BADIALI, CESARE

(b. Imola, early 19th cent. ; d. there, Nov. 17, 1865), a very d is tin guished basso c an tan te who made his first appearance a t Trieste, 1827. After achieving a br illiant success a t every one of the chief the a tre s of I ta ly , and especially a t Milan, where he sang in 1830, 1831 an d 1832, he was engaged for the opera of Madrid, then a t Lisbon, and did n o t re tu rn to I ta ly till 1838. On his reappearance a t Milan, he was welcomed withenthus ia sm an d continued to sing there, an d a t Vienna and Turin, until 1842, when he was appointed principal chambersinger to the Emperor. He sang af terwards a t Rome, Venice, Trieste, Turin, an d other towns of less importance. In 1845 he was a t Leghorn. The Accademia di S. Cecilia of Rome received him as a member of its body. In 1859 he made his first appearance in London, when he made the q u a in t remark, ‘ W h a t a pity I did not th in k of this city fifty years ago ! ‘ He re ta in ed a t th a t time, and for some years longer, a voice of remarkable beauty, an excellent method, an d g re a t power of executing rapid passages. He was one of the few who have ever sung the music of Assur in Rossini’s * Semiramide ‘ as i t was wr itten : in th a t p a r t he was extremely good, an d n o t less so in th a t of the Conte Robinson in the ‘ Matrimonio segreto.’ A singular fe a t is ascribed to him. I t is said th a t , when supping w ith friends, he would dr ink a glass of claret, and, while in the a c t of swallowing it, sing a sc ale; and if the first time his execution was n o t quite perfect, he would rep e a t the performance with a full glass, a loud voice, and without missing a note or a drop. He was a good musician, and left a few songs of his own composition. F o r the las t 10 years of his life he resided and sang in Paris. J . m .