Early manuscript copy of the important castrato's collection of vocal exercises, ca. 1820. Oblong folio (220 x 330 mm), 44 pages. Black ink on heavy paper. Quarter vellum with blue paper boards, ownership plate to front board identified as "Esercizi e solfeggi / per / tenore e soprano / proprietà di / Giuseppe Colla." Boards rubbed and rather worn, scattered light foxing, overall in very good condition. The collection includes 20 exercises with basso continuo accompaniment, and an introduction by the author.

One of the last internationally renowned castrati singers, Girolamo Crescentini is also reputed to have been one of Napoleon's lovers. Napoleon conferred upon him the Order of the Iron Crown of Lombardy and appointed him singing teacher of the Imperial Family. Celebrated for his creation of the role of Romeo in Zingarelli's "Giulietta e Romeo" at Teatro alla Scala di Milano (1796), "Stendhal said that no composer could have written the infinitely small nuances that formed the perfection of Crescentini's singing in his aria 'Ombra adorata aspetta,' " in that opera. He gave numerous other important first performances in works by Paisiello, Andreozzi and Cimarosa and was singing teacher in Paris to the royal family at Napoleon I's court. A famous teacher in Bologna - Isabella Colbran was among his students - he also "he composed didactic and vocal chamber works, which were famous throughout the 19th century. His vocalizzi were reprinted (by Ricordi and Lucca) up to the last decade of the century, and were used extensively by singing teachers in conservatories throughout Italy. He was a member of the Accademia di S Cecilia (Rome) and the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna." (Grove Music Online)