The name of Venanzio Rauzzini (1746–1810) is most often remembered because of his connection to Mozart. Rauzzini was a soprano castrato who sang in the premiere of Lucio Silla in 1772. Mozart was so pleased with Rauzzini's singing in his opera that he composed the exquisite motet Exsultate jubilate for him to perform in Milan's Church of San Antonio in 1773. While Mozart's endorsement of Rauzzini's singing is important, an examination of Rauzzini's diverse career in Britain (1774–1810) reveals much about the social and cultural life at that time. His British career began with three seasons at the King's Theatre in London as the primo uomo. Thereafter, Rauzzini embraced a career of composer, concert director, and singing teacher. These activities were largely carried out in Bath, where he directed the famed concerts in that city until his death in 1810. Rauzzini developed a reputation as one of the preeminent voice teachers in the country and he trained some of the leading singers there.

While he enjoyed success in these activities, Rauzzini was a foreigner, a Catholic, and a castrato. As such, he was someone who was “other,” both socially and physically. Unlike the visiting operatic castrati who preceded him, Rauzzini was the first (and only) castrato singer to make Britain his permanent home, rather than returning to the Continent after his performing days were over. That he would achieve a position of cultural leadership in the country was both unprecedented and unexpected. As a result, Rauzzini became a target of suspicion by those who distrusted foreign castrati in general, and a feared one in a leadership role in Britain. In addition, the study of his career reveals much about the precarious conditions of presenting Italian opera in London in the 1770s and 1780s, as well as the changing social and political demographics of Britain during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. These concerns affected not only how concert music was perceived by its audience, but also what music should be performed and by whom.

Although there has been much scholarly interest in the great castrato singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there remains a considerable discomfort amidst the general public with the concept of a singer being “manufactured” at an early age, and seemingly without being able to prevent the mutilation, for the sole purpose of a possible singing career.