ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century vocalist Giuseppe Ciampi. One of the outstanding performers of the Victoria era in the classic Italian buffo mode, Ciampi spent twenty years playing at London's Italian Opera. Giuseppe Ciampi has been written about quite frequently, usually decidedly approximately, and rarely at length. The very young Ciampi quickly established himself, and he was hired as 'primo buffo e basso in genere' at the Teatro Mauroner in Trieste. Ciampi opened at Covent Garden on 3 June 1861, repeating his Bartolo alongside Miolan-Carvalho and the Figaro of Ronconi. Following the Covent Garden season, Ciampi went to Dublin in opera (Tristan in Martha, Giorgio in I puritani, singing 'Suoni la tromba' with delle Sedie, Oroveso, Tom in Un ballo in maschera, etc), and then on tour with the Grisi Farewell party. There is no connection between Giuseppe Ciampi and the successful vocalist Enzo Ciampi-Cellaj.
