Giovanni Ansani

Giovanni Ansani (11 February 1744 – 15 July 1826) was an Italian tenor and composer.

In 1770, he was singing at Copenhagen. About 1780 he came to London, where he at once took the first place; but, being of a most quarrelsome temper, he threw up his engagement on account of squabbles with soprano castrato Francesco Roncaglia. He returned the next year with his wife, Maccherini, who was not successful. He sang at Florence in 1784, at Rome the autumn of the same year, and elsewhere in Italy; and finally retired to Naples at the age of 50, where he devoted himself to teaching singing.

He was a spirited actor, and had a full, finely-toned, and commanding voice. According to Charles Burney, his voice was one of the sweetest yet most powerful tenors he ever heard; to which, according to Carlo Gervasoni, he added a very rare truth of intonation, great power of expression, and the most perfect method, both of producing the voice and of vocalisation.[1] His wife had as bad a temper as himself, and they were, therefore, a most inharmonious couple. It is said that, when singing together in Italy, if one were more applauded than the other, the unsuccessful one would hire persons to hiss the more fortunate rival.

Ansani was known also as a composer of duets and trios for soprano and bass, with a basso continuo. Ernst Ludwig Gerber reported that an opera of his composition, called La Vendetta di Minos, was performed at Florence in 1791.