Giuseppe de Begnis

Giuseppe de Begnis (1793-10 August 1849) was an Italian operatic bass singer. Born in Lugo di Romagna, he started his musical education when he was 7 years old, under Padre Bongiovanni, and sang soprano in the church. At age 15 he had serious problems with his voice and began studying acting under Mandini, a famous actor of the time. His father did not want Giuseppe to become a comedian and in due course the young man became a pupil of the composer Giovanni Morandi, the husband of the singer Rosa Morandi. In the autumn of 1816 he married the soprano Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis in Bologna and they were together until 1825. His countenance was seriously affected by smallpox, but he was skilled at applying make-up and on stage he gave no evidence of facial disfigurement. By 1815 he had established himself in a promising career which continued until the late 1820s in Italy, France and London and then in Northern Ireland from 1829 where he also ran an opera company. He continued to sing and manage opera companies in Scotland and from New York from 1838, where he lived until his death in 1849. He has been described as "an ideal interpreter of Rossini's comic operas".