MONTAGNANA, ANTONIO

flourished 1730, 50 Italian singer noted for his powerful bass voice and for his roles in many of George Frideric Handel's operas. Little is known of Montagnana's early life. He performed in Rome and Turin in the early 1730s. Between 1731 and 1733 he was a member of the King's Theatre company in London, under Handel's direction, and Handel composed several parts specifically for Montagnana's voice. In the summer of 1733 he joined the Opera of the Nobility. He stayed with that company through its four London seasons, singing altogether some 15 roles at Lincoln's Inn Fields and the King's Theatre. His voice had lost some of its remarkable power and range by the late 1730s. From 1740 to about 1750 Montagnana was contracted to the royal chapel in Madrid and sang mainly at the palace of Buen Retiro. Thereafter he gave up performance.