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Pasquale Brignoli

Italian opera singer (1824–1884)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ1674992 ↗
Source-derived summary

Pasquale Brignoli (Pasquilino Brignoli) (1824 in Naples, Italy – 30 October 1884 in New York City) was an Italian-born American tenor.

Early career

The son of a glove-maker, he received a fine musical education, and became a pianist of some ability. It is said that at the age of fifteen he wrote an opera, and, disgusted at the way in which the finest aria was sung, rushed upon the stage and sang it himself, to the delight of all. He paid little attention, however, to the cultivation of his voice until after he was twenty-one.

Little more is known about his early life because he was very reticent about it. During a civil hearing in New York in 1864 (Godfrey vs. Brignoli), he refused to divulge to the court what he had done before he became a singer. However, he told the court that he had started his singing career in 1850. Also in 1864 Brignoli sued a theatre manager for $15,000 when he was denied payment. The manager claimed he broke his contract and refused to sing on numerous occasions.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Pasquale Brignoli” as italian opera singer (1824–1884). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1824, 1884, 1864, 1850—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1824-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Pasquale, Brignoli and Italian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as italian opera singer (1824–1884). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1674992. VIAF identifies the subject as 66300803. The Library of Congress control number is no2008186565. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1824, 1884, 1864 and 1850.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pasquale Brignoli”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pasquale Brignoli primary sources, Pasquale Brignoli archive and Pasquale research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pasquale Brignoli”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Pasquale Brignoli” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.