A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tenducci, Giusto
TENDUCCI, Giusto Ferdinando, a celebrated sopranist singer, very popular in this country, was born at Siena, about 1736, whence (like a still greater singer) he was sometimes called Senesino. His earliest stage-appearances in Italy were made at about twenty years of age, and in 1758 he came to London, where he first sang in a pasticcio called 'Attalo.' But it was in the 'Ciro riconosciuto' of Cocchi that he first attracted special notice. Although he had only a subordinate part, he quite eclipsed, by his voice and style, the principal singer, Portenza, and from that time was established as the successor of Guadagni. In company with Dr. Arne, in whose 'Artaxerxes' he sang with great success, he travelled to Scotland and Ireland, returning to London in 1765, where he was the idol of the fashionable world, and received enormous sums for his performances. In spite of this, his vanity and extravagance were so unbounded that in 1776 he was forced to leave England for debt. In a year, however, he found means to return, and remained in London many years longer, singing with success as long as his voice lasted, and even when it had almost disappeared. In 1785 he took part in a revival of Gluck's 'Orfeo,' and appeared at Drury Lane Theatre as late as 1790. He also sang at the Handel Commemoration Festivals at Westminster Abbey, in 1784 and 1791. Ultimately he returned to Italy, and died there early in this century.
Tenducci was on friendly terms with the Mozart family during their visit to London in 1764. In 1778, at Paris, he again met Mozart, who, remembering their former intercourse, wrote a song for him, which has been lost. He was the author of a Treatise on Singing, and the composer of an overture for full band (Preston, London), and of 'Ranelagh Songs,' which he sang at concerts.