From Vocalist to "Inventor of the Dresses": Vincenzo Sestini's Career at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket

The King's Theatre in the Haymarket, or the Opera House, was for many years licensed to perform Italian opera only on two days in the week and proprietors had to ensure the ongoing appeal of its performances to a fairly limited and critical clientele. When the 1774–75 season opened the new management¹ decided to promote more light-hearted opera buffa in addition to opera seria. Advertisements offering subscriptions for the coming season reflected this (Public Advertiser, 22 Sep. 1774): the popular tenor, Signor Lovattini² was to return as first buffo, and Signora Sestini would be first buffa. The Italian soprano, Giovanna Sestini, had been performing to acclaim in Lisbon and she had travelled to London to take leading roles opposite Giovanni Lovattini in the comic operas (Carpenter, Giovanna Sestini 15–30). Also listed in the advertisements was Signor Sestini who was to be "last man" in the serious opera and third buffo in the comic opera.

Vincenzo Sestini was Giovanna's brother;³ he was the older by just over five years and both had been baptised in the small Tuscan town of Lastra a Signa, near Florence (Diocesan Archives of Florence: Registers of Church of San Martino a Gangalandi). How he came to arrive in London at roughly the same time as his sister is not clear. There is no evidence to suggest that Vincenzo had been in Portugal, as had Giovanna and another sister, Anna Sestini, nor that he had a singing career in Italy. He had no reputation that would have encouraged the King's Theatre management to hire him, so is likely to have financed his own journey to London. Maybe he had heard that his sister would be there and he hoped to join her and also to make an impression as a vocalist.

In November 1774 Vincenzo Sestini made his first appearance on the London stage as Dano in Armida, a serious opera with "music by several eminent masters" under the direction of Tommaso Giordani. The following month he was the spy, Timagene, in Natale Corri's Alessandro nell' Indie, with libretto by the poet Pietro Metastasio. Both featured the King's Theatre's first man and first woman in serious opera, Venanzio Rauzzini and Caterina Schindlerin, while Sestini understandably had minor roles. He may also have been one of the "sportsmen and soldiers who do not speak" in Niccolò Piccinni's La buona figliuola. The opening of this comic opera marked his sister Giovanna's debut on the London stage but had been delayed until 13 December 1774 by the late arrival of Lovattini from Italy (Carpenter, 139). The performances in the ever-popular La buona figliuola were well-reviewed apart from those of two of the minor characters. Signora Spinetta's crudeness and the awkwardness of the unnamed actor who played Mengotto were said to have disgraced the opera (Middlesex Journal and Evening Advertiser, 20 Dec. 1774). A few days later a "card" appeared in the Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (29 Dec. 1774) addressed to Mr Richard (Dick) Yates, the King's Theatre manager:

Many subscribers . . . Beg the favour to know, whether he intends to regale them during the season with a Spiletta,⁴ a Signor Sestini, and that young thing that sings the dumb part in Buona Figliola; as they have paid twenty guineas for each single ticket expect to have singers who will not offend the ear, and the sight: they assure Mr Yates that they have not seen such wretches before on that theatre . . . They hope that he will take notice of this, otherwise he must abide by the consequence of such an affront.

Vincenzo Sestini must have been dismayed to be included in this rebuke, clearly a result of his two appearances in serious opera. It was not an auspicious beginning for his career as a vocalist, but he did carry on singing at the King's Theatre. He was again listed as before for the 1775-76 season (Public Advertiser, 13 Sep. 1775), when he played...