Giovanna Maria Farussi

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Zanetta Farussi , actually Giovanna Maria Farussi (possibly also Farusi or Faruso), also " La Buranella " (born August 27, 1708 in Burano ; † November 29, 1776 in Dresden ) was a well-known theater actress of the 18th century and the mother of Italian writer and adventurer Giacomo Casanova .

Life

Giovanna Maria Farussi was probably born in Burano in 1708 as the daughter of Geronimo († 1724) and Marzia Farussi (1669–1743) - hence her nickname "La Buranella" (= "the little Buran woman"). At the age of sixteen she was kidnapped in 1724 by the actor and dancer Gaetano Casanova (1697–1733) and married him against her parents' wishes. The eldest son Giacomo was born in 1725. Maybe he came out of an affair with the patrician Michele Grimani . Like her husband, Zanetta devoted herself to the theater and went with him to London , where she made her debut in 1727/28. Her second son Francesco was born there as well. It is believed that he came from an affair Zanettas with the Prince of Wales and later King George II of Great Britain .

After her return she lived in Venice for several years, played at the Teatro San Samuele and gave birth to four more children. After Gaetano's early death in 1733, she joined Giuseppe Imer's famous cast and played with them in Verona . There she met Carlo Goldoni , who wrote the play La Pupilla ("The Orphan") for her and describes her in his autobiography as a very pretty and skilful widow . Apparently she always played the young lovers in comedy.

In the winter of 1734/35 she played with the patrician family Grimani in Venice and in late 1735 or early 1736 went to St. Petersburg , Russia , to accept an engagement at the court of Tsarina Anna Ivanovna . In 1734 she had sent her court jester Petrillo - a Venetian violinist - to Venice to put together a troupe of actors and musicians. The Italian comedy was not well received at the Russian court, so Zanetta came back to Venice as early as 1737.

A year later she traveled to Dresden, where she got a long-term contract at the court theater and gave her first performance in Pillnitz on May 12, 1738. She later had her surviving daughter and son Giovanni follow and spent many years in Dresden and Warsaw. During the Seven Years' War , the court theater was closed in 1756. Zanetta retired and received 400 thalers a year. In the meantime she fled from enemy bombing from Dresden to Prague, but returned there after the Peace of Hubertusburg , where she died at the age of 68.

children

literature

  • Giacomo Casanova: History of my life , Volume 1, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Leipzig and Weimar 1983, explanations by Günter and Barbara Albrecht.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Momorie de Carlo Goldoni , Firenze 1907, quoted by G. Albrecht in the explanations on Casanova, s. literature
personal data
SURNAME Farussi, Giovanna Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Farussi, Zanetta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Actress and mother of Giacomo Casanova
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1708
PLACE OF BIRTH Burano
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1776
Place of death Dresden