italian opera did not begin here till 1692,—12 years after his death. It is true that in M. Locke's 'Psyche' (1671) there is a character called 'Zephyr'; but he has only four lines to speak, and none to sing. Ferri had, nevertheless, made one journey (before 1654) to Sweden, to gratify Queen Christina's wish to hear him. Ginguené says that his portrait was engraved with the inscription 'Qui fecit mirabilia multa'; but such a portrait (as far as the present writer knows) has never been seen. A medal was struck, bearing on one side his head crowned with bays, and on the other the device of a swan dying by the banks of Meander. Ferri was tall and handsome, with refined manners; and he expressed himself with distinction. He died very rich, leaving 600,000 crowns for a pious foundation.

His voice, a beautiful soprano, had an indescribable limpidity, combined with the greatest agility and facility, a perfect intonation, a brilliant shake, and inexhaustible length of breath. Although he seems to have surpassed all the evirati in brilliance and endurance, he was quite as remarkable for pathos as for those qualities. (Bontempi, Historia Musica.)
[ J. M. ]