History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time / With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe

by H. Sutherland Edwards

Gizziello (Conti), pupil of Gizzi;

Porporino (Hubert), pupil of Porpora:

To the Name of their Patron; as—

Farinelli (Carlo Broschi), protected by the Farinas, of Naples;

Gabrielli (Catarina), protected by Prince Gabrielli;

Cusanimo (Carestini), protected by the Cusani family of Milan:

To the Part in which they had Particularly Distinguished themselves; as—

Siface (Grossi), who had obtained a triumphant success, as that personage, in Scarlatti's Mitridate.

But the most astonishing of all these nicknames was that given to Lucrezia Aguiari, who, being a natural child, was called publicly, in the playbills and in the newspapers, La Bastardina, or La Bastardella.