Pietro Mingotti

Pietro Mingotti (b Venice, c1702; d Copenhagen, 28 April 1759) was an Italian impresario active across continental Europe. His brother, Angelo, formed an opera company in Prague around 1732, consisting of 3 male singers and 5 females; Pietro quickly followed suit, and the two troupes achieved Europe-wide success (thought mostly in German and Austrain cities), sometimes performing together. Pietro's company, the more high-profile of the two, at times included Christoph Willibald Gluck and Giuseppe Sarti as members. Most of the works performed belonged to the genre of "opera seria", though "opere buffe" were also given.

After performances at the coronation of Franz I at Frankfurt (Maria Theresa's husband) in 1745, and at a royal wedding at Dresden in 1747 (when Gluck's "festa teatrale" "Le nozze d’Ercole e d’Ebe", with the composer conducting, was performed), Mingotti's troupe were invited to Copenhagen in the same year. The company's repertory for the Danish court included not only operas but also ballets. Sarti joined the troupe in December 1752 as music director after Gluck left during 1750. Severe financial difficulties forced Pietro to end his contract with the court at Copenhagen in 1755, and he died impoverished 4 years later in the Danish capital. Little is known of Angelo Mingotti's later career.

References

Further reading

*K.-H. Viertel: ‘Anmerkungen zum Dresdener Opernpublikum während der Direktionszeit Johann Adolf Hasses’, Dresdener Operntraditionen: Dresden 1985, 208–18
*E.H. Müller von Asow: Angelo und Pietro Mingotti (Dresden, 1917)
*E.H. Müller von Asow: ‘Gluck und die Brüder Mingotti’, Gluck-Jb 1917, 1–14