A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lazzarini, Gustavo
LAZZARINI, Gustavo, was born (as some biographers say) at Padua, or (according to others) at Verona, about 1765. His début was made at Lucca in 1789, in Zingarelli's 'Ifigenia in Aulide,' with great éclat. In the two following years he appeared in London, singing both in serious and comic operas, such as Bertoni's 'Quinto Fabio' and the 'Locanda' of Paisiello, in the former with Pacchierotti, but taking the principal rôle in the latter. Lord Mount-Edgcumbe thought him 'a very pleasing singer with a sweet tenor voice.' During the Carnival of 1794 he sang at Milan, with Grassini and Marchesi, in Zingarelli's 'Artaserse' and the 'Demofoonte' of Portogallo, and bore the comparison inevitably made between him and those great singers. He sang there again in 1795, and once more in 1798, appearing on the latter occasion in Cimarosa's 'Orazzi' and Zingarelli's 'Meleagro,' with Riccardi and Crescentini. In 1801 he was one of the Opera Buffa troupe at Paris, where he was again heard to advantage by Lord Mount-Edgcumbe (1802), singing in company with La Strinasacchi and Georgi Belloc. But his voice had now lost much of its freshness, though the great style remained. Lazzarini published two volumes of Italian airs, and a Pastoral, both at Paris (Carli). His portrait was engraved there by Nitôt Dufréne, an operatic singer.
[ J. M. ]