1697–1781, Italian Venetian mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni was brought up by the composers Alessandro (1669–1750) and Benedetto Marcello (1686–1739). She made her debut in Pollarolo’s Ariodante in 1716, and was based in her home city until 1725, singing in operas by her teacher Gasparini, as well as Albinoni and Lotti. Between 1726 and 1728, she performed in ...
1696–1778, Italian Singer Cuzzoni was born and trained in Parma, where she gave her first performance in 1714. She first appeared with Faustina Bordoni in Venice in 1718, and they sang together several times during the early 1720s. Her London debut in Handel’s Ottone (1722) was a sensation. Handel composed notable roles for her including Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare ...
1685–1759 English composer George Frideric Handel is one of the best known of all Baroque composers. His gift for melody, his instinctive sense of drama and vivid scene-painting, and the extraordinary range of human emotions explored in his vocal compositions make his music instantly accessible. Works such as Messiah (1741), Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks ...
1685–1759, German Handel composed 42 operas between 1704 and 1740, but most of these were neglected and seldom performed after his lifetime. In the twentieth century, Handel’s music dramas and in particular his operas underwent a renaissance that has established him as the definitive theatre composer of the late Baroque period. Handel was a maverick composer who pursued ...
1670–1747, Italian Bononcini was orphaned at the age of eight, and moved to Bologna, where he studied music and was accepted into the Accademia Filarmonica in 1686. By 1692, Bononcini had moved to Rome, where he met Silvio Stampiglia. They collaborated on several operas, including Il trionfo di Camilla (‘The Triumph of Camilla’, 1696), which ...
(Yo’-han A’-dolf Has’-se) 1699–1783 German composer and tenor Born just outside Hamburg, Hasse became the leading Italian opera composer of his time. He began his career as a tenor, went to Italy for training (under Alessandro Scarlatti, 1660–1725, and others), and had operas given in Naples; he married Faustina Bordoni (1700–81), a famous soprano who had sung for ...
1685–1732, English A friend and collaborator of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), John Gay invented the genre of ballad opera with The Beggar’s Opera. It premiered on 29 January 1728 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and performed 62 times in its first season. The popular perception that The Beggar’s Opera was an attack on Italian opera is untrue. It ...
The rise of opera in the early Baroque period provided increased musical opportunities for women, especially as singers, but also as composers. One of the earliest female opera singers was Vittoria, who worked for the Medici court in Florence. Her career was overshadowed by that of another Medici employee, the composer and singer Francesca Caccini, who ...
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