Antonio Montagnana

1730–50, born in Venice) was an Italian bass of the 18th-century who is best remembered for his association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Montagnana sang.

During that same year he came to London to join Handel's opera company, where he created roles in Handel's Ezio - with words by the renowned librettist Metastasio - and Sosarme, and sang in revivals of Admeto, Giulio Cesare, Flavio, and Poro.

[1] The part of Abner in Handel's Athalia was composed for his voice, as were the roles of the Chief Priest of Israel and Abinoam in Deborah.

In 1733, however, he deserted Handel for his rival company, the Opera of the Nobility, possibly breaking a legal contract in order to do so.

18th-century music historian Charles Burney praised his "depth, power, mellowness and peculiar accuracy of intonation in hitting distant intervals".