Giacomo David, tenore dell’«interregno»

Giacomo David (1750-1830) is recognized as the first of the many tenors from Bergamo who dominated Italian opera between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Completely unfamiliar with Rossini’s music, he was the creator of many operas written by other composers active at the time, becoming a protagonist of the so-called «interregnum». The chapter discusses the dramatic and musical characteristics of the roles he played, recovering the now-forgotten term mezzotenore. It then focuses on the few data that have come down to us on his voice and on the slow process that, starting from the mid-eighteenth century, led some tenors to experiment with what is now called passaggio, in order to avoid reaching the highest notes by turning to falsetto.