ASTORGA, EMANUELE D’ (1681-1736), Italian musical composer, was born at Naples on the 11th of December 1681. No authentic account of Astorga’s life can be successfully constructed from the obscure and confusing evidence that has been until now handed down, although historians have not failed to indulge many pleasant conjectures. According to some of these, his father, a baron of Sicily, took an active part in the attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke, but was betrayed by his own soldiers and publicly executed. His wife and son were compelled to be spectators of his fate; and such was the effect upon them that his mother died on the spot, and Emanuele fell into a state of gloomy despondency, which threatened to deprive him of reason. By the kindness of the princess Ursini, the unfortunate young man was placed in a convent at Astorga, in Leon, where he completed a musical education which is said to have been begun in Palermo under Francesco Scarlatti. Here he recovered his health, and his admirable musical talents were cultivated under the best masters. On the details of this account no reliance can safely be placed, nor is there any certainty that in 1703 he entered the service of the duke of Parma. Equally untrustworthy is the story that the duke, suspecting an attachment between hi? niece Elizabeth Farnese and Astorga, dismissed the musician. The established facts concerning Astorga are indeed few enough. They are: that the opera Dafne was written and conducted by the composer in Barcelona in 1709; that he visited London, where he wrote his Stabat Mater, possibly for the society of “Antient Musick”; that it was performed in Oxford in 1713; that in 1712 he was in Vienna, and that he retired at an uncertain date to Bohemia, where he died on the 21st of August 1736, in a castle which had been given to him in the domains of Prince Lobkowitz, in Raudnitz. Astorga deserves remembrance for his dignified and pathetic Stabat Mater, and for his numerous chamber-cantatas for one or two voices. He was probably the last composer to carry on the traditions of this form of chamber-music as perfected by Alessandro Scarlatti.
ASTORGA, a city of N.W. Spain, in the province of Leon; situated near the right bank of the river Tuerto, and at the junction of the Salamanca-Corunna and Leon-Astorga railways. Pop. (1900) 5573. Astorga was the Roman Asturica Augusta, a provincial capital, and the meeting-place of four military roads. Though sacked by the Goths in the 5th century, and later by the Moors, it is still surrounded by massive walls of Roman origin. A ruined castle, near the city, recalls its strategic importance in the 8th century, when Asturias, Galicia and Leon were the headquarters of resistance to the Moors. Astorga has been the see of a bishop since the 3rd century, and was formerly known as the City of Priests, from the number of ecclesiastics resident within its walls. Its Gothic cathedral dates from the 15th century. The city confers the title of marquis on the Osorio family, the ruins of whose palace, sacked in 1810 by the French, are still an object of interest.
For the history, especially the ecclesiastical history, of Astorga, see the anonymous Historia de la ciudad de Astorga (Valladolid, 1840); with Fundación de la ... iglesia ... de Astorga, by P.A. Ezpeleta (Madrid, 1634); and Fundación, nombre y armas de ... Astorga, by P. Junco (Pamplona, 1635).
ASTORIA, a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of Clatsop county, Oregon, U.S.A., on the Columbia river, 8 m. from its mouth. Pop. (1890) 6184; (1900) 8381, of whom 3779 were foreign-born (many being Finns,—a Finnish weekly was established here in 1905), and 601 were Chinese; (1910, census) 9599. It is served by the Astoria & Columbia River railroad (Northern Pacific System), and by several coastwise and foreign steamship lines (including that of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co.). The river here is about 6 m. wide, and the city has a water-front of about 5 m. and a deep, spacious and placid harbour. By dredging and the construction of jetties the Federal government has since 1885 greatly improved the channel at the mouth of the river. The business portion of the city occupies the low ground of the river bottom; the residence portion is on the hillsides overlooking the harbour. Astoria is the port of entry for the Oregon Customs District, Oregon; in 1907 its imports were valued at $21,262, and its exports at $329,103. The city is especially important as a salmon fishing and packing centre (cod, halibut and smaller fish also being abundant); it has also an extensive lumber trade, important lumber manufactories, pressed brick and terra-cotta factories, and dairy interests. In 1905 the value of the factory product was $3,092,628 (of which $1,759,871 was the value of preserved and canned fish), being an increase of 41.8% in five years. Astoria is the oldest American settlement in the Columbia Valley. It was founded in 1811, as a depot for the fur trade, by John Jacob Astor, in whose honour it was named. It was seized by the British in 1813, but was restored in 1818. In 1821, while occupied by the North-West Fur Company, it was burned and practically abandoned, only a few settlers remaining. It was chartered as a city in 1876.
See Washington Irving’s Astoria; or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains (Philadelphia, 1836).
ASTRAEA, in Greek legend, the “star maiden,” daughter of Zeus and Themis, or of Astraeus the Titan and Eos, in which case she is identified with Dikē. During the golden age she remained among men distributing blessings, but when the iron (or bronze) age came on, she was forced to withdraw, being the last of the goddesses to quit the earth. In the heavens she is amongst the signs of the zodiac as the constellation Virgo. She is usually represented with a pair of scales and a crown of stars.
Ov. Met. i. 150; Juv. vi. 19; Aratus, Phaenomena, 96.