ABSTRACT
The book examines the student–teacher relationship from both the master and the student’s perspective, demonstrating that many of his emerging professional students also had a collegial relationship with the castrato. Part of the reason for Rauzzini’s success was his popularity and his eagerness to publicly showcase his students. Performance was an important part of a student’s training, but the music lessons was a private arrangement that allowed master and student to work on a variety of technical and stylistic issues. It was also a breeding ground for scandalous activity. Words said in private, could take on a completely different meaning if spoken in a different context and therefore the private lesson bred gossip, rumour, misunderstanding and mystery, issues that continue to loom large in the twenty-first century. Closely examining Rauzzini’s pedagogy, the career trajectory of his aspiring professional students, in additional to Georgian England’s vogue for scandal, demystifies why he became such as revered singing master and unveils a more enriched picture of vocal education in late eighteenth-century Britain.
