Filippo Andrea Francesco Coletti (11 May 1811 – 13 June 1894) was an Italian baritone associated with Giuseppe Verdi. Coletti created two Verdi roles: Gusmano in Alzira and Francesco in I masnadieri. Verdi revised the role of Germont in La traviata for Coletti, whose interpretation re-defined the role as it is known today.Article with numerous examples of the two versions of Germont's lines: Julian Budden, The Two Traviatas, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 99, (1972–1973), Pub. Taylor & Francis pp. 43–66Review in L'Eptacordo, anno I, n.33, p.135, Roma, 31 January 1856 Coletti was, with Antonio Tamburini (1800–1876) and Giorgio Ronconi (1810–1890), one of the three leading baritones of 19th century Italy, an early model of a 'Verdi baritone'.Ernani ieri e oggi: atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Modena, Teatro San Carlo, 9–10 dicembre 1984. Front Cover. Pierluigi Petrobelli. EDT srl, pp. 275–277

Born in Anagni, a small town southeast of Rome, Coletti started his career singing baritone coloratura roles in Rossini, Donizetti and Mercadante operas before moving on to vocally substantial Verdi repertory.Giampiero Raspa, Note biografiche sul baritono anagnino Filippo Coletti (1811–1894), in Scritti in memoria di Giuseppe Marchetti Longhi, vol.II, pag.483 e ss., Istituto di Storia e di Arte del Lazio Meridionale, 1990. In Italian. Coletti gained notoriety in London for his unwitting role in the 1840 Haymarket Theatre riots, and later for his successful four-year London tenure, singing leading baritone roles.Laura Macy, Ed. The Grove Book of Opera Singers, Harold Rosenthal/Julian Budden, entry "Coletti, Filippo" Coletti travelled extensively, singing in all major European theatres. Numerous accounts describe his acting as well as the beauty of his voice, which retained an agility and elegance over a long singing career. Coletti performed until 1869.Multiple authors, "Atti del Convegno su Filippo Coletti", in Latium – Rivista di studi storici – Istituto di Storia e di Arte del Lazio Meridionale, 1996, 13 (Atti del convegno tentuoso nel 1994 ad Anagni, in occasione del centenario della morte di Filippo Coletti.) Verdi considered casting Coletti in an unrealized King Lear opera-commission for Naples.Schmidgall, Gary. "Verdi's King Lear Project." 19th-Century Music 9, no. 2 (1985): 83–101. Accessed 27 August 2020. After Coletti's retirement from the stage he published an Album Melodico of songs, as well as essays on singing and on opera.Coletti, Filippo: Album melodico : per Canto con accomp'to di Pianoforte, Milan : F. Lucca, about 1871, Opac SBN – Musica a stampa – Monografia [IT\ICCU\MUS\0244781]

For philosopher Thomas Carlyle Coletti was "by the cast of his face, by the tones of his voice, by his general bearing,... a man of deep and ardent sensibilities, of delicate intuitions, just sympathies; originally an almost poetic soul, or man of genius."Thomas Carlyle, The Opera, Essay, 1854

Family background

Filippo Andrea Francesco Coletti was born on 11 May 1811 in Anagni, a medieval town located east-southeast of Rome, in the district of Frosinone.Anagni is referred to as the 'City of the Popes' (città dei Papi): Five popes lived, reigned or were born in Anagni. Innocenzo III, (born Lotario dei Conti di Segni in 1160), Gregorio IX, (born Ugolino dei Conti di Segni), Alessandro IV, (born Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni 1180?–1185?) and Bonifacio VIII, (born Benedetto Caetani in Anagni in 1235). Bonifacio's mother was Emilia Conti, sister of pope Gregorio IX. Another Conti pope was Michelangiolo Conti, who was elected in 1721 as pope Innocenzo XIII. Filippo Coletti's son Tito would eventually marry into this illustrious Conti family. Anagni was the summer residence of the papacy until a recent transfer to Castel Gandolfo. The town centre consists of romanesque churches, campaniles, the cathedral, the palace of Bonifacio VIII, the civic palace and steep twisting streets enclosed by Roman built town walls.

Coletti's parents, Venanzio Coletti and Angela Viti, were of modest means and education. The Colettis had eight children: Rosa, Filippo, Andrea, Alessandro, Temistocle, Domenico and two other daughters. The family lived in the town center, on the corner of Via Maggiore and Vicolo Cellacchio. With Filippo Coletti's singing fees which were administered by his father Venanzio, the family moved into a large property outside Anagni in 1843. Venanzio continued to invest in land and buildings. Upon the death of Venanzio, the administration was taken over by Coletti's brother Andrea. The Coletti estate exists today as a winery, Coletti-Conti.website of the Coletti Conti family estate Coletti's younger brother Domenico was an opera singer who moved to the United States and lived in New York.

In 1845 the 33-year-old Coletti married the seventeen-year-old Maria, daughter of Anagni's town clerk (Segretario comunale) Giovanni Ambrosi. The marriage was arranged by Coletti's father Venanzio, and proved to be a happy one. Filippo and Maria had four children: Tito, Decio, Lavinia and Valeria.

Early career 1834–1840

Coletti started his musical education in Rome, then moved to the Naples Real Collegio di Musica, where he studied with the tenor Alessandro Busti, a pupil of the castrato Girolamo Crescenti.Giampiero Raspa, Note biografiche sul baritono anagnino Filippo Coletti (1811–1894), in Scritti in memoria di Giuseppe Marchetti Longhi, vol. II, pp. 483ff., Istituto di Storia e di Arte del Lazio Meridionale, 1990. In Italian. Busti dedicated to Coletti a Studio di canto per baritono (published 1874). Coletti débuted at the Teatro del Fondo (1834) as Prosdocimo in Rossini's Il turco in Italia. His performance was considered a great success by the court and launched his career.

Coletti transferred to the neighboring Teatro San Carlo, where he sang coloratura and bel canto roles in Vincenzo Bellini's La straniera (Valdeburgo), Rossini's Mosè in Egitto, Maometto II and Semiramide (Assur), as well as Giuseppe Curci's cantata Ruggiero, in January 1835.Mentioned as a talented young singer by the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, vol. 37, July, p. 503 Later that year Coletti created his first of many roles in a Giovanni Pacini opera – Briano/Wilfredo in Ivanhoe. Beyond Naples, Coletti appeared in the Carlo Felice in Genoa in the 1835–1836 season, sang in Donizetti's Gemma di Vergy at the Teatro Valle in Rome, and in Bellini's I puritani in Padova (1836).Giampiero Raspa, Note biografiche sul baritono anagnino Filippo Coletti (1811–1894), in Scritti in memoria di Giuseppe Marchetti Longhi, vol. II, pp. 483ff., Istituto di Storia e di Arte del Lazio Meridionale, 1990. In Italian.

A four-year engagement at the Real Teatro de São Carlos in Lisbon (1837–40) included the first Lisbon production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, operas by the Ricci brothers, Saverio Mercadante, Giuseppe Persiani and Ferdinand Hérold as well as the title roles of Donizetti's Torquato Tasso (January 1837) and Marin Faliero, Prospero Salsapariglia in Donizetti's Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali and the role of Visconti in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda. During his time in Lisbon Coletti appeared in a new role almost every week. By the time he left Lisbon, after singing a last Belcore in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore in November 1840, Coletti had covered most of the bel-canto baritone repertoire of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.Giampiero Raspa, Note biografiche sul baritono anagnino Filippo Coletti (1811–1894), in Scritti in memoria di Giuseppe Marchetti Longhi, vol. II, pp. 483ff., Istituto di Storia e di Arte del Lazio Meridionale, 1990. In Italian.

London riot of 1840 Pierre Laporte, the impresario of Her Majesty's Theatre in London, engaged the talented but unknown Coletti as replacement for the public's idol, the baritone Antonio Tamburini, (1800–1876). Laporte hoped to get rid of the expensive Tamburini, thinking Coletti his equal and casting him in I puritani. But as talented as Coletti was, he was not a member of the 'old guard', and the diva Giulia Grisi and others instigated a riot.Jennifer Hall-Witt, Fashionable Acts: Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780–1880 (Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies), University Press of New England (2007) , pp. 208, 210–211 The opera passed off in perfect quiet; and, indeed, was received with the usual applause, of which Coletti, who has been substituted for Tamburini, received a very considerable share – an indication, no doubt, on the part of the intended insurgents, that there was no personal feeling against this excellent performer. When the opera was over cries began to be raised of "Laporte!" and "Tamburini!" which went on increasing and spreading in all parts of the house, till they swelled into a raging storm.The Spectator, London, 1840, p. 420 This riot became a milestone event mentioned in the Musical Times, as late as 1868, when the Haymarket Theatre burned down.The Musical Times, 1 January 1868, p. 253 R. H. Barham describes the riot in A row in an omnibus (i.e. 'theatre box'): A legend of the Haymarket (from Barham's Ingoldsby Legends): Though Fiddle-de-dee (i.e. Tamburini) sings loud and clear, And his tones are sweet, yet his terms are dear! The "glove won't fit!" The deuce a bit. I shall give an engagement to Fal-de-ral-tit! (i.e. Coletti. Coletti's singing however, failed to convince the audience completely:)

The Prompter bow'd, and he went to his stall, And the green baize rose at the Prompter's call, And Fal-de-ral-tit sang fol-de-rol-lol; But, scarce had he done When a 'row' begun, Such a noise was never heard under the sun. Fiddle-de-dee! Where is he? He's the Artiste whom we all want to see!Editor's note. Carol Hart Ed., Ingoldsby Legends, Volume 2, SpringStreet Books; annotated edition (2013), p. 225

Italy 1841–1846