1725
Jan 11
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To Morrow Signiora Cuzzoni the famous Chauntress, is to be married to San-Antonio Ferre, a very rich Italian, at the Chapel of Count Staremberg, the Imperial Ambassador.[1] |
[Agostino Steffani to Giuseppe Riva, Padua, Thursday 25 January 1725]
I am sorry that the [season’s] first opera [Tamerlano], by Mr Handel, has fared badly and that the second [Artaserse], by Father Attilio [Ariosti], has suffered the same fate; we shall see what happens to the third, which I assume will be by the first of these two composers and will have been presented last year [Giulio Cesare]. If I could bend the ears of the Academy, I would certainly advise it to resort to Bononcini. Greet him cordially for me and assure him that my memory of him gives me infinite pleasure. I am delighted that the duchess of Marlborough recognizes his merit.[2]
[Giuseppe Riva to Agostino Steffani, London, Wednesday 31 January 1725]
{...} I wanted to be able to give you some account of the impression made by this good girl {= Benedetta Sorosina} in our theatre. The countess of Walsingham, niece of the duchess [of Kendal], asked them to give her a tiny role in the old opera of Handel entitled Giulio Cesare, which has been revived on the stage. The lady’s wish was granted, Handel composed two arias, and Benedetta did as she was told. She could not make a great impact, because the arias are mediocre and stuck on, as they say, with spit. Considering all that, she received appropriate applause. I mustered support on the opening night, and Bononcini visited her secretly in order to teach her how to humanize the inhumanity [of her pieces]. Secretly, I say, so as not to rouse the ire of Handelians. I hope that in some other opera, where Benedetta can have a significant part and support her singing with action, she will distinguish herself in the way that we all desire. [Anna] Dotti, who came from Paris because of Benedetta’s late arrival and who sang in the first two, new operas, was also given a part in the third, by Handel, because she had made a good impression and her style of singing had generally gone down well. Although it is very bad, it is aided by a strong and even voice, and finds much favour. I do hope that the girl will have her own part in the last opera, which Padre or Monsieur Attilio [/97] [Ariosti] will compose, and that your great protectors at court will ensure that she is not treated badly. I will strive strenuously to ensure this, as I have done and shall do on all occasions in order to obey the orders of monsignor [Steffani] and serve Benedetta, who, I hope, will already have done me justice for my attentiveness to her needs.
Bononcini, who, as ever, conveys his respects to monsignor, joins me in these sentiments and will help the girl in everything that she has to sing. He will make sure she sings in the concerts or musical entertainments that he organizes for his generous duchess of Marlborough, and they should bring her honour and prove useful.[3]
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[Alexander Gordon to Sir John Clerk, 12 February 1725] Having the liberty of the house I went to the opera house & heard Julius Caesar which pleasd me exceedingly but the new one to be acted for ye first time next Saturday exceeds all I ever heard. What occurs [I] shall take the liberty to acquaint you.[4] |
Mar 6
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Since the Publication of Cluer and Creake’s Proposals for Engraving and Printing Mr. Handel’s Opera of Rodelinda by Subscription, a great Number of the Quality, Gentry, &c. daily subscribe to the same.[5] |
Mar 20
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This Day is publish’d, by Cluer & Creake, PRoposals for Engraving and Printing by Subscription, A Second Pocket Volume of Opera Songs and Airs, Collected out of all the Opera’s Compos’d by Mr. Handel, Bononcini, Attilio, and other Great Masters; many of them never before printed; all which will be carefully Corrected & Figur’d for the Harpsichord, and Transpos’d for the Flute, with the Symphonies to them. N. B. The Musick i[n] this Volume will be much more legible than the former, the Pages being somewhat larger, but may be bound in the same size; and since we have the Assistance of all the Great Masters, and shall be [f]avour’d with Mr. Handel’s Songs that were never before printed, (which cannot be obtain’d by others) our Subscribers may assure themselves that this will be a far Better Collection than ’tis possible for any other Persons to make. The Undertakers are J. Cluer at the E[n]graving and Printing Office in Bow-Church-Yard, and B. Creake at the Bible in Jermyn- street, St. James’s, where Specimens of the Work may be seen, and Proposals at Large had gratis, as also at the Musick Shops: Where likewise Subscriptions are taken for Printing The whole Opera of Rodelinda, in Score with all the Parts. In above 100 Copper Plates. Compos’d by Mr. Handel. The Quality, &c. who design to Subscribe to this Celebrated Opera, are desired to send their Names in 20 Days at farthest, otherwise they can’t be Engrav’d in the Book.[6] |
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[“Diary of a tour of Europe in 1724-25, made by an anonymous Italian”] Adi 31 Marzo siamo stati all’opera in musica Italiana composta di 6 Personaggi. Cioè Senesino, Paccini, Borosini, Boschi, Cuzzoni, e
Dotti. Li più piacciuti è con tutta giustizia veramente sono Senesino, e La Cuzzoni. Il Teatro è particolare, mentre vi sono pochi palchi cioè proscenij, e degl’altri alli fianchi; in faccia vi sono tre gran Loggie, capaci di moltissime Persone, e la Platea ancora per esser a’ guisa d’Anfiteatro, e da’pertutto stanno huomini e donne mescolati assieme; nel Palco a’ mano sinistra vicino al Proscenio vi và il Re che è un Signor benigno d’Aria dolce e allegro, haveva un abito scuro ricamato d’oro.[7] On 31 March we were at the Italian opera composed for six characters, namely Senesino, Paccini [sic], Borosini, Boschi, Cuzzoni, and Dotti. The most pleasing, and truly with every justification, are Senesino and Cuzzoni. The theatre is unusual: while there are a few stage boxes, and others along the sides, facing them there are three large galleries, capable of holding very many people, and also the pit in the shape of an amphitheatre, and everywhere men and women are mingled together. The king sits in the box on the left side near the proscenium; he is a benign gentleman of sweet and cheerful character; he was wearing dark clothes embroidered with gold.[8] |
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[rate-books, St. George’s parish, April 1725] George Handell, Rent £35. First Rate 17s. 6d.[9] |
[Pamphlets]
XV. An Epistle to Mr. Handel, upon his Opera’s of Flavius and Julius Caesar. Sold by J. Roberts. Price 4 d.[10]
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J. CLUER and B. CREAKE give Notice to all Gentlemen and Ladies that are Lovers of Musick, that they have now finish’d Mr. HANDEL’s great Opera of RODELINDA, engrav’d on 110 Copper Plates in large 4to, Therefore those Persons who are impower’d to take in Subscriptions are desired forthwith to send in a List of the Subscribers Names to CLUER’s Printing-Office in Bow Church yard, that they may be Engraved before the Work. No Person can subscribe after Tuesday next. Those who subscribe to pay only 15 s. those who do not to pay 18 s. N.B. The Engraving this Opera hath retarded the Publication of their Second Pocket Volume of Opera Songs and Airs, which was proposed to be finish’d this Day: But the same will be now carried on with the utmost Diligence. The whole to be done in the same Character as the Specimen, which may be seen at the P[l]ace abovesaid, and at Mr. CREAKE’s in Jermyn-street, St. James’s, and at the Musick Shops. Subscribers to pay 5 s. down, and 5 s. 6 d. on Delivery of the Book. Note, In this Volume there will be several of Mr. HANDEL’s Song[s] that were never before printed, which cannot be obtained by any other Persons; which Songs alone are worth double the Money the whole Book is sold for. The Operas of TAMERLANE and JULIUS CAESAR may be had at the Places abovesaid.[11] |
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Mr. Heddigger is making Preparations for a Magnificent Ball to Morrow Night at the Opera House in the Hay Market, for the Entertainment of the Knights of the Bath, &c.[12] |
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[Giuseppe Riva to Muratori, 1725] The operas which are given in England, however fine as music, and however well sung, are nevertheless ruined by their poetry. Our friend Rolli who, when the present Academy was formed, was commissioned to write the librettos, began by producing two very good ones, but he then quarrelled with the directors, and they then took into their employment a certain Haym, a Roman violoncellist, a man who was little short of an idiot as far as literature was concerned. Deserting the orchestra for the slopes of Parnassus, he has for the last three years employed himself in adapting a number of old librettos for the use of the composers who write operas for the English stage, making still worse what was bad before. Our friend, Bononcini, however, has been an exception. He has got his librettos from Rome, where they were written by certain pupils of Gravina. If your friend thinks of sending a specimen of his work here, I must warn him that in England people like very few recitatives, thirty airs and one duet at least distributed over the three acts. The subject must be simple, tender, heroic— Roman, Greek or possibly Persian, but never Gothic or Lombard. For this year, and for the next two, there must be two equal parts in the operas for Cuzzoni and Faustina. Senesino takes the principal male character and his part must be heroic. The other three male parts should be arranged proportionally song for song in all three acts. The duet should be at the end of the second act, and entrusted to the two women. If the subject demands three women, a third woman may be employed, as there is a third singer here to take the part. If the Duchess of Marlborough, who gives £500 a year to Bononcini, will allow him to give the Academy an opera, it will be “Andromaca,” which is almost a translation of Racine’s drama, omitting the death of Pyrrhus, cleverly turned into an opera libretto. From it your friend can get an idea of the sort of opera which is popular in England. Meanwhile, if he likes to send a libretto, I will see that it reaches the proper hands, and if it should happen to suit one of our composers, which I do not doubt, I will see that the payment is guaranteed. The packet should be sent to our Jew correspondents in Amsterdam, so that they can pack it in some bale of silk, and hand it over to me as I pass through, in case I should again have cause to revisit the ultimi divisi (i. e., the English).[13] |
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[Giuseppe Riva to Muratori, 1725] In spite of my desire to carry out your wishes, I fear I can be of no use in the matter of the opera which you propose to send me by the post, since our composers have chosen their librettos for the coming season and are already at work upon them. It will be difficult, too, to get anything accepted for another year, as the Academy has its own poet, and the operas that come from Italy cannot serve for this theatre. They have to be reformed, or I should rather say deformed, in order to bring them into the shape which the English public favours. Few verses of recitative and many airs are the fashion here, and this is the reason why none of the best operas of Sig. Apostolo has been performed here, and that the two finest of Metastasio, that is to say “Didone” and “Siroe,” have suffered the same fate. Besides, as it is, we have more poets here than are wanted. Exclusive of the Academy’s poet, there are Rolli and a certain Brillanti, of Pistoja, who is doing so well, that all the others are idle, so it would be throwing good money away for your friend to undertake a journey hither.[14] |
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[Mrs. Pendarves to Mrs. Anne Granville, 22 August 1725] Last Thursday I went to town with Lady Sunderland; we dined at Lord De Lawarr’s, and was very merry. Mrs. Sandoni (who was Cuzzoni), is brought to bed of a daughter: it is a mighty mortification it was not a son. Sons and heirs ought to be out of fashion when such scrubs shall pretend to be dissatisfied at having a daughter: ’tis pity, indeed, that the noble name and family of the Sandoni’s should be extinct! The minute she was brought to bed she sung “La Speranza,” a song in Otho. He has been at an extravagant expense to please that whimsical creature against her lying-in; [118] amongst other superfluous charges, he has bought a very fine looking-glass for the child, and a black laced hood for his wife to see company in at the end of her month: in short there is more talk of her than ever there was of the Princess [of Wales] when she lay in.[15] |
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Last Week there was held a Free Mason’s Lodge at Greenwich; Present his Grace the Duke of Richmond, Grand Master; when, among others, Mr. Heyddigger of the Hay-Market, was admitted a Member of that Society.[16] |
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Yesterday was held, at Merchant-Taylors Hall, the Annual Feast of the most ancient Society of the Free and Accepted Masons, where, as the Appearance was very splendid, and compos’d of a very great Number of Persons of the greatest Quality and Distinction, the Entertainment was every ways suitable to the Occasion: Mr. Heidegger, who, as Grand Steward, directed it, having shewn uncommon Elegance and good Parts in every Part of it, and caus’d it to be serv’d with a Regularity and Order not often seen in Things of that Sort. After Dinner, the Grand Officers for the ensuing Year were declar’d, and entred upon their Office accordingly, viz. The Right Hon. the Lord Paisley, Grand Master. Dr. J. T. Desaguliers, Deputy Master.
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[1] The Daily Journal, no. 1241, Monday 11 January 1725, [2]; repr., William C. Smith, “Handeliana,” Music & Letters 31 (1950), 125-32: 131.
[2] Lowell Lindgren and Colin Timms, “The Correspondence of Agostino Steffani and Giuseppe Riva, 1720-1728, and Related Correspondence with J.P.F. von Schönborn and S.B. Pallavicini,” Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 36 (2003), 1-174: 95.
[3] Lindgren and Timms, “Steffani,” 96-97.
[4] Scottish Record Office, Clerk of Penicuik Deposit, GD 18/5023: Elizabeth Gibson, The Royal Academy of Music, 1719-1728: The Institution and Its Directors (New York and London: Garland, 1989), 215.
[5] The London Journal, no. ccxciii, Saturday 6 March 1724-5, 2.
[6] The London Journal, no. ccxcv, Saturday 20 March 1724-5, [5].
[7] Bodleian Library, MS Add. A.271, f. 46: Elizabeth Gibson, The Royal Academy of Music, 1719-1728: The Institution and Its Directors (New York and London: Garland, 1989), 216.
[8] Translation by Andrew V. Jones (ed.), Georg Friedrich Händel, Rodelinda, Regina de’ Longobardi. Dramma per Musica in tre Atti, HWV 19 (Kassel et al.: Bärenreiter, 2002), XVII.
[9] William C. Smith, “Handeliana,” Music & Letters 31 (1950), 125-32: 125.
[10] The Monthly Catalogue: being an Exact Account of all Books and Pamphlets published in April, M.DCC.XXIV , No. 13, p. 10; published as volume (London: John Wilford, 1725).
[11] The London Journal, no. cci, Saturday 1 May 1725, [3].
[12] The Daily Journal, no. 1378, Wednesday 16 June 1725, [2].
[13] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 433.
[14] R. A. Streatfeild, “Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century,” The Musical Quarterly 3 (1917), 428-45: 434.
[15] The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany, ed, Lady Llanover, 3 vols. (London: Richard Bentley, 1861), 1:117-18.
[16] The Daily Journal, no. 1532, Monday 13 December 1725, [1].
[17] The Daily Post, no. 1953, Tuesday 28 December 1725, [1]; repr. (except last seven lines) Andrew George Pink, “The Musical Culture of Freemasonry in Early Eighteenth-Century London” (PhD dissertation, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2007), 165.