Margherita Durastanti

A caricature showing Margherita Durastanti during her time as prima donna of the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, between 1709 and 1712.

Margherita Durastanti , sometimes also Durastante , (born around 1680/85 in Veneto ; died after 1734) was one of the most famous Italian opera singers of the first half of the 18th century. She sang in the voices soprano and mezzo-soprano . Georg Friedrich Handel wrote a number of roles in operas and oratorios especially for the singer. The Durastanti interpreted Handel roles in Rome, Venice, London and Paris, but also sang in operas, oratorios and serenades by Ariosti , Baldassari , Bononcini , Caldara , Gasparini , Lotti , Pollarolo , A. Scarlatti , Ziani and others.

life and work

Little is known about Durastini's life beyond his artistic activity. She was presumably born in Veneto around 1680 to 1685 . The first appearances are recorded in Venice and Mantua. In Venice she sang in an unspecified pasticcio at an unknown time in 1700 , but the libretto lists a vocal ensemble called "virtuosi della corte di Mantova" [virtuosos of the court of Mantua]. In the same and in the following year she appeared in two operas there - in Mantua - in 1703 in Casale.

From 1707 she was in the service of Francesco Maria Marescotti Ruspoli (1672–1731), who was appointed by Pope Clement XI in 1709 . for military service to the Papal States was raised to the prince's status and from then on was named Marchese von Cerveteri . He employed - also from 1707 - for two years as private conductor Georg Friedrich Händel . This is how the singer and composer met. The Duranstanti received a monthly salary of 20 scudi from Ruspoli and was the only one of the singers who was regularly paid by him.

Handel's singer

In 1707 Durastanti sang the world premiere of Armida abbandonata ( HWV 105) and on Easter Sunday in 1708 Maria Maddalena in the Oratorio per la resurrettione di Nostro Signor Giesù Cristo [Oratorio on the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ] (HWV 47), also a world premiere . It took place in the Palazzo Bonelli of her employer Ruspoli under the direction of Arcangelo Corelli and was repeated the following day (see Francesco Valesio: Diario di Roma ). Despite the private nature of the production, the oratorio aroused papal suspicions because a woman was involved as a singer. Durastanti had to be replaced by a castrato named Filippo or Pippo when it was repeated on Easter Monday . The work was also accused of being an oratorio that hardly differs musically from an opera . At that time - in order to increase the religiousness in the city and to combat the general moral decline - all theater and opera performances were prohibited. A number of invoice documents in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano show, however, that craft businesses were commissioned with the construction of the stage and decorations and around 1,500 printed libretti show that, including three public rehearsals, around 300 listeners were present per performance.

Both the Armida abbandonata and the Maria Maddalena were specially designed for her voice by the German composer, whom the Fama says he was in love with. Other works by Handel for Durastanti were the duets Arresta il passo and O comechiare e belle , the French cantata Sans y penser and the Spanish No se emenderá iamas . Amarilli vezzosa “Il duello amoroso” (HWV 82) was also composed for her , premiered in August 1708, also in Rome. In August 1709 she sang the serenade Chi s'armadi virtù, vince ogni affanno of Caldara , at a festival in Ruspoli in the Palazzo Bonelli, at which three cardinals were present.

From 1709 to 1712 she was prima donna at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo , the first opera house in Venice at the time, where she played the title role in Handel's Agrippina . Appearances in Bologna and Reggio nell'Emilia in 1710 are also recorded, in 1713 in Milan and again in Reggio nell'Emilia, in 1714 in Parma, 1715 in Florence and again in Rome. In the autumn and winter of 1715/16 she made a guest appearance in Naples, where she appeared together with the famous castrato Senesino and celebrated triumphs in operas by Gasparini , Lotti , Pollarolo , A. Scarlatti and Ziani .

In 1719 she made a guest appearance - with a princely fee - together with Giuseppe Maria Boschi , Senesino and Vittoria Tesi in Dresden. The guest performance was canceled due to disagreements between Senesino and the Elector Saxon Kapellmeister Johann David Heinichen and the entire company was dismissed by August the Strong . Thereupon the troops were immediately committed to London by Handel.

Years in England

Margherita Durastanti is the singer who has worked with Handel the longest and who has remained loyal to him even in difficult times. Overall, she was hired three times by her friend Giorgio to London, twice in the period from 1720 to 1724 and a third time in the season 1733/34 - the last recorded appearances of her career.

In the autumn of 1721 and / or the following winter she sang in Munich, in May 1722 a performance in the oratorio La santità riconciliata col mondo by Pietro Baldassari in the Teatro Marsigli-Rossi in Bologna is documented. She returned to London in the second half of 1722.

The second London phase includes appearances from December 4, 1722 - as Rossane in Handel's Floridante - to June 13, 1724 - as Lincestes in Ariostis Aquilio . But it could also have appeared in Bononcini's Ciro in November 1722 . After the end of her engagements in London, she traveled with colleagues to Paris, where she sang in private performances in the house of Pierre Crozat in the Handel operas Ottone and Giulio Cesare in Egitto .

Characteristic of the voice

Although their voices had the classic range of a soprano , they were darker in color and more similar to a mezzo-soprano and also expanded in depth over the years. Perhaps this resulted in her great success, especially in trouser roles written for her by Handel and other composers. Their versatility allowed the Durastanti to interpret roles that were completely different in character and degree . A special gift was the interpretation of arias in dialogue with an instrument. For example, her composition of the aria Figlio di un bel valore in Astarto was done by Bononcini (1720), only accompanied by a violoncello .

The Durastanti was also often the target of derision, ridicule and caricatures, which related in particular to their excess weight.

From 1734 all traces are lost. Nothing is known about her further life, the time and place of her death or about her grave.

literature

• Winton Dean , John Merrill Knapp : Handel's Operas 1704–1726. The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-525-7 (Operas)
• Winton Dean : Durastanti, Margherita . In: L. Macy (Ed.): Grove Music Online , grovemusic.com (English; access for a fee)
• C. Steven LaRue: Handel and his Singers . Oxford 1995, pp. 80-104 (English)
• C. Steven LaRue: Handel and His Singers: The Creation of the Royal Academy Operas, 1720-1728 . In: Music & Letters , May 1996, No. 77, pp. 272 ​​ff. (English)
• Ernst Rüdiger Voggenreiter: Studies on the operas by Attilio Ariosti . 1978

Web links

• Roberto Staccioli: DURASTANTI, Margherita , Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 42 (1993), available online at Treccani, La cultura italiana treccani.it (ital.)
• Margherita Durastanti and the Love of Singing , website about the singer
• List of operas with Margherita Durastanti , part 1
• List of operas with Margherita Durastanti , part 2

annotation

1. ↑ Roberto Staccioli writes in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani that the Pope was personally present at the premiere. In this case, the occupation of Maria Magdalena with the Durastanti would have represented a massive affront to the Holy Father, as the latter had forbidden the use of female voices by decree.