[ FAUSTINA BORDONI. ] 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. ] CATARINA GABRIELLI.
The Cardinal and the Daughter of the Cook.—The Young Prima Donna's
Début 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. ] 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 BILLINGTON AND HER CONTEMPORARIES.
Elizabeth Weichsel's Runaway Marriage.—__Début__ 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 English
Stage.—Anecdotes of her Career and her Retirement from
England.—Grassini and Napoleon.—The Italian Prima Donna disputes
Sovereignty with Mrs. Billington.—Her Qualities as an Artist.—Mrs.
Billington's Retirement from the Stage and Declining Years
[ ANGELICA CATALANI. ] ANGELICA CATALANI.
The Girlhood of Catalani.—She makes her __Début__ in Florence.
—Description of her Marvelous Vocalism.—The Romance of Love and
Marriage.—Her Preference for the Concert Stage.—She meets Napoleon in
Paris.—Her Escape from France and Appearance in London.—Opinions
of Lord Mount Edgcumbe and other Critics.—Anecdotes of herself and
Husband.—The Great Prima Donna's Character.—Her Gradual Divergence
from Good Taste in singing.—Bon Mots of the Wits of the Day.—The
Opera-house Riot.—Her Husband's Avarice.—Grand Concert Tour through
Europe.—She meets Goethe.—Her Return to England and Brilliant
Reception.—She sings with the Tenor Braham.—John Braham's Artistic
Career.—The Davides.—Catalani's Last English Appearance, and the
Opinion of Critics.—Her Retirement and Death
[ GIUDITTA PASTA. ] GIUDITTA PASTA.
Greatness of Genius overcoming Disqualification.—The Characteristic
Lesson of Pasta's Life.—Her First Appearance and Failure.—Pasta
returns to Italy and devotes herself to Study.—Her First Great
Successes in 1819.—Characteristics of her Voice and Singing.—Chorley's
Review of the Impressions made on him by Pasta.—She makes her Triumphal
Début in Paris.—Talma on Pasta's Acting.—Her Performances of
"Giulietta" and "Tancredi."—Medea, Pasta's Grandest Impersonation, is
given to the World.—Description of the Performance.—Enthusiasm of the
Critics and the Public.—Introduction of Pasta to the English Public in
Rossini's "Otello."—The Impression made in England.—Recognized as
the Greatest Dramatic Prima Donna in the World.—Glances at the Salient
Facts of her English Career.—The Performance of "Il Crociato in
Egitto."—She plays the Male Rôle "Otello."—Rivalry with Malibran
and Sontag.—The Founder of a New School of Singing.—Pasta creates the
Leading Rôles in Bellini's "Sonnambula" and "Norma" and Donizetti's
"Anna Bolena."—Decadence and Retirement
[ HENRIETTA SONTAG. ] The Greatest German Singer of the Century.—Her Characteristics as an
Artist.—Her Childhood and Early Training.—Her Early Appearances in
Weimar, Berlin, and Leipsic.—She becomes the Idol of the Public.—Her
Charms as a Woman and Romantic Incidents of her Youth.—Becomes
affianced to Count Rossi.—Prejudice against her in Paris, and her
Victory over the Public Hostility.—She becomes the Pet of Aristocratic
Salons.—Rivalry with Malibran.—Her Début in London, where she
is welcomed with Great Enthusiasm.—Returns to Paris.—Anecdotes of her
Career in the French Capital.—She becomes reconciled with Malibran in
London.—Her Secret Marriage with Count Rossi.—She retires from the
Stage as the Wife of an Ambassador.—Return to her Profession after
Eighteen Years of Absence.—The Wonderful Success of her Youth
renewed.—Her American Tour.—Attacked with Cholera in Mexico and dies.

GREAT SINGERS,

FROM FAUSTINA BORDONI TO HENRIETTA SONTAG.

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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.

During the early portion of the eighteenth century the art of the stage excited the interests and passions of the English public to a degree never equaled since. Politics and religion hardly surpassed it in the power of creating cabals and sects and in stirring up animosities. This was specially marked in music. The great Handel, who had not then found his true vocation as an oratorio composer, was in the culmination of his power as manager of the opera, though he was irritated by hostile factions. The musical quarrels of the time were almost as interesting as the Gluck-Piccini war in Paris in the latter part of the same century, and the literati took part in it with a zest and wit not less piquant and noticeable. Handel, serenely grand in his musical conceptions, was personally passionate and fretful; and the contest of satire, scandal, and witticism raged without intermission between him and his rivals, supported on each hand by princes and nobles, and also by the great dignitaries of the republic of letters. In this tumult the singers (always a genus irritabile, like the race of poets) who belonged to the opera companies took an active part.