He was born in Brescia, the youngest son of the celebrated tenor Gaetano Crivelli and died in Milan after a career spanning almost 30 years.

However, following his father's death in 1836 and with the encouragement of Simon Mayr, he began singing studies with Eliodoro Bianchi.

He made his stage debut in 1841 as Filippo in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona.

Crivelli also created a number of roles in the world premieres of now-forgotten operas such Tristano in Federico Ricci's Griselda.

Beginning in the 1850s, he essayed several bass-baritone roles including Oroveso in Norma and the title role in Mosè in Egitto (both at the Theatre Royal, Malta in 1850), Assur in Semiramide (Teatro Regio di Parma in 1859), and Oberthal in Le prophète (Teatro Regio di Torino in 1862).