



Produced by David Widger





GREAT SINGERS

FAUSTINA BORDONI TO HENRIETTA SONTAG

FIRST SERIES

BY

GEORGE T. FERRIS


1891

Copyright, 1879, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.




NOTE.

In compiling and arranging the material which enters into the following
sketches of distinguished singers, it is only honest to disclaim any
originality except such as may be involved in a picturesque presentation
of facts. The compiler has drawn freely from a great variety of sources,
and has been simply guided by the desire to give the reading public
such a digest of the more important incidents in the careers of
the celebrities treated of as should be at once compact, racy, and
accurate. To serve this purpose the opinions and descriptions of writers
and critics contemporary with the subjects have been used at length, and
no means overlooked to give the sketches that atmosphere of freshness
which is the outcome of personal observation. All that a compilation of
this kind can hope to effect is best gained in preserving this kind
of vividness, instead of revamping impressions and opinions into
second-hand forms. Pains have been taken to verify dates and facts, and
it is believed they will be found trustworthy.

It will be observed that many well-known singers have been omitted, or
treated only incidentally: among the earlier singers, such as Anas-tasia
Robinson, Mingotti, Anna Maria Crouch, and Anna Selina Storace; among
more recent ones, such as Mmes. Fodor, Cinti-Damoreau, Camperese,
Pisaroni, Miss Catherine Stephens, Mrs. Paton-Wood, Mme. Dorus-Gras, and
Cornelie Falcon. This omission has been indispensable in a work whose
purpose has been to cover only the lives of the very great names
in operatic art, as the question of limit has been inflexible. A
supplementary volume will give similar sketches of later celebrities.

The works from which material has been most freely drawn are as follows:
Bernard's "Retrospection of the Stage"; Dr. Burney's various histories
of music; Chorley's "Thirty Years' Musical Recollections"; Dibdin's
"Complete History of the English Stage"; Ebers's "Seven Years of the
King's Theatre"; Fetis's "Biographie des Musiciens"; Hogarth's "Musical
Drama"; Sutherland Edwards's "History of the Opera"; Arsene Houssaye's
"Galerie des Portraits"; Michael Kelly's "Reminiscences"; Lord Mount
Edgcumbe's "Musical Reminiscences"; Oxberry's "Dramatic Biography and
Histrionic Anecdotes"; Mrs. Clayton's "Queens of Song"; Arthur Simpson's
"Memoirs of Catalani"; and Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians."




CONTENTS.

FAUSTINA BORDONI.

The Art-Battles of Handel's Time.--The Feud between Cuzzoni
and Faustina.--The Character of the Two Rivals as Women and
Artists.--Faustina's Career.--Her Marriage with Adolph Hasse, and
something about the Composer's Music.--Their Dresden Life.--Cuzzoni's
Latter Years.--Sketch of the Great Singer Farinelli.--The Old Age of
Hasse and Faustina


CATARINA GABRIELLI.

The Cardinal and the Daughter of the Cook.--The Young Prima Donna's
_Debut_ in Lucca.--Dr. Burney's Description of Gabrielli.--Her
Caprices, Extravagances, and Meeting with Metastasio.--Her Adventures
in Vienna.--Bry-done on Gabrielli.--Episodes of her Career in Sicily
and Parma.--She sings at the Court of Catharine of Russia.--Sketches
ol Caffarelli and Pacchierotti.--Gabrielli in London, and her Final
Retirement from Art


SOPHIE ARNOULD.

The French Stage as seen by Rousseau.--Intellectual Ferment of the
Period.--Sophie Arnould, the Queen of the most Brilliant of Paris
Salons.--Her Early Life and Connection with Comte de Lauraguais.--Her
Reputation as the Wittiest Woman of the Age.--Art Association with the
Great German Composer, Gluck.--The Rivalries and Dissensions of the
Period.--Sophie's Rivals and Contemporaries, Madame St. Huberty,
the Vestrises Father and Son, Madelaine Guimard.--Opera during the
Revolution.--The Closing Days of Sophie Arnould's Life.--Lord Mount
Edgcumbe's Opinion of her as an Artist


ELIZABETH BILLINGTON AND HER CONTEMPORARIES.

Elizabeth Weichsel's Runaway Marriage.--__Debut__ at Covent
Garden.--Lord Mount Edgcumbe's Opinion of her Singing.--Her Rivalry with
Mme. Mara.--Mrs. Billington's Greatness in English Opera.--She sings in
Italy in 1794-'99.--Her Great Power on the Italian Stage.--Marriage with
Felican.--Reappearance in London in Italian and English Opera.--Sketch
of Mme. Mara's Early Life.--Her Great Triumphs on the