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Camille Silvy
Antonio Giuglini, tenor
1860
Carte de visite
Paul Frecker
LL/12759
The series of theatrical portraits that Silvy made at the onset of his London career do not appear in the first volume of the daybooks, as all the sittings between numbers 100 and 300 were removed, along with, from the other volumes, almost all the portraits with a theatrical connection. This was done some time before the daybooks were acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 1904. Many of these portraits subsequently reappeared, floated off their original mounts, and are today held at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. One of Silvy's printed catalogues from 1861 has survived, and in this, the sitting numbers are given next to the names of the sitters, so it is possible to reconstruct, partially, the missing pages of volume one.
No dates are given in volume one, but since volume two begins at the start of September 1860, anything in volume one can be dated earlier in that year. Actually, the series of theatrical portraits can be dated a little more specifically, since many of the sitters appeared in productions or concerts that were advertised in the classified columns of the Times. For example, Marietta Piccolomini's first appearance of the year was at Brighton on 16 February, while Signor Belleti's was at the Saint James's Hall on 22 February. Signor Giuglini, however, didn't appear in London until the start of the season at Her Majesty's Theatre on 10 April, also the date that the season at Covent Garden began that year, and therefore the approximate date of Signor Gardoni's arrival in London. (Paul Frecker)
Antonio Giuglini (1827-1865) - Italian tenor
Antonio Giuglini was born at Fano in 1827. Giuglini had training in Italy and is known to have performed at Bologna in 1849, Venice and Genoa in 1856, and at Madrid, Spain in 1858-59. although His teachers voice teachers are not known. Giuglini first appeared in London in 1857 at Her Majesty's Theatre and performed Riccardo in "Balla en Manchera," Rudulfo in "Luisa Miller," and Arrigo in "Les Vepres Sililiennes." Among the divas whom he appeared with were Therese Tietjens, Marietta Piccolomini, and Jean de Reszke. He also appeared in Verdi's opera Il Trovatore with the infamous Adelina Patti. He was highly popular in Dublin. Giuglini had a short career as his sanity failed and he died at age thirty-eight in the asylum at Pesaro, Italy on 12 October 1865.
(Kindly contributed by T. Max Hochstetler, June 2007)
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