Anna Maria Strada

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Anna Maria Strada

Anna Maria Strada del Pò , called la Stradina (* approx. 1703 in Bergamo ; † July 20, 1775 in Naples) was an Italian opera singer ( soprano ), who is mainly known for her participation in many operas and oratorios by Georg Friedrich Handel , including the Ginevra in Ariodante and the title role in Alcina .

Life

Youth and early career

Anna Maria Strada's origins, youth and education have not been thoroughly researched. According to Jean-Benjamin de la Borde, she came from Bergamo. Zsovár thinks that Anna Maria could possibly have been a daughter of the bassist Giuseppe Maria Strada, who was employed in the chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo between 1709 and 1711 and was involved in various opera productions in northern Italy between 1690 and 1715.

The Strada's career cannot be followed without gaps. In 1720 she became virtuosa da camera at the court of the governor of Milan , Count Girolamo (or Hieronymus) von Colloredo -Waldsee, and in the late summer of that year she appeared at the theater there in an opera Aquilio in Siracusa (by Giuseppe Vignati?), Alongside Francesco Borosini .

Anna Maria Strada, caricature by Antonio Maria Zanetti, around 1720–1725

In the same year she sang the role of Rosane in the premiere of La verità in cimento for Antonio Vivaldi at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice . Vivaldi also used it in Milan in 1721 in his opera La Silvia . She sang alongside the castrato Giovan Battista Minelli and the tenor Annibale Pio Fabbri , who later became one of Handel's singers in London with her. In 1722 the street was in Livorno and in 1724 in Lucca.

In the period from 1724 to 1726 she then had an engagement at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples, where she sang in a number of operas alongside the young Farinelli and the contralto Vittoria Tesi , including in Nicola Porporas Semiramide , Leonardo Vincis Eraclea and Astianatte , and in Works by Domenico Sarro and Giovanni Porta . Her first appearance as prima donna was in Leonardo Leo's Zenobia in Palmira in 1725 (also with Farinelli).
During her time in Naples she married Aurelio del Pò (1698–1773), who was temporarily the manager of the theater. Allegedly, she is said to have married him because he could not pay her an agreed fee of 2000 ducats "and offered her marriage as compensation". It is not known where she stayed between 1726 and 1729 or what she did during that period.

At Handel in England 1729–1738

Georg Friedrich Händel engaged the Strada in 1729 together with the alto Antonio Bernacchi , Antonia Merighi , Francesca Bertolli and the tenor Annibale Pio Fabri for his 2nd Opera Academy in London. There Strada had her first appearance as Adelaide in Handel's Lotario . She liked her singing straight away, but the English had a few complaints about their appearance. The Handel admirer Mrs. Pendarves wrote to her sister: "The Strada is the prima donna, her voice is invariably beautiful, her style is perfect, but her personality is very bad and she makes terrible grimaces with her mouth." According to Charles Burney , the singer had it actually not easy with the critical and snobbish English audience: “Strada's personal charm did not help her much in attracting partisans or pleasing the eye to increase the feast for the ears; because she had so little of a Venus in their appearance that they are usually "the pig" ( "the pig" called) ".

In view of its musical qualities, Handel was happy to ignore such outward appearances and made the Strada his prima donna for the next eight years until 1737 . He wrote more roles for her than even for her predecessor Francesca Cuzzoni or her successor, the Francesina . Strada sang in the world premieres of thirteen opera series , of Handel's first oratorios and other works, and also in numerous revivals of older works (e.g. as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare ) and in eight pasticci (including Ormisda (1730), Arbace ( 1734), and Oreste 1734), most of which Handel compiled from music by the then modern Neapolitans Leonardo Vinci, Porpora, Leonardo Leo and Johann Adolph Hasse . Until 1733 she played the title role of Partenope (1730), the roles of Cleofide in Poro (1731), Fulvia in Ezio , Elmira in Sosarme (1732) and Angelica in Orlando (1733) in Handel's own operas . The title roles of the oratorios Esther (1732) and Deborah (1733), and the Josabeth in Athalia (1733) sang the Strada in English , in contrast to other participating Italian singers , without having to complain about it.

Although she never earned as high salaries as before her the Cuzzoni and the Bordoni , or at the same time Antonia Merighi , Strada's connection with Handel was particularly strong early on: when Giovanni Bononcini , Handel's former rival, offered her in a serenata in 1732 Singing about him, she and her husband rejected it as inappropriate and thereby (probably unintentionally) let the whole project fall. And when the following year (1733) all other singers, including Senesino, abandoned Handel and defected to the competing Opera of the Nobility , Anna Maria Strada was the only one who stood by him. As a thank you, Handel gave her a harpsichord made by the instrument maker Shudi, whom he valued . From then on, at the latest, she apparently belonged to Handel's friends and was invited to societies with him, for example in April 1734 with Mrs. Pendarves, who wrote to her sister: “I have to tell you about a little musical conversation I had last week would have; Never have I ever wished that you and my mother had been there. ... Mr. Handel was in the best mood in the world & played lessons & accompanied Strada & all the ladies who sang from 7 am to 11 am. ... Everyone was very relaxed and seemed pleased. "

The roles with which Handel presented the singer in the following years - and with which she now had to sing against the massive competition from Cuzzoni and Farinelli - are in part some of the greatest pearls of baroque opera. In 1734 she sang next to the new primo uomo Giovanni Carestini the title role in the extremely successful Arianna in Creta and above all in 1735 the Ginevra in Ariodante and the title role of the sorceress Alcina . 1736–1737 followed Atalanta , Tusnelda in Arminio , Arianna in Giustino and the title role in Berenice ; the last four together with the castrato soprano Gioacchino Conti, known as Gizziello . The Strada also sang in the world premiere of Handel's Alexanderfest in 1736 .

During her time in England, Anna Maria Strada went from being a not yet well known singer to becoming a celebrity. She also had excellent contacts with the royal family and seems to have got on especially well with Princess Anne , who herself was a student of Handel and a great music lover and gave private concerts at court. Even after the princess was married to Prince Willem of Orange-Nassau in 1734 , the Strada invited her to Holland in 1736.

When the two competing London opera companies collapsed in June 1737, Handel had to team up with the rest of the aristocratic opera at the King's Theater; thereby "he sacrificed Strada's commitment for the season 1737-38". But first the composer suffered a physical and mental breakdown and owed Strada (and other singers) a considerable part of their salary. According to Burney, her husband Aurelio del Pó is said to have threatened him to sue for the missing sum. Hawkins reports, however, that the Strada was generous enough to accept promissory notes , and according to other sources, Handel was able to pay them off after a " Benefit " concert in his favor held on March 28, 1738 at the Theater at the Haymarket. A proposal for another Italian opera season (1738–39) with Strada and Caffarelli at the helm found the support of the singer, but did not materialize in this form because the soprano refused and not enough subscribers had been found. So the Strada left England in June 1738.

Return to Italy

Before she finally returned to Italy, she accepted an invitation from Princess Anne to Holland again in the summer of that year.

Then she went to Naples , where she performed together with her former London colleague Senesino in the brand new Teatro San Carlo . At the Turin Carnival in 1740 she sang alongside Gizziello (Gioacchino Conti) and Francesca Bertolli in Galuppi's Adriano in Siria and in Leos Achille in Sciro .
Her last appearance on the opera stage was in January 1741 at the San Carlo in Naples in the opera Alceste in Ebuda by Gaetano Latilla , with Caffarelli as primo uomo .

She then lived with her husband Aurelio in a house belonging to Caffarelli on Via Carminiello in Naples.

Anna Maria Strada del Pò died a year and a half after her husband on July 20, 1775 in the parish of Sant'Anna del Palazzo in Naples at the age of 72.

Voice and art

Anna Maria Strada is considered to be Handel's favorite singer, who, in Burney's opinion, first shaped her. She had to sing in England against the memory of her two famous predecessors, Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni , and was compared to both. Similar to the Cuzzoni, the Strada was a high soprano with great expressiveness, on the other hand it had virtuoso qualities similar to Bordoni. The roles that Handel wrote for Strada's voice are generally in the ambitus from c 'to b' '', only in exceptional cases did he require a high c '' '(in Partenope , 1730) and a low b (in Ezio , 1732). In 1737 in the late pasticcio Didone he gave her the aria "Ritorna a lusingarmi" (originally for Margherita Giacomazzi from Vivaldis Griselda , 1735), which was attributed to Orlandini , where a low a occurs. In revivals of older operas, Handel mostly had her sing roles of the Cuzzoni, but enriched with bravura arias that he had originally composed for Bordoni or for a virtuoso castrato (and which sometimes had to be transposed upwards ).

Caution should be exercised with Burney's claim that Strada was "rough or rough" when she arrived in England. In truth, she must have been a very good singer before: Quantz , who heard her in Naples in 1725, mentions her in the same breath as Farinelli and the famous Vittoria Tesi , with whom she has worked in a number of operas, and that all three of them "Shone". And when Strada came to England in late 1729 and sang to the royal family, Princess Amelia wrote that the singer had one

“… Charming voice, and we think it is superior to all its predecessors. She is extremely good and easy and has exactly the way Cuzzoni speaks. "

- Princess Amelia : in a letter to her governess Lady Portland, October 11, 1729

Even the librettist Paolo Rolli , who was anything but impartial because he harbored a hostile grudge against Handel and his new opera academy and was friends with rival Italians, expressed himself quite positively in 1729, shortly after the Strada arrived in London about them (albeit with some reluctance):

“The Strada is very popular and from high above ( from Alto = Handel!) They say that it sings better than the two previous ones ...
The Signora Strada has all the fluency of Faustina, and all the sweetness of Cuzzoni, .... , the truth is that said virtuoso is a simple copy of Faustina, with a better voice and better intonation , but without its brio and grace. "

- Paolo Antonio Rolli

Others said that Strada surpassed its two predecessors, had a beautiful ( “fine” ) and enchanting ( “ravishing” ) voice, and also had a musical science, and that her playing was good too. Burney, too, later attributes musical “knowledge and feeling” to the Strada ( “possessed of science and feeling” ), and highlights some “extremely lively, spiritually sparkling” ( “Extremely spirited” ) arias that Handel wrote for it. However, she was also capable of the deepest expression, such as in Alcina's “Ah mio cor, schernito sei” and “Ombre pallide” .

“But he made the best find in Signora Strada, a true pearl of song. ...
It certainly gave him great satisfaction to get along with a singer with whom the Faustina cult was impossible from the start. Similar in voice to the Cuzzoni, she learned to move much better on stage, and seems to have no trace of the falsehood of her famous lead singer. A cordial friendship developed between her and the sound engineer, which has proven to be lasting even in very eventful times. "

- Friedrich Chrysander : Georg Friedrich Händel , Vol. II, pp. 234 and 373

literature

  • Irene Brandenburg: Strada del Pò, Anna Maria, called la Stradina , in: Music in Past and Present (MGG) ( online )
  • Nicholas Clapton: Anna Maria Strada del Pò in: Annette Landgraf, David Vickers: The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia , Cambridge University Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-88192-0 , pp. 619f.
  • Winton Dean : Strada del Pò, Anna Maria , on Grove Music online , 2001 (full access only with subscription; English; accessed November 25, 2019)
  • "Anna Maria Strada dite Stradina" , article online at Quell'usignolo (French; accessed November 25, 2019)
  • Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , dissertation at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2016
  • Judit Zsovár: Successor to the “Rival Queens”: The London Engagement of Handel's Faithful Soprano, Anna Maria Strada del Pò , in: Händel-Jahrbuch 62 2016, Halle (Saale), pp. 415–428

Individual proof

  1. ↑ a b c d Irene Brandenburg: Strada del Pò, Anna Maria, called la Stradina , in: Music in Past and Present (MGG) ( online )
  2. ↑ "Anna Maria Strada dite Stradina" , article online at Quell'usignolo (French; accessed November 25, 2019)
  3. ↑ According to the entry in the death register of the community of Sant'Anna di Palazzo, Naples, Lib. 19 ° Def., Folio 71. See: Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , dissertation at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2016, p. 7 and footnote 1
  4. ↑ a b Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , dissertation at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2016, p. 7 and footnote 1
  5. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , dissertation at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, 2016, p 8 and footnote 9
  6. ^ Aquilio in Siracusa (Giuseppe Vignati) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  7. ^ La verità in cimento (Antonio Vivaldi) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  8. ^ La Silvia (Antonio Vivaldi) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  9. ↑ a b c Winton Dean: Strada del Pò, Anna Maria , on Grove Music online , 2001 (English; accessed November 25, 2019)
  10. ^ Semiramide, regina dell'Assiria (Nicola Porpora) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  11. ^ Eraclea (Leonardo Vinci) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  12. ^ Astianatte (Leonardo Vinci) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  13. ^ Tito Sempronio Gracco (Domenico Natale Sarro) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  14. ^ Amore e fortuna (Giovanni Porta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  15. ^ La Lucinda fedele (Giovanni Porta) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  16. ^ Zenobia in Palmira (Leonardo Leo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  17. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 43
  18. ↑ As of 2019
  19. ^ "La Strada is the first woman, her voice is without exception fine, her Manner to perfection, but her Person very bad and she makes frightfull mouths." (Letter of November 29/30, 1729). Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 80
  20. ↑ "Strada's personal charms did not assist her in much conciliating parties, or disposing the eye to augment the pleasures of the ear; for she had so little in a Venus in her appearance, that she was usually called the “Pig”. “(Charles Burney: A General History of Music , Vol. IV, p. 342). Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 81
  21. ^ Roles for "Anna Maria Strada", on the ossia editions website (accessed October 31, 2019)
  22. ↑ List of all works in which Strada sang in London and detailed discussion of the pasticci in Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice ,…, 2016, pp. 90–91 and p. 134 -148
  23. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, pp. 90–91
  24. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, pp 93-95
  25. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, pp 97-98
  26. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, p. 360.
  27. ↑ = harpsichord pieces or suites ; Note d. Trans.
  28. ↑ “I must tell you of a little entertainment of music I had last week, I never wish'd more heartily for you & My Mother than on that occasion. … Mr Hendel was in the best humor in the world, & played Lessons & accompanied Strada & all the Ladies that sung from seven o'th'clock till Eleven. … Every Body was easy and seem'd pleas'd. ”(Letter of April 12, 1734 to Anne Granville). Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 97 & footnote 101
  29. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 95
  30. ↑ a b Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice ,…, 2016, pp. 101-102
  31. ↑ Charles Burney: A General History of Music, Vol. IV , p. 426. Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 101
  32. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 103
  33. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 95
  34. ^ Adriano in Siria (Baldassare Galuppi) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  35. ^ Adriano in Siria (Leonardo Leo) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  36. ↑ Alceste in Ebuda (Gaetano latilla) in Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  37. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 267, respectively.
  38. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p.7, footnote 1 and S. 267, respectively.
  39. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, pp. 91–92
  40. ↑ The arias in question are “L'amor ed il destin” (Partenope) and “Ah! non son io che parlo ”(Ezio). Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice ,…, 2016, pp. 161–162 (Partenope), pp. 180 and 186 (Ezio).
  41. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of voice of uncommon , ..., 2016, p 146th
  42. ↑ Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice ,…, 2016, Chapter 4: “In the Midst of Operatic Business”, pp. 107-133
  43. ↑ Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, pp. 91–92
  44. ↑ Johann Joachim Quantz: "Mr. Johann Joachim Quantzens Lebenslauf", In: Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg: Historisch-Kritische Beyträger zuraufnahme der Musik , pp. 197-250, here: pp. 226–227, on Wikimedia (accessed on November 29th 2019)
  45. ↑ ( "… 'charming voice, [we] think her beyond all her predecessors. She is mighty good and easie and hath exactly the way of talking of Cozzony'." ) Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 87)
  46. ↑ The Latin ab Alto ("from the height", "from above") was Rolli's nickname for Handel, according to general opinion.
  47. ^ "La Strada incontra molto ed ab Alto si dice che canta meglio delle due passate, ..." Rolli to Riva, December 11, 1729 (in: George Frideric Handel: Collected Documents Volume 2 , p. 331). Here after Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 88, footnote 62
  48. ↑ Tempo (music) # Additional additions
  49. ^ "La Sig [nor] a Stradina à tutta La rapidità della Faustina, e tutta La Dolcezza della Cuzzona,…, la Verità e che la d [ett] a Virtuosa è una Copia semplice della Faust [in] a con miglior voce e migliore intonazione, ma senza il brio e il garbo di quella ” . Letter from Paolo Antonio Rolli to Riva, November 6, 1729 (in: George Frideric Handel: Collected Documents Volume 2 , pp. 316-317). Here after: Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 88, footnote 63.)
  50. ↑ "... If their Voices were fine, their Actions [sic] was insipid, or they had very little skill in the Theory of Music. On the other side, if they were distinguish'd for the beauty of their action, or their skill in the science, their voices were indifferent. But as for la Strada , she boasts a very great Perfection in the two last mention'd Particulars; and as for her Action, which indeed is the most unessential Part of an Italian Opera here in England, I am persuaded it will be far from displeasing. … ” (Letter in“ The Weekly Medley, and Literary Journal ”, December 6th, 1729, about the public dress rehearsals on November 24th and 28th of Handel's Lotario . Here after: Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna : Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 89)
  51. ↑ z. B .: “Scherza in mar, Menti eterne” ( Lotario ), “L'amor ed il destin, Sì, scherza, sì” ( Partenope ), “Ah! non son io che parlo "(Ezio)," Dite pace "( Sosarme )," Sdegno amore "( Arianna in Creta )," Custodite, o dolci sogni "( Atalanta )," Và, combatti ancor da forte "( Arminio ) . Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice ,…, 2016, pp. 91–92
  52. ↑ Friedrich Chrysander: Georg Friedrich Händel , Vol. II, p. 234 and 373. Here after: Judit Zsovár: Anna Maria Strada del Pò, Handel's Prima Donna: Portrait of an uncommon voice , ..., 2016, p. 105

Web links

Commons : Anna Maria Strada  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Strada, Anna Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Strada del Pò, Anna Maria (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1703
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Bergamo
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1775
Place of death Naples