The renowned music historian Charles Burney counted Giovanni Rubinelli (1753-1829) among the three great castrato voices of the late 18th century. At a time when the era of opera seria and castrati was drawing to a close, Rubinelli was one of its last great protagonists.

Numerous composers wrote specifically for his voice, which was not the favoured high soprano voice of a castrato, but that of a contralto.

This CD traces Rubinelli’s artistic career: he made his debut in Ludwigsburg at the age of 16 in Calliroe by Antonio Sacchini, sang in Antonio Salieri’s Europa riconosciuta at the inauguration of La Scala in Milan in 1778, and made guest appearances in London in the late 1780s, performing in Handel’s Julius Caesar, among other works.

Countertenor Filippo Mineccia gives an emotive and virtuoso performance, creating a historical portrait of a singer who also stands for the development of opera from the virtuosity of the castrato stars to the sensitive arias of the new simplicity of Gluck’s opera reform.