1   Mozart’s Pathetic Prima Donna: Adriana Ferrarese del Bene and her Career in Rondòs by Karl Böhmer In her fundamental essay about Adriana Ferrarese del Bene from 1996, Patricia Lewy Gidwitz summarized the singer`s career in the following terms: Certain reports not withstanding, Ferrarese seems to have been far from a great artist; her successes were modest and she never before or after attained the artistic triumph she achieved in the Mozart-Da Ponte operas.”1 This judgment seems to underestimate Ferrarese’s Italian career and her “artistic triumph” in operatic centers like Florence, Milan or Genoa. In tragic roles such as Ifigenia, Didone or Alceste she celebrated major successes, appearing at the side of such eminent primi uomini as Luigi Marchesi, Gaspare Pacchierotti and Domenico Bedini. Thus she came to Vienna as an approved tragedian, yet with substantial experience in opera buffa, which she had gained in London. She further developed both sides of her talent as Susanna or Fiordiligi, but also in the operas of Salieri, Martín y Soler, Weigl and Guglielmi. John A. Rice analyzed the series of her Viennese Rondòs2 and her success in operas like Guglielmi’s La pastorella nobile.3 By his brilliant research he widened the image of a singer who was revered for her pathetic style, while being all but a complete failure in opera buffa. In the present article I shall try to demonstrate how consequently Ferrarese built her career on the two-tempo Rondò as the epitome of her pathetic style. While Gidwitz meticulously described her vocal strengths and weaknesses, her knowledge of Ferrarese’s early Italian years was still limited in 1996. Only nine years later, Pier Giuseppe Gillio published new documents on her notorious flight from the Venetian Ospedale de’ Mendicanti and the aftermath of that scandal.4 The present article takes the latter as its starting point, following Ferrarese’s steps from her first career moves in Venice, Tuscany and London through her first triumphs in Italy up to the turning point of her career: her move to Vienna in summer 1788. The second part contains a discussion of several of her early Rondòs, the third part conveys a survey of her later career after 1791.                                                                                                                 1 Patricia Lewy Gidwitz, “Mozart’s Fiordiligi: Adriana Ferrarese del Bene”, in: Cambridge Opera Journal 8/3 (1996), p. 199. Cp. also Gidwitz, Vocal Profiles of Four Mozart Sopranos, Ph. D. dissertation, Berkeley 1991. 2 John A. Rice, “Rondò vocali di Mozart e Salieri per Adriana Ferrarese”, in: Il teatro musicale tra Sette e Ottocento (Chapter: I vicini di Mozart), ed. by M. T. Muraro and David Bryant, Firenze 1989, p. 185-209; “A Bohemian Composer Meets a Mozart Singer: Kozeluch’s Rondò for Adriana Ferrarese”, in: Mozart in Prague. Essays on Performance, Patronage, Sources, and Reception. Congress report Prague 2009, ed., by Kathryn L. Libin, Prague 2016, p. 201-226 (Tables on p. 212-214: Rondòs written for or sung by Adriana Ferrarese in Vienna 1788-1791). Antonio Salieri and Viennese Opera, Chicago 1998, p. 427-429, 449-457 and 479-487. See also his dissertation: Emperor and Impresario: Leopold II. and the Transformation of Viennese Musical Theater, 1790-92, Ph. D. Dissertation (Berkeley 1987), Appendix 4, p. 408. 3 John A. Rice, “La Folia in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Vienna”, in: Festschrift Otto Biba zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. by Ingrid Fuchs, Tutzing 2006, p. 85-96, posted in a revised form on academia.edu on 8 October 2015. 4 Pier Giuseppe Gillio, „’Le donne di teatro non hanno pregiudizij’. Notizie inedite sulla fuga dell’Ospedale dei Mendicanti di Adriana Ferrarese, virtuosa friulana e interprete mozartiana”, in: Musica e storia XIII/3 (2005), p. 425-451. Gillio presented his paper in November 2002 at the conference Musica e cultura in Friuli nel rapporto con Mozart. He ultimately clarified the old mix-up of Adriana Ferrarese with the Venetian contralto Francesca Gabrieli, whom Charles Burney in 1770 called “la Ferrarese”, although the latter name was in fact given to still another singer, Ippolita Santi. Both were active at the Ospedaletto, not at the Mendicanti, and they were several years older than Adriana Ferrarese from Udine. Cp. ibid., p. 425, n. 1.    2   Part I: Ferrarese’s Early Career in Rondòs 1. Her Venetian aria collection and her first Rondòs Only in 2005, when Pier Giuseppe Gillio published new source material on Ferrarese’s spectacular flight from the Ospedale dei Mendicanti on 8 January 1783, it became clear why her early years on the stage excluded such important centers as Venice, Padua or Bologna: The machinations of her father-in-law, Consul Antonio del Bene, prevented her from appearing on the stages of the Serenissima Repubblica or in the Church State. It was father del Bene who persuaded Adriana to flee from the Ospedale for the sake of an operatic career, but it was his son, Luigi del Bene, whom she chose as her lover and companion in the flight. Only 36 hours later she was arrested at Portogruaro together with Luigi and with her younger colleague Bianca Sacchetti. She was brought back to Venice in shame, after she had been found “in bed with that Luigi, calling each other husband and wife, since only the ceremony of the church was missing“.5 A midwife had to examine Adriana and Bianca in order to find out if the two refugees had lost their virginity during the flight. In her report she wrote the following characteristic lines about the former: “She is foolishly claiming that the relation she has established is marital after executing it somewhat impatiently while travelling together on the same boat, without being disconcerted by the witnesses.”6 Consequently the magistrate found the presence of her “who notoriously has lost the status of a virgin in a place dedicated to zitelle”7 intolerable. Until the end of Lenten she was kept in custody, but on Easter Sunday a friend of her father’s brought her back to her hometown Udine.8 Not for long she returned to Venice, since her marriage to the young del Bene finally found the blessing of the church and the authorities. While Luigi stayed in Pesaro, the hometown of his family, the wedding was celebrated by proxy on 23 May 1783, after a papal breve had forced Consul del Bene to give his consent.9 For the moment Luigi’s father had to grin and bear it. Later, however, he persecuted his daughter-in-law in every possible way in order to destroy her career. Since he was Consul of the Holy See to the Serenissima Repubblica, he managed to persuade the authorities of both states to interdict any appearances of hers in Venetian theaters or academies and in those theaters of the Church State where women were allowed to sing.10 Therefore her radius as a rising star in the Italian system of opera seria was much more restricted than it normally would have been.                                                                                                                 5 Ibid., p. 437, Documento 1. Memoriale dei Presidenti dei Mendicanti inoltrato al Consiglio dei Dieci (13 gennaio 1783): “avendo in Letto ritrovato la Ferrarese con esso Luigi, che gli ha detto Marito, e Moglie, ne ricercarvisi se non la cerimonia della Chiesa”. 6 Ibid., p. 443, Documento 10. Relazione ginecologica della levatrice (s.d.): “Di fatto essa ingenuamente protesta d’essersi prestata al congiungimento che chiama Maritale, anche con qualche impazienza avendolo eseguito nel viaggio di andata nella stessa barca, senza rimanere sconcertata dai testimonij”. 7 Ibid., p. 448, Documento 15. Lettera di Capitanachi al padre di Adriana (22 marzo 1783): “Ma non crede il Mag[istra]to né può permettere che faccia più lunga dimora in un luogo destinato a zitelle mentre ha notoriamente perduto questo carattere”. 8 In 1999, Lorenzo Nassimbeni published her birthdate 19 September 1759 and her birthplace Valvasone, he described her coming of age in Udine and the beginning of her studies in Venice in 1778. Lorenzo Nassimbeni, Paganini, Rossini e la Ferrarese. Presenze musicali a Udine e in Friuli tra Settecento e Ottocento, Udine 1999, pp. 61-68 and 128-133. 9 Gillio, Le Donne di Teatro, p. 433-435. 10 Ibid., p. 450, Documento 19. Lettera della Segreteria di Stato pontificia ad Agostino del Bene (3 marzo 1787): “Se la di Lei quiete dee dipendere dall’Impedire, che nelle Provincie del Dominio Pontificio, nelle quali sui Teatri cantan le Donne, faccia come VS. hà ragione di temere, una tale per Lei disonorante comparsa la Moglie del di Lei Figlio, la quale fa chiamarsi Andriana Ferrarese, Ella si tranquillizzi.” The letter from Rome confirmed that a respective order was sent to the Cardinal Legates of the four provinces.    3   Adriana’s letters during her detention reveal a strong personality, described by Gillio as “alien to sentimental abandon and highly determined in each of her choices”.11 In her letter to the provveditori of the Ospedale she demanded, after some initial excuses, the restitution of her confiscated belongings, most importantly of those aria manuscripts she had carried with her in the baggage of Luigi del Bene: “Musica per il valore di 12 sechini Le arie sarano di Betoni Anfossi Sarti Sachini paisielo Sima rosa mortelarri [sic]”.12 The prize of the manuscripts and the names of the composers reveal the substantial scope of her early aria collection. Only the first two names where among those composers whose oratorios Ferrarese had sung at the Ospedale. The other names do betray her early interest in opera repertoire. Already in the Latin oratorios at the Mendicanti she had developed a special fondness for arias in rondo form. When Helen Geyer edited Bertoni’s Balthassar from 1781, she presented what was probably the earliest example from Ferrarese’s repertoire: “Mater cara extremum vale”.13 The young boy Jezael is paying a last tribute to his mother before his supposed execution. Bertoni wrote this Cantabile sostenuto in G major still in simple Rondoncino form (A-B-A-C-A’). Yet, its refrain reveals the ability of the young Adriana to sustain her beautiful cantabile in a succession of the most diverse musical phrases: Bertoni’s melody first ascends step by step from g’ to e’’, coming to a halt in a resigning appoggiatura on the word “vale” (“Mater cara extremum vale”). It reaches a first peak on g’’ illustrating the passion of the unhappy son (“tuo infelici filio amanti”), softly falling down again and ending on another appoggiatura on the word “amanti”. The third phrase consists of sustained dotted eighth notes similar to those sung by Adriana nine years later in Mozart’s “Per pieta ben mio perdona”, though in a higher range and culminating in a second g’’ (“tuo infelici filio amanti”). In the end, the second reprise of the refrain leads to a short coloratura forming a dramatic climax before the cadenza. Only one year later, Ferrarese was able to pull out many more stops of her bravura and espressivo in a full-fledged two-tempo Rondò by Anfossi, which she reused four years later with an Italian text in the Florentine Didone abbandonata from 1786.14 One name sticks out of Ferrarese’s early aria collection: Michele Mortellari, the maestro from Palermo then living in Venice. He composed the cantata Telemaco all’isola Ogigia performed for the “Conti del Nord” at the Accademia filarmonica on 20 January 1782.15 It was the Ospedali’s tribute to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his German wife, sung and played by more than a hundred young women from all four institutes. Giustiniana Wynne, the famous writer, “salonière” and widow of Philipp Joseph Count Rosenberg-Orsini, gave an account of that stately evening.16 As usual for a cantata, the libretto does not reveal the names of the soloists. However, Ferrarese must have been one of them, since she borrowed a small fur coat                                                                                                                 11 Ibid., p. 433: “aliena da abbandoni sentimentali e determinatissima in ogni sua scelta.” Ibid., p. 447, in Documento 13. Supplica di Adriana ai Provveditori. Two years after Gillio the story of Ferrarese’s flight was also described by Carolin Giron-Panel, “Entre Eglise et théâtre: la fugue de deux musiciennes vénitiennes en 1783”, in: Clio, la revue d’histoire des femmes XXV (2007), p. 99-119. 13 Ferdinando Bertoni, Balthassar. Actio sacra (1781) 1784. Score, prefaced and edited by Helen Geyer, Kraków 1993, p. 162-168, Rondo - Jezael. See the musical example in the appendix. 14 Cp. the detailed analysis of this Rondò in the second half of this paper. 15 Libretto Telemaco nell’isolo Ogigia (Venezia 1782), I-Rn 35.6.L.3.10, US-Wc ML48 [S6684]. 16 Giustiniana Wynne, Del soggiorno de’ Conti del Nord in Venezia nel gennajo MDCCLXXXII. Lettera di Madama la Contessa Vedova degli Orsini de Rosenberg al signor Riccardo Wynne suo fratello a Londra. In Vicenza nella stamperia Turra, p. 34-36: “La sera nel medesimo Palagio fu dato agl’Illustri Viaggiatori un divertimento, non ottenibile altrove che a Venezia. Cento Donzelle tratte de’ varj Conservatorj o sia grandi Ospitali della Città, vestite in uniforme nero adattato alla lor situazione, eseguirono una Cantata a più voci frammezzate da Cori. S’accompagnarono con istromenti d’ogni genere; e non era fra esse altr’uomo che l’Autore della Musica.” On the nature of Wynne’s Lettera cp. Claudio Pingaro, “Paolo Petrovic Romanov e Sofia Dorotea di Württemberg, viaggiatori inconsueti in laguna”, in: Venezia e l’Europa Orientale tra il tardo Medioevo e l’Età moderna, Crocetta del Montello 2017, p. 353-370. 12    4   from the Venetian noblewoman Camilla Giovanelli exclusively for that evening, which she called “Accademia dei Principi”.17 As a soloist, she would have needed special protection from a cold January night and was probably happy about that fashionable accessory to the simple black gown of the Zitelle. Since she normally performed the parts of young lovers in the oratorios, her perfect role would have been Eucari, Telemaco’s mistress, who pays her last tribute to the parting hero in form of a substantial Rondò.18 In her short note about that fur coat, Ferrarese named her singing teacher: Antonia Lucovich, a famous soprano at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, active since 1767. When the German poet Wilhelm Heinse visited Venice during Carnival 1781, he gave a fervent report of the latter: “Alas, when my Slavonic girl Lucovich with her perfect throat, which is nothing but sound and whose tones seem to be a sweet waft from paradise, starts singing as the bride from the Song of Songs Veni dilecte me, it is true heartrending music, a melody that tunes the chords of life in equal temperament.”19 Already in 1770, Charles Burney heard Lucovich and praised her for her pathetic style.20 Later, as a singing teacher, she imposed that manner on her pupil Ferrarese. Yet, there were also critical voices raised against the “gusto affettato” taught at the Ospedali. After her description of the “Accademia de’ principi”, in which Ferrarese probably sang Mortellari’s Rondò, Giustiniana Wynne wrote the following remark: The scholars of the Ospedali are being reprimanded for their cold and even insipid manner of singing. In fact, their habit to sing in Latin words they do not understand might be responsible for making their emotion a slave of their method. When they are singing tender opera arias, even though they are trying their best to give them the utmost expression, it is for certain that the delicate connoisseurs discern an affected taste detaching them from nature.21 A certain skepticism towards Ferrarese’s all too pathetic manner of singing ran through her whole career.                                                                                                                 17 In January 1783 she loaned the same fur coat for a dinner with her singing teacher and reminded the noble Venetian lady of the “Accademie dei Principi” the year before. Gillio, Le Donne di Teatro, p. 439, Documento 3. Lettera di Adriana alla Procuratessa Camilla Giovanelli (7 gennaio 1783?): “Dovendo io domani andar fuori di Casa a pranzo colla mia Maestra Sig.a Lucovicj, così sono costretta di pregare la bontà di V.E. a volermi graziare di quella stessa Pelliccia, o sia tabarrino, che mi favorì l’anno scorso all’occasione delle Accademie dei Principi.” “I Principi” was the term also used by Giustiniana Wynne for the Conti del Nord. Obviously, there were several academies performed for the prominent visitors from Russia. 18 “Del primier, soave affetto”, Libretto US-Wc ML48 [S6684], p. XXII. The music of the cantata is lost. 19 Wilhelm Heinse, Briefe. Zweiter Band. Von der italiänischen Reise bis zum Tode. Sämmtliche Werke Vol. 10, ed. by Carl Schüddekopf, Leipzig 1910: „Ach, wenn meine Sklavonerin Lucovich mit ihrer reinen Kehle, die lauter Klang ist, woraus jeder Ton ein süßes Wehen aus dem Paradiese scheint, als Braut aus dem hohen Liede singt: Veni dilecte veni […], so ist es wahre Seelenmusik, die das Herz ergreift, Melodie, die die Chorden des Lebens in eine gleichschwebende süße Bewegung bringt.“ Besides Lucovich Heinse mentioned Maria Marchetti and Cecilia Giuliani among the singers at the Mendicanti, whereas Ferrarese was among those “whose names I cannot remember, though I do know their voices so well”: „eine Marchetti, eine Giuliani, eine Lucovich, eine Almerigo, eine Cassini, und verschiedene andre, deren Namen mir nicht beyfallen, so gut ich auch ihre Stimmen kenne.“ 20 Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in France and Italy, Second Edition, London 1773, p. 191: „Francesca Tomj […] and Antonia Lucuvich, (this second a Sclavonian girl), whose voices were more delicate, confined themselves chiefly to pathetic songs, of taste and expression.“ 21 Wynne, Del soggiorno de’ Conti del Nord, p. 36: “Viene rimproverata alle allieve degli Ospitali una maniera di cantar fredda, ed anche insipida. Potrebb’essere di fatti, che l’abitudine di cantar in Latino parole non intese, rendesse a poco a poco il sentimento schiavo del metodo. Egli è certo che anche quando cantano arie tenere d’Opera, e procurano di dar loro la maggior espressione possibile, i Conoscitori delicati vi distinguono un gusto affettato che s’allontana dalla natura.”    5   2. Opera debut in Livorno and two seasons in London In spring 1784, Ferrarese celebrated a promising career start as a concert singer in Florence. After two Accademie in the Teatro di via della Pergola, the Gazzetta Toscana summarized her abilities on 22 May 1784 in the following terms: On the evenings of the 8 and 15 of the current month two academies were being given at the Royal Theatre of the Via della Pergola, where several singers of the present opera buffa sang together with Andriana Ferrarese, to whose benefit the said academy was given. However, the success was so great and the applause received by the latter so universal that after the first academy, the second had to be repeated with equal satisfaction of all, since besides her perfect voice this famous Professora obtains a captivating ability, not inferior to all the other famous virtuosi who have been present on these stages.22 Those concerts in Florence were followed by her first opera contract, which was no less than an invitation to the King’s Theatre in London. The fact that an absolute beginner became prima donna at the Haymarket can only be explained with the chaotic recruiting situation of that summer 1784:23 The disbanded impresario Giovanni Andrea Gallini tried to prevent the stars he had hired from coming to London, while the trustees sent Michael Novosielski as an agent of their own to Italy.24 In the course of those maneuvers, Ferrarese’s Florentine protectors must have recommended her despite her total lack of stage experience. Literally on her way to London, she sang her first operatic role ever: in Livorno, from whence she proceeded via Turin25 and France to London. Giovanni Battista Severini, the impresario of the Teatro degli Armeni, took the chance to engage her as a second prima donna for a pasticcio based on Mesenzio, re d’Etruria. In the printed libretto, Maria Marchetti Fantozzi is listed as prima donna in the role of Ersilia.26 Gaetano Scovelli sang the title role and Francesco Porri as primo uomo the role of Lauso. Underneath the list of the singers, however, a last minute remark brought in a second prima donna: During her sojourn in this city until 15 October, Signora Adriana Ferrarese will also sing in the first opera, alternating with Maria Marchetti Fantozzi, that is: one night for each of both.27                                                                                                                 22 Gazzetta Toscana N. 21 1784, Firenze, 22. Maggio, p. 82: “Nella sera degl’8. e 15. Corrente furono date due Accademie in questo Regio Teatro di via della Pergola, dove hanno cantato alcuni virtuosi della presente Opera Buffa unitamente alla Sig. Andriana Ferrarese, a di cui beneficio è stata fatta la suddetta Accademia; È stato però tale l’incontro, e gl’applausi universali riscossi dalla medesima che dopo fatta la prima, a richiesta universale dovè replicare la seconda con eguale soddisfazione di tutti, poichè oltre all’avere il dono questa Celebre Professora di una perfetta voce possiede nel tempo stesso un’abilità sorprendente, e non minore a tutti i più celebri virtuosi che sieno stati su queste scene.” 23 Cp. Curtis Price, Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume, Italian Opera in Late Eighteenth Century London. Volume I. The King’s Theatre, Haymarket. 1778-1791, Oxford 1995, p. 80-86 (Continued Infighting and the Season of 1784-85 & Mismanagement by the Trustees). 24 Ibid., p. 319-321 (the first pages of chapter IV. The 1784-85 Season: Artistic Limbo). 25 On her concerts at Turin cp. Gillio, Le donne del Teatro, p. 428, n. 10. 26 John A. Rice, “Mozart and His Singers: The Case of Maria Marchetti Fantozzi, the First Vitellia”, in: The Opera Quarterly 11/4 (1995), p. 50. Since she had sung Cherubini’s Mesenzio together with her husband and Porri at Verona in autumn 1783, it is highly probable that the Livorno pasticcio from 1784 was based on Cherubini’s score. 27 Libretto Mesenzio re d’Etruria (Livorno 1784), I-Fm Melodrammi 2039.03, p. 7: “ATTORI […] Nella permanenza che fino alli 15. di Ottobre farà in questa Città la Sig. Adriana Ferrarese canterà anch’essa nella prima Opera vicendevolmente con la Sig. Maria Marchetti Fantozzi, cioè una sera per ciasched[una].”    6   Thus, two of the most famous Mozart sopranos alternated on the same stage, which seems even more exceptional since both singers had been colleagues at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti. Characteristically, Ferrarese did not sing all the arias chosen by Marchetti Fantozzi, which was pointed out in an appendix to the libretto.28 The Rondò preferred by her was no less than Giuseppe Sarti’s “Rendi, o cara, il Prence amato”, written for Luigi Marchesi in the Roman Olimpiade from Carnival 1784.29 Although the first line of the text was altered to “Deh! si renda il Prence amato”, all the rest matches exactly the text of Sarti’s famous Rondò, preserved in a great numbers of copies, one of them containing Marchesi’s original embellishments.30 Two characteristic features of Ferrarese’s insertion strategies became immediately visible in Livorno: her profound knowledge of the most recent aria repertoire and her predilection for Rondòs originally written for Luigi Marchesi. Unfortunately, a sourly Englishman attended one of the performances, writing one of his bitingly unfriendly reviews into his travel diary: Lord Mount Edgcumbe. Livorno was the first station of his Italian tour, and he took the chance to see the opera: I re-entered Italy in the following autumn and landing at Leghorn from Genoa, found an opera in that town, but it was very indifferent, with Porri for first man, Scovelli, a bad tenor, whom I had left in England, and a woman not worth remembering.31 Of course, Mount Edgcumbe could have attended one of those evenings when Marchetti Fantozzi sang. However, his neglect of Ferrarese soon turned into open criticism, even before he returned to England. While he was still in Italy, he heard unpromising remarks from his London friends about the new “stars” at the King’s Theatre, which were emphatically contradicted by his Italian hosts: The accounts I received during the time of the opera in England, were extremely unfavourable; yet the Italians assured me that it possessed some of their best singers in Crescentini, Babbini, and la Ferrarese, who then composed the company. If so, they were very ill judged of and ill treated here.32 After his return to England, Mount Edgcumbe pronounced a ruthless verdict about the singer from Udine in Friuli: The late first woman Ferrarese del Bene, who had been much extolled to me, was but a very moderate performer. She was this year degraded to prima buffa, but even in that subordinate line was so ineffective, that Sestini was recalled to strengthen the company.33                                                                                                                 28 Ibid., p. 57-58. Libretto Olimpiade (Roma, Teatro delle Dame, 27/12/1783), I-Vgc ROL.1180.09. Maria Marchetti Fantozzi, after hearing her colleague Ferrarese sing Sarti’s Rondò in Livorno, took the latter with her to Florence, where she inserted it into Andreozzi’s Arbace on a partly altered text “Serba o cielo il bene amato” (1 June 1785). Libretto I-Bc Lo.00148, p. 22. In her next opera premiere, the pasticcio Cook ossia Gli inghlesi in Otahiti, she transferred the same Rondò to the Teatro del Fondo in Naples with still another text: “Dove mai cercar potrei” (23 July 1785). Libretto I-Bc Lo.00533, p. 31. 30 Cp. Damien Colas, Alessandro di Profio, “Le rondò ‘Rendi, o cara, il Prence amato’ de Sarti et les ornements de Luigi Marchesi”, in: D’une scène à l’autre. L’Opéra Italien en Europe. Volume I: Les peregrinations d’un genre, Wavre 2008, p. 157-188. 31 Lord Mount Edgcumbe, Musical Reminiscences, containing an account of the Italian Opera in England, from 1773, 4th Edition, London 1834, p. 37. 32 Ibid., p. 44 33 Ibid., p. 53-54. 29    7   This judgment has been cited over and over again, when writing about Ferrarese in London. It seems to be confirmed by Charles Burney who blamed Ferrarese for the failure of Cherubini’s Giulio Sabino, performed only once on 30 March 1786.34 By contrast, the many enthusiastic reviews of hers in the London press are hardly quoted at all. Obviously, Mount Edgcumbe drew a distorted picture of her abilities. She started her first season glamorously on 8 January 1785, in a Demetrio pasticcio supervised by Cherubini: On Saturday night a very numerous and brilliant audience were assembled at this Theatre, and were entertained with the new serious opera of Demetrio […] In the former Signora Ferrarese Bene made her first appearance, and from her execution, the dilettanti may fairly promise themselves every enjoyment that a musical ear can wish for. She was greatly applauded in her airs.35 Unfortunately, that brilliant start was soon overshadowed by a long lasting indisposition. In Anfossi’s Nitteti, premiered on 26 February, “her illness prevented her from […] displaying to the greatest advantage, the highest and lowest notes of a voice, naturally adapted to both.”36 She still had not completely recovered in mid April, when Cherubini’s Artaserse pasticcio was performed.37 Hence during her first months in London, she could neither unfold her full range nor her cantar di sbalzo, for which she became so famous in Italy and Vienna. Therefore, Gallini after his reappointment as impresario in summer 1785, did not hesitate to return to the star system of opera seria, when he got the chance to replace Ferrarese by Elisabeth Mara as the new prima donna seria at the Haymarket.38 The latter’s engagement, however, was a spontaneous decision, not planned from the very beginning. Mara, after two successful seasons at the Pantheon, “had been reportedly offered an engagement at 1786 Professional concert”. In early November, however, she announced “her own concert series, also to be held on Mondays, at Willis’s Room”.39 After several attacks in the press for that stubborn competition, she suddenly declared on 7 December that she would be willing to participate in the Professional Concert for the fee formerly offered to her. While the press immediately suspected that her subscription had failed, the Professional Concert in the meantime had invited another prima donna: Ferrarese. The latter sang in six of the season’s twelve concerts starting on 6 February.40 By then, Mara had announced the abandonment of her own concert series on 24 January and was engaged as the new prima donna seria of the King’s Theatre. It was only in January that Gallini took advantage of her availability, while Ferrarese was “degraded” to the post of prima buffa.41 This helps to explain why Cherubini conceived his Giulio Sabino still for Ferrarese as prima donna seria.                                                                                                                 34 Charles Burney, A General History of Music, London 1789, p. 527: “His opera of GIULIO SABINO, was murdered in his birth, for want of the necessary support of capital singers in the principal parts; Babini, the tenor, being elevated to first man, and the Ferraresi first woman, were circumstances not likely to prejudice the public in favor of the composer.” 35 The London Chronicle, (Jan–June 1785), p. 38. Quoted after Michael Burden, “Metastasio on the London Stage, 1728 to 1840: A Catalogue”, in: Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 40 (2007), p. 131. 36 The Morning Herald, 28 February 1785, p. 3, ibid., p. 218. 37 The London Magazine, 1785, p. 303: “April 16 […] Signora Ferrarese, now nearly recovered from her long illness, was all we could wish in Mandane.” Ibid., p. 82. 38 Price-Milhous-Hume, King’s Theatre, p. 340-344. 39 Simon McVeigh, “The Professional Concert and Rival Subscription Series in London, 1783-1793”, in: Royal Music Association Research Chronicle, 1989, No. 22 (1989), p. 50, “Mara and a rival series”. 40 Ibid., p. 49-54. 41 Already in November 1785, Gallini lowered Ferrarese’s salary from £650 to £300, while pretending in a false contract to still be paying the higher sum, “purposely to prevent her losing her credit in Italy should it be known she had engaged for so small a sum”. Price-Milhous-Hume, King’s Theatre (see n. 23), p. 343.    8   When Ferrarese finally switched over to opera buffa, it was decidedly in the position of parte seria, which was counterbalanced by Giovanna Sestini and other singers of a more comic nature like Margherita Morigi. However, she was not a total failure in pure comedy, either. Theodore Fenner gave the following summary of the press reactions to her buffa roles: As Bettina in Viaggiatori she ‘showed comic powers of which, to say the truth, we did not before suspect her to be capable’ (LC). She was ‘easy, spirited, and apposite to the character of Flirtilla,’ and several songs were encored (LM). In 1786, as Vespina in Marchese, she again showed herself as effective in comic as in serious roles (H, Jan. 30) and was warmly received (T). As Ernestina in Scuola she ‘was applauded even to the skies, in several of her songs; … but her rondo in the second act was such as to raise admiration to a kind of enthusiasm’ (H, Mar. 13).42 In her new position, Ferrarese regularly demonstrated her brilliance in the serious style by inserting pathetic two-tempo Rondòs into her buffa roles. After listening to the Rondò in Salieri’s La scuola dei gelosi the critic of the Morning Herald attested her abilities in the serious genre: [Her] rondo in the second act gave a strong and convincing proof that she is able to dispute with the best performer in the serious line, and perhaps divide the Melpomeniean wreath.43 The Rondò in question, “Partirò dal caro sposo”, reportedly by Cimarosa,44 was in fact by Giuseppe Giordani. It was the famous “Partirò dal caro bene”, composed in early 1783 for Giuseppina Maccherini Ansani in the Genoa version of Erifile.45 Ferrarese must have brought it with her from Italy, or she knew the Paris print in the Journal d’ariettes italiennes.46 Her other London Rondòs included a similarly famous piece: Francesco Bianchi’s “Ah perchè se tante pene”. Originally composed for Luigi Marchesi on the text “Ah perchè, se mia tu sei”, it was first performed in Turin on 16 April 1782 as part of Il trionfo della pace, the King of Sardinia’s tribute to the “Conti del Nord”.47 During Carnival 1783, Nancy Storace inserted the same Rondò with the new text “Ah, perchè se tante pene” into Anfossi’s La vera costanza at the Teatro S. Samuele in Venice.48 It was this version that Ferrarese brought with her to London and inserted it into the second act of Artaserse, while Storace exported it to Vienna and performed it as a replacement aria in Anfossi’s Viaggiatori felici. Multiple “echoes” of one famous number written for Marchesi were typical for the rapid spread of the Rondò around 1785. Ferrarese was one of the protagonists of this development, always cultivating the pathetic side of her stage roles in her inserted Rondòs.                                                                                                                 42 Theodore Fenner, Opera in London. Views of the Press. 1785-1830, Carbondale and Edwardsville 1994, p. 329 (LC London Chronicle; LM London Magazine; T The Times; H Morning Herald). 43 Quoted by Gidwitz, Mozart’s Fiordiligi, p. 200, N. 5. 44 Erroneously attributed to Cimarosa in GB-Lbl Add. 31812, fol. 154r-154r. 45 Libretto Erifile (Genova 1783), US-Wc ML48 [S3844], p. 27. 46 Journal d’ariettes italiennes. N. 118 Del Sig:r Giordanello. Abonnement. Année 1783. Mois de Novembre. (Scena “Il quale istante – Partirò dal caro bene”). Giordani’s Rondò is preserved in a great number of score copies, always containing a passage of triplet coloratura towards the end, which is enlarged by additional passages in the Dresden score: Rondò del Sig:r Giuseppe Giordaniello, D-Dl Mus. 1-F-82, 12-3, p. 13-15. 47 Libretto Il trionfo della pace (Torino 1782), D-Mbs L.eleg.m. 3981, p. 22. 48 Libretto La vera costanza (Venezia 1783), I-Bc Lo00221, p. 53. Score copy in Zagreb: Rondò / cantato della Sig. Anna Storace / detta l’Inglesina nel Teatro di S. Samuele il Carnevale 1783, HR-Zha LXXXI.2P. For Ferrarese’s insertion in Artaserse, Act II,12, cp. Burden, Metastasio, p. 86.    9   3. Back to Florence After singing her last arias in the Professional Concert on 8 May and her last opera evening in the King’s Theatre on 22 May, she was finally ready to return to her homeland. Her last role in London was Miss Nancy in L’inglese in Italia, a brilliant opera parody by Anfossi and Badini, which was premiered on 20 May, but performed only twice.49 Ferrarese’s role was almost prophetic: She returned to Florence practically as an “Inglese” – as a singer with the unforgettable experience of the London stage. In summer 1786 she was back to Florence, just in time to rehearse the first autumn opera at the Teatro di via della Pergola. If it needed any further proof that she was a born tragedian, here it was: She sang the title role in Angelo Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride, a new version of Marco Coltellini’s classical libretto, written for Vienna in 1763. With the original music by Tommaso Traetta, Coltellini’s Ifigenia had been frequently performed at Florence. Now the audience was looking forward to the new composition by Tarchi, a Neapolitan whose recent successes were well known to the Tuscan audience.50 Another favorite of the Florentines was the soprano Domenico Bedini.51 He brought Tarchi’s new opera over from Venice, where he had sung Oreste in the original production at the Teatro S. Benedetto during Carnival 1786.52 The famous primo uomo of 39 years and the young prima donna of 27 formed an impressive pair, praised by the press for their “admirable mastery and bravura, giving the highest relevance to the music of the renowned Signore Tarchi”.53 This high praise grew into enthusiasm during the second opera of that autumn season, a Didone pasticcio.54 Ferrarese’s enactment of Ifigenia and Didone in the neoclassicist stage designs of Francesco Fontanesi55 was sufficient proof of her rank in the most elevated genre of opera seria: the tragedia per musica. Soon after the première of Ifigenia, the impresario Andrea Campigli decided to put on Gluck’s Alceste during the forthcoming Carnival. Shortly before, in late November, Ferrarese appeared as Didone also in Livorno.56                                                                                                                 49 Price-Milhous-Hume, King’s Theatre (see n. 23), p. 355-356. Tarchi’s Arminio was performed in Mantua in June 1785 in the presence of Emperor Joseph II, Grand Duke Leopold, Archduke Ferdinand and the royal pair from Naples. Leopold saw the Florentine Virginia in autumn. 51 On his date of birth and early career cp. Karl Böhmer, “Bedini canta l’Adagio al nun plus ultra.” The Mozart Singer Domenico Bedini as Giulio Sabino, his Date of Birth and Early Career. Paper posted on academia.edu on 3 May 2020. On his popularity in Florence cp. my first paper on Bedini: “L’abilissimo Sig. Domenico Bedini”. Mozart’s Last Castrato and the Art of the Rondò, p. 12-13 and 29-31. Posted on academia.edu on 21 September 2018. 52 Cp. Karl Böhmer, “Sul gusto dello Spettacolo di Parigi”. Venetian Operas from 1786: Ifigenia in Tauride by Angelo Tarchi and Alonso e Cora by Francesco Bianchi. Paper posted on academia.edu on 19 April 2020. 53 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 37 1786, p. 145-146: „Firenze 16. Settembre […] Nella sera del dì 8. fu nuovamente aperto per la Stagione Autunnale il Regio Teatro di via della Pergola coll’Opera Seria: L’Ifigenia in Tauride. La Sig. Ferraresi, ed il Sig. Bedini, che vi eseguiscono le prime parti, si distinsero con ammirabile maestria, e bravura, dando il maggiore rilievo alla Musica del rinomato Sig. Tarchi.” 54 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 43 1786, p. 169: „Firenze 28. Ottobre […] Nella sera del dì 20. fu posto in Scena il nuovo Dramma per Musica la Didone, e questo attesa la bravura del primo Uomo Sig. Bedini, del nuovo Tenore Sig. Scovelli, e della prima Donna la Sig. Ferraresi, incontrò l’universale approvazione. La dilettevol Musica, i superbi Vestiari, ed i ben’intesi Scenari danno il maggior risalto alla Festa.” 55 The famous stage designer from Reggio came to Florence just for Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride and the Didone pasticcio with Ferrarese and Bedini. His innovative stage sets in pure neoclassicist style contributed substantially to the novelty of both opera productions. Gazzetta Toscana, N. 37 1786, p. 145-146: “e questo con l’aiuto dei ricchi, e vaghi Scenari fatti nuovamente da uno dei più eccellenti Pittori Teatrali, che abbiamo in Italia, il Cav. Francesco Fontanesi, Architetto e Pittore Reggiano, ed Accademico Clementino, riceve un sorprendente risalto.” 56 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 49 1786, p. 196: “Livorno, 6. Dicembre. Nella sera de’ 30. del passato mese fu l’ultima rappresentanza in questo nostro Teatro, ove terminò le recite della Didone la Sig. Adriana Ferraresi con applauso, e sodisfazione di questo pubblico. Egli è certo, che dopo l’apertura del nuovo Teatro, non evvi stato mai si numeroso il concorso come al presente, lo che ha resa la festa più brillante e decorosa.” 50    10   In Italy, the title role of Gluck’s Alceste had been confronted only by two of the greatest prima donnas: Anna de Amicis in Bologna in 1778 and Maria Marchetti Fantozzi in Naples in 1785.57 Obviously Ferarrese was able to stand the comparison. As the second Carnival opera, Alessio Prati’s La vendetta di Nino was repeated, the extremely successful musical tragedy from the year before. During the last performance of Prati’s opera, a poem in honor of Ferrarese was thrown on the audience from the highest tier of boxes - the usual “shower of gold” in honor of the prima donna on the last night.58 The respective Canzone, printed on green silk, was sold at an auction in Florence in 2017. Thus, its photo can be studied online. Following the unwritten laws of the genre the unknown poet summed up Ferrarese’s career in three cities represented by a river and two antique goddesses: “la Tamigi”, the river Thames for London, “la Tirrena Dori”, the Tyrrhenian sea nymph Dori for Livorno, and “la Flora” for Florence. More characteristic is the author’s description of Ferrarese’s performance style in Gluck’s and Prati’s musical tragedies: Sì ADRIANA di tal fuoco Nel cantare i cuori accendi, E ricolmi Tu gli rendi D’un possente, e vivo ardor; Che direi che tutto il Cielo Nel tuo seno sia ristretto, E che nel tuo fragil petto Del gran Giove alberghi il cor. Se di Tragico Coturno Cinto il piè sopra la Scena Ti presenti: oh Dio qual pena Si risente al tuo dolor! E se di amorosa Alceste ‘L voluntario Sacrificio Ci figuri: in tale officio Qual non svegli in noi timor? Se le smanie, se i timori Se’l destino di Semira D’un sdegnato Nume in ira Rappresenti: a vacillar Siam costretti, e in tanti affetti Si ritrova il cor diviso E dal duolo è sì conquiso, Che si sente lacerar.59 Yes, ADRIANA, with your singing You are inciting the hearts with such fire And you are filling them with such ardour, Powerful and lively, That I would say that the whole of Heaven Has found place in your bosom, And that in your fragile breast The heart of great Jupiter has settled. When you present yourself Upon the stage, your foot being wrapped In tragic cothurnus, oh God, how painful Does one feel your anguish. When you are putting the voluntary sacrifice Of amorous Alceste before our eyes, How much fear do you arise in us In that role. When you are enacting the mania, the fears And the cruel destiny of Semiramis, Feeling the wrath of an angry god, We are forced to stagger. And we shall find our heart Divided among such deep emotions, And conquered thus by fear That we can feel how it’s torn apart.                                                                                                                 57 The performances with de Amicis drew crowds of music lovers to Bologna, cp. Gazzetta di Bologna Num. 21. Li 26. Maggio 1778: “Concorrendo in questa nostra Città copiosa Forestiera, e particolarmente di cospicua Nobiltà, che portasi a godere del più volte nominato magnifico spettacolo dell’Alceste, che si rappresenta in questo nuovo Pubblico Teatro”. The production in Naples was part of the new repertoire policy of the Conte Lucchesi Palli at the Teatro del Fondo di Separazione, but according to Norbert Hadrava resulted in a grotesque distortion of the opera. Cp. Giuliana Gialdroni, „La musica a Napoli alla fine del XXVIII secolo nelle lettere di Norbert Hadrava“, in: Fonti Musicali Italiane 1 (1996), p. 101. 58 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 8 1787, p. 30-31: „Firenze 24. Febbrajo […] la Sig. Adriana Ferraresi, la quale con tanta verità, ed eleganza ha sostenuta col gesto, e col Canto la parte di Semiramide, si è meritata l’approvazione universale con un Componimento Poetico dispensato, e gettato al Popolo con pioggia d’oro.” 59 Al conosciuto vero merito | della Signora Adriana Ferraresi | che con universal piacere ed ammirazione | gloriosamente eseguisce la parte di prima donna | nella Tragedia per Musica | L’Alceste | e nel Melodramma tragico | La vendetta di Nino | rappresentati | in questo Regio Teatro della Pergola | nel corrente Carnevale dell’Anno MDCCLXXXVII. | Canzone | In Firenze L’Anno MDCCLXXXVII.    11   Ferrarese continued her sojourn in the capital of Tuscany well into lent 1787 appearing in “una superba Accademia di Canto” on 24 February, a second one on 9 March, and finally in a performance of Haydn’s Stabat Mater on 16 March.60 In early March, impresarios in the nearby cities of the Church State got interested, but Consul del Bene immediately launched his above-mentioned request at the Segreteria di Stato pontificia, answered by the Pope’s state secretary, Cardinal Ignazio Boncompagni Ludovisi. After the interdiction of the Papal administration, the Consul made sure to acquire a similar prohibition by the Venetian Inquisitori di Stato towards the end of 1787.61 4. New Triumphs in Milan, Genoa, Trieste and Piacenza Due to the Consul’s intrigues, Ferrarese was without obligations for summer and autumn 1787. The impresarios in Milan took advantage of that situation and engaged her for an opera put on the schedule on short notice, because Luigi Marchesi had just returned from Russia. “The spontaneous offer of our excellent singer, admired by the whole of Europe, to perform an opera in his hometown under the present theatrical direction”, resulted in a new opera “extraordinary as well for its genre as for the season”: Angelo Tarchi’s Il conte di Saldagna.62 Normally, la Scala would not have presented an opera seria in early summer, but Marchesi’s travel route and the availability of Ferrarese was a double chance not to be missed. Once again, Ferrarese appeared at the side of a first class primo uomo in a musical tragedy of new, experimental dimensions. The density of recitativi con stromenti in Tarchi’s Conte is higher than in any other opera besides Gluck.63 Ferrarese’s ability to sing and act out those pathetic scenes had already been tested in Ifigenia in Tauride, Alceste and the famous scena ultima of Didone. Now she was ready for new experiments in that direction and sang the first opera seria originally written for her in Italy, including a Rondò, “Ah placarti io più non spero”. Several months later, however, she preferred to sing Tarchi’s Rondò written for Marchesi, “Ah sol bramo, o mia speranza”. In September she returned to Florence in order to participate in the glamorous wedding celebrations for Archduchess Maria Teresia, the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Leopold. Although Ferrarese was not available for the wedding opera, she was invited to sing in a festive cantata, performed in the Teatro degli Intrepidi on 11 September 1787 in the presence of the bride and her parents: La Pace tra Amore ed Imeneo by Gaetano Andreozzi.64 The patron of this performance, the Venetian Count Mocenigo, and the stately occasion must have seemed an especially delicate constellation for Consul del Bene in his jealous observation of                                                                                                                 60 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 11 1787, p. 41: “Con sodisfazione, e applauso della scelta udienza si distinsero nel Canto la Sig. Adriana Ferraresi, il Sig. Francesco Porri, ed il Sig. Giuseppe Bertelli.” N. 12 1787, p. 47: “Venerdì della scorse settimana [16 Marzo] … fù udito l’Inno Stabat Mater di composizione di Hayden, eseguito dai Sigg. Francesco Porri, suddetto, Adriana Ferraresi, Giuseppe Bertelli, e Gherardi.” 61 Gillio, Le Donne del Teatro, p. 449-450, Doc. 18 and 19. Gillio did not draw any connections between the documents he discovered in Venice and Ferrarese’s career moves in 1787/88. 62 Libretto Il conte di Saldagna (Milano 1787), I-Bc Lo.05285, p. 3-4: “La spontanea proferta dell’eccellente nostro Cantante da tutta Europa giustamente ammirato, di fare in Patria un’opera musicale sotto l’attuale nostra Direzione, ci dà l’onore di potere umiliare alle Altezze Vostre Reali il presente Spettacolo, straordinario tanto pel suo proprio genere, quanto per la Stagione, in cui devesi rappresentare.” 63 Marita McClymonds, Two Early Romantic Operas with Iberian Roots: „Il conte di Saldagna“ and „Ines de Castro“, in: Revista de Musicología Vol. 16, No. 5 (Del XV Congreso de la Sociedad Internacional de Musicología: Culturas Musicales Del Mediterráneo y sus Ramificaciones, 1993), pp. 3089-3100. 64 Gazzetta Universale, Num. 74. Sabato 15. Settembre 1787, p. 591: “Firenze 14. Settembre […] La Cantata messa in musica dal Sig. Andreozzi ebbe per Titolo La Pace fra Amore, ed Imeneo, e fu eseguita da tre abili Professori, cioè la Signora Adriana Ferrarese, ed i Signore Andrea Martini detto il Senesino, e Gaetano Scovelli […] Vi intervennero, gli Augusti Genitori con le due R. Arciduchesse, e Arciduchi ricevuti dal pubblico con i più espressivi contrassegni di giubbilo.”    12   Ferrarese’s moves. From Florence, she went over to Livorno for another acclaimed autumn season at the side of Andrea Martini, the newest star castrato.65 During Carnival 1788 she appeared at the Teatro S. Agostino in Genoa with Pacchierotti performing an old success of the latter and a recent novelty: Bertoni’s Artaserse and Bianchi’s L’orfano cinese.66 Ferrarese did not hesitate to insert as much of her own music as possible into Artaserse, as will be analyzed in the second part of this paper. The worst strike against her father-in-law, however, was her contract for the lent and spring season 1788 at the Teatro S. Pietro in Trieste, the Habsburg military harbor on the Adriatic Sea, as near to Venice as to Pesaro. The production of Sarti’s Giulio Sabino with Ferrarese and Bedini was a major topic in the newspapers, since the emperor attended on 4 March. Quite in contrast to his usual habits, Joseph II stayed until the very end of the performance appreciating Ferrarese’s musical knowledge, if not her voice and appearance.67 The first run of Giulio Sabino went from 1 to 15 March, the second started on Easter Monday, 24 March.68 Therefore, the del Bene couple had enough time for a short trip to Venice. During the first days of lent they negotiated a contract with Michele dell’Agata, the powerful impresario of the Teatro S. Benedetto. This alarming news reached Consul del Bene only accidentally after Easter.69 He immediately reinforced his precautions against the ominous couple, sending the following unforgiving lines about his own son to the authorities: Since he has left aside any respect, convenience and decorum, prostituting his wife in academies and in the theatres of Tuscany and England, and since he is constantly striving to bring new disorder and shame over the honorable family of his father by the attempt to let her come to these theatres here and of the Venetian state, I humbly ask your highnesses that by your high authority shall be for now and forever forbidden to Andriana Ferrarese to recite and sing in these theatres of Venice and the whole State, or in Academies, just as it was prohibited by His Holiness for the Church State.70                                                                                                                 65 Gazzetta Toscana, N. 49 1787, p. 196: „Livorno 5. Dicembre. Fino di sabato scorso [1 Dicembre] terminarono le recite date nella Stagione Autunnale in questo Teatro Nuovo, ove con meritato applaso [sic] si son distinti il Sig. Andrea Martini detto il Senesino, e la Sig. Adriana Ferrarese nei due Drammi succesivamente recitati.“ 66 Libretto Artaserse (Genova 1788), US-Wc ML48(S907). Libretto L’orfano cinese (Genova 1788), I-Fm Melodrammi Mel.2297.03. 67 Wiener Zeitung. Sonnabend den 15. März 1788: “Dem 3. d. M. Nachm. um 2 Uhr kamen Se. Maj. der Kaiser zu Laybach an […] Tags darauf, nach 4 Uhr früh, sind Se. Majestät nach Triest abgereiset, wo Allerhöchstdieselben Nachmittags um 4 Uhr anlangten, und im sogenannten grossen Wirthshause abstiegen. Noch denselben Abend ertheilten Se. Majest. mehreren Personen [...] Audienz und beehrten dann das Theater, wo Giulio Sabino gegeben wurde, mit Allerhöchstdero Gegenwart.“ Similar reports were printed in the Italian Gazzette, Notizie del Mondo, Gazzetta universale etc. Concerning Joseph’s memories of Ferrarese in Trieste cp. the chapter “Arrival in Vienna” here below. 68 Carlo L. Curiel, Il Teatro S. Pietro di Trieste 1690-1801, Milan 1937, Il Teatro S. Pietro di Trieste Il p. 228, n. 10: “Avviso teatrale. In Trieste nel Ces. Reg. Teatro dal dì 1.mo marzo fino il dì 15 marzo e dal dì 24 marzo fino alla fine di aprile 1788 si rappresenteranno Due Drammi serie, il primo intitolato Giulio Sabino, Musica del celebre Sig. Giuseppe Sarti. Il secondo da destinarsi. Attori. Primo Uomo Sig. Domenico Bedini. Prima Donna. Sig. Andriana Ferraresi del Bene. Tenore Sig. Vincenzo Maffoli […] Al Cembalo Sig. Maestro Sebastiano Nasolini (L’Osservatore Triestino, n. XVII del 27 febbraio 1788, p. 328)”. 69 Gillio, Le Donne di Teatro, Doc. 18, p. 450: “Ad onta di ciò, sui primi della scorsa Quaresima detti Coniugi vennero in questa Capitale […] per trattar recite di Teatri di questa Dominante, e dello Stato, specialmente coll’Impresario Teatrale Michiel dall’Agata.” 70 Ibid., p. 450: “abbandonando ogni riguardo, convenienza, e decoro, prostituì la med.a Moglie in Accademie, e sui Teatri di Toscana, e d’Inghilterra, ed ora tenta sempre più di apportare disdoro, ed ignominia all’onorata famiglia del Genitore, e di Lui Impiego con procurare di farla venire recitare in qualcuno di questi Teatri, e dello Stato Veneto; quindi è che il d.o Console umilia all’EE. VV. le sue più devote, e riverenti suppliche, perché dalla loro Sovrana autorità, ed equità venghi vietato per ora, e per sempre alla d.a Andriana Ferrarese di poter recitare, e cantare su questi Teatri di Venezia, e dello Stato, od in Accademie, come per i sudd.i giusti riflessi è stata emanata una consimile proibizione da Sua Santità per lo Stato Pontificio.”    13   This was written on 7 April, two days after Ferrarese had excelled with Bedini in the first performance of Sebastiano Nasolini’s La Nitteti, the latter’s debut as a composer of opera seria.71 While Ferrarese was singing the part of Beroe to an enthusiastic audience, Consul del Bene was no less successful with his intrigue. Michele dell’Agata was instructed not to engage her, which did not prevent other impresarios from doing so. After Antonio Zardon had brought her to Trieste, she was scheduled by Gaudenzio Musa for Piacenza’s Teatro della Cittadella during the primavera stagione, usually starting in late May. In the preface to the libretto from 1788, the impresario wrote about the hasty preparations for that production, but also praised his singers as “una delle più scelte Compagnìe per Opera Seria”.72 Ferrarese might have suggested the subject of the opera, a pasticcio based on Nitteti. By then, she had two substantial versions of Metastasio’s classic in her repertoire: Anfossi’s London version from 1785 and Nasolini’s recent score from Trieste. As her show piece, however, she chose still another Rondò written for Luigi Marchesi: “Quanto barbaro è il dolore” from Sarti’s Armida e Rinaldo, first performed in St Petersburg in January 1786.73 It was her colleague Anna Davía de’ Bernucci who had brought Sarti’s Rondò over from Russia and inserted it in Paisiello’s Nitteti, performed in Florence during Carnival 1788.74 Ferrarese obviously obtained a score copy of the Rondò and took it with her to Piacenza. 5. Departure from Italy With her precious selection of Marchesi Rondòs and the early Venetian arias in her luggage, she departed for Vienna in summer 1788. Her decision to leave Italy might have had to do with growing competition among sopranos. Only the very best prime donne were able to build their Italian careers on opera seria exclusively: Brigida Giorgi Banti, Elisabeth Mara and Luísa Todi, as well as Anna Pozzi and Ferrarese’s Venetian fellow students Maria Marchetti Fantozzi and Cecilia Giuliani. All of them were successfully performing in Venice as well as Padua, Brescia, and other cities unattainable for Ferrarese. To be excluded from a dozen Italian opera seria stages remained a considerable obstacle to her career. Additionally, the competition for the limited number of scritture grew even harder during the years 1786 to 1788 when several capable prime donne returned from the North: Maria Caracci Caravoglia and Teresa Saporiti from Prague, Anna Morichelli Bosello from Vienna and Anna Davia de’ Bernucci from St Petersburg. All of them were successfully performing in both genres, seria and buffa, while Ferrarese tried to retain her exclusive predilection for the former. On the long run, she could not avoid the inevitable step towards the comic genre, but she intended to take it as a decidedly serious singer. This is exactly what happened in Vienna. Yet, how did she manage to receive an invitation from the Imperial court in the first place? The answer to this question is found in the letters of Joseph II from May until August 1788.                                                                                                                 71 Giuseppe Carlo Bottura, Storia aneddotica documentata del Teatro comunale di Trieste dalla sua Inaugurazione nel M.DCCC.I al restauro del M.DCCC.LXXX.IV con accenni al Teatro vecchio dal M.DCC.V al M.D.CCC, Trieste 1885, p. 19: „La stagione fu delle meglio riuscire, ma brillante ancor più fu quella della successiva primavera, dall'1 al 15 di marzo e dal 24 m. s. sino alla fine di aprile. Si rappresentarono due drammi seri: Giulio Sabino, del celebre Sarti, e Nitteti, opera di Metastasio, posta in musica espressamente da Sebastiano Nasolini, Maestro della Ces. Reg. Cappella e Maestro al cembalo in teatro […] Nitteti seguì la sera del 5 aprile con plauso generale.” On 28 April, after the last performance of Nitteti, the leader of the theater orchestra, Giuseppe Scaramelli, gave an academy “con la cooperazione dei principali artisti dell'opera: Adriana Ferraresi del Bene, Domenico Bedini e Vincenzo Maffoli.” 72 Libretto Nitteti (Piacenza 1788), I-SORmde LA.073, p. 3. 73 Ibd., p. 28. Armida e Rinaldo / Opera Seria. Score copy I-Nc 31.3.18, fol. 64r-79r. 74 Libretto Nitteti (Firenze 1788), I-Bc Lo.03874, p. 28-29. Unfortunately, it is unknown which Rondò Nasolini composed for Ferrarese in his own Nitteti, since all the libretti and musical sources for this opera are lost.    14   6. Arrival in Vienna On 3 May 1788, when Ferrarese was still on her way from Trieste to Piacenza, Joseph II started to discuss the question of Vienna’s next prima donna with Count Rosenberg. His respective letters from the front of the Turkish war were published in 1920 by Payer von Thurn and have been frequently discussed in connection with Ferrarese. Nevertheless, it might be rewarding to have a closer look on them again.75 After the departure of Anna Morichelli Bosello, the court theater was in need of a new prima donna. In early May, the emperor was determined to dismiss Celeste Coltellini, while still hoping to regain Nancy Storace. Alternatively he recommended to either keep Luigia Laschi or to hire “other subjects even if they were not so good”.76 On 30 May he suddenly decided to disband Laschi and her husband Mombelli despite their qualities, “in order to establish economy and a new start, and if you will hire one singer, who ever she might be, I believe we will have enough, together with those we already have”.77 Count Rosenberg’s first suggestion for that one new singer was the most expensive solution imaginable: Brigida Giorgi Banti, the celebrated prima donna of the Teatro S. Carlo in Naples. Joseph immediately suspected that she would not come to Vienna for 1000 ducats, neither was he willing to give in to Storace’s demands. Instead he recommended hiring “another one who is more economic”.78 In the same letter from 11 June he expressed his wish that Caterina Cavalieri should study the title role of L’arbore di Diana. Obviously this role “plutôt sérieux” was of vital importance for him and influenced the choice of the new prima donna. Two weeks later it was clear that Banti was not available, nor could the Viennese hope for the return of Morichelli Bosello to her former post and to the role of Diana, which Cavalieri did not manage to sing either. Ultimately, the emperor insisted on a “less expensive” solution.79 In this situation, Ferrarese seemed an ideal choice. Obviously Count Rosenberg brought up her name in two lost letters from 9 July, in which he also suggested to get finally rid of Coltellini. Although Joseph agreed to the latter, he stayed skeptical towards the former: “The Ferrarese will surely not please at all.”80 In his next letter, however, he tried to recollect her singing in Trieste on 4 March, in order to weigh her qualities against her flaws. John A. Rice translated the respective passage from 26 July: „As far as I remember Ferraresi, she has a very weak contralto voice, she knows music very well, but has an ugly appearance.“81 Harsh, as it might seem, this judgment is similar to several others found in Joseph’s letters from Italy,                                                                                                                 75 Joseph II. als Theaterdirektor. Ungedruckte Briefe und Aktenstücke aus den Kinderjahren des Burgtheaters, gesammelt und erläutert von Dr. Rudolf Payer von Thurn, Wien – Leipzig 1920, p. 74-83. Cp. the excellent summary of the correspondence in Rice, Salieri, p. 424-426. 76 Ibid., p. 74, letter no. 70: “Semlin ce 3 mai […] dans ce cas vos aurés soin de pourvoir l’Opera d’autres sujets, ne fussent-ils pas même aussi bons, si vous ne gardes pas la Laschi.” 77 Ibid., p. 77, letter no. 72: “Semlin ce 30 mai […] Je crois que vous ferés fort bien de renvoyer pareillement les Montbellis quelque bon qu’ils soyent, pour faire économie et maison neuve; et si vous faites venir une chanteuse quelle ce soit, je crois qu’avec ce que nous avons deja nous en aurons assés.“ 78 Ibid., p. 78, letter no. 73: “Semlin ce 11 juin […] Je crois que la Banti seroit une marchandise trop chere […] Si elle veut venir à ce prix-là vous pourrés l’engager, si non , il faudra s’en passer et chercher une autre qui soit a meilleur marché. Quant à la Storace, si elle venoit même pour les 1000 Ducats, il ne faudroit plus la reprendre, de moins pur l’année prochaine.“ 79 Ibid., p. 79, letter no. 74: “Semlin ce 25 Juin […] Si les autres personnages ne sont point faits pour reussir dans l’opera de Diane, je pense qu’il ne faut pas en sacrifier la Musique ni la Cavalieri dans ce role, mais plutot reposer cette piece. De même si on ne peut avoir la Banti pour les mille Ducats il faut aller à l’economie et au meilleur marché que ne seroit la Morichelli qui voudroit au moins avoir la même paye qu’elle avoit auparavant.“ 80 Ibid., p. 80, letter no. 75: “Semlin ce 25 Juin. Je vien de recevoir vos deux lettres du ). Et je suis partfaitement d’accord avec vous qu’il faut laisser partir sur le champ la Coltellini […] La Ferrarese ne plaira surement point.” 81 Rice, Salieri (see N. 2), p. 425. The original letter in: Joseph II. als Theaterdirektor, p. 80-81, letter No. 76: „Semlin ce 26 juilliet […] Autant que je me souviens de la Ferraresi, elle a une voix assée foible de Contrealt, sait très bien la musique mais est d’une laide figure.“    15   where he criticized Tommaso Consoli for having “a tiny voice” and even Marchesi for singing with “no organ at all”.82 In Trieste, Ferrarese had appeared at the side of Bedini, whose strong soprano voice might have outshined her “weak contralto”. Yet, the emperor’s mixed memories did not necessarily exclude her from being engaged. In fact, she was already on her way to Vienna, when Joseph resolved to “abandon opera entirely for next year”, which he expressed in three letters from 29 July, 3 and 18 August: “The denunciations have to be sent immediately to all the members of the opera, as well in Vienna as in foreign countries, like Calvesi and Ferrarese, and if the latters should insist on their contracts, there will be doubtlessly a way to come to an arrangement by paying them some reimbursement.”83 Obviously in mid August 1788, Ferrarese had already received her contract and belonged to the “membres de l’Opéra”, though Joseph suspected her to be still in Italy like her colleague Vincenzo Calvesi. On the contrary, she was in Vienna before Joseph’s letter from 18 August reached the capital.84 Given the situation and her capacity to sing L’arbore di Diana, curiosity ultimately prevailed. Her payment started on 1 September, and she celebrated a stunning success in Martín’s opera on 13 October.85 One month later, she sang at the residence of the Venetian ambassador, Cavaliere Daniele Andrea Dolfin, who might have belonged to those influential persons who had paved her way to Vienna.86 The following two and a half years of Ferrarese’s Viennese sojourn are not the topic of the present paper. Therefore, I will not embark on a discussion of its two most famous aspects: her relation with Lorenzo da Ponte and her appearance in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.87 The following remarks are solely intended to stress one aspect of her Viennese success, firmly rooted in her Italian years: the importance of her two-tempo Rondòs.                                                                                                                 82 Joseph II., Leopold II. und Kaunitz. Ihr Briefwechsel, ed. Adolf Beer, Wien 1873, p. 156, Joseph to Kaunitz, “Pise ce 10 février 1784 […] Le fameux Marchesi n’a point d’organe.“ Joseph II. und Leopold von Toscana. Ihr Briefwechsel von 1781 bis 1790, ed. Alfred Ritter von Arneth, vol. I, 1781-1785, p. 201: “Gênes, le 17 février 1784 […] L’opéra, auquel j’ai été, est mauvais; le seul Consoli, avec une petite voix, chante bien, et le premier danseur est bon.“ 83 Ibid., p. 83, letter no. 79: “Au Comte de Rosenberg, Semlin ce 18 Août […] Les Donantiations seront donc faites incessament à toutes les membres de l’Opera tant à Vienne qu’en pais etranger, comme à Calvesi et à la Ferraresi, et si ses derniers insistoient sur leurs contracts, il y auroit sans doute moyen de s’arranger avec eux, en leur accordant quelque dedonnagement.” 84 The emperor made his final decision about the future of the Italian opera only after his return to Vienna in mid December 1788. In mid January 1789, Rosenberg and da Ponte finally succeeded with their project to save the troupe. Cp. Rice, Salieri (see N. 1), p. 425-427. Bruce Alan Brown and John A. Rice, “Salieri’s Così fan tutte”, in: Cambridge Opera Journal 8 No. 1 (March 1996), p. 38. 85 “She made her début on 13 October 1788 as Diana in L’arbore di Diana (Theaterzettel 13 October 1788) and was put on salary from 1 September 1788 (Hoftheater, S. R. 25, Consignation No. 6).” Dorothea Link, “Vienna’s Private Theatrical and Musical Life, 1783-92, as Reported by Count Karl Zinzendorf”, in: Journal of the Royal Musical Association 122/2 (1997), p. 249, n. 91. 86 Ibid., p. 249. “Delfini”, as he was called outside his hometown, was a strong advocate of Venetian music. During his years as ambassador to the French court, he kept his box in the Teatro S. Benedetto and received news about Venetian opera through the letters of his servant Luigi Ballarini. The letters written during the months before his installment as the new Venetian ambassador to the Imperial court on 1 May 1786 are full of musical references. On 8 November 1785, Ballarini reported that he had obtained a score copy of Sacchini’s Latin oratorio Jefte. Luigi Ballarini, Lettere al Cavaliere Daniele Andrea Dolfin, Museo Correr, Cod. P. D. 255b, Lettera No. 256, Venezia 8. 8bre 1785, p. 319-320: “Rispetto al Maestro Sacchini V. E. mi ha comandato la di lui musica fatta all’ospitaletto. Ho potuto avere li Due Oratorj più celebri Machabei, et Jephete [sic]. L’Em.do Sig.r Franc.co Pisani mi ha prometto dell’altre cose […] Intanto V. E. può disponere di questi due che Li conservo al Suo Palazzo.” On 30 March 1788 Sacchini’s Jefte was performed in Dolfin’s Viennese palace, as a farewell performance to Anna Morichelli Bosello. Link, ibid., p. 210 and 248. 87 Cp. among many others: Rice, Salieri, p. ; Ian Woodfield, Cabals and Satires: Mozart’s Comic Operas in Vienna, Oxford 2019, p. 181 and 213-223; Simon P. Keefe, Mozart in Vienna. The Final Decade, Chapter 9 “The Figaro Revival and Così fan tutte”, p. 410-420.    16   When she finally arrived in the Imperial capital, she might have expected to meet a situation similar to London: opere buffe from the Italian repertoire, in which she could have inserted her favorite seria arias and Rondòs. Quite on the contrary, the three house composers of the Imperial opera, Salieri, Mozart, and Weigl, were prepared to write original Rondòs for her, either in their own new operas (Il pazzo per forza, La Cifra, Così fan tutte), or in second versions of their recent works (Le nozze di Figaro, Axur) or as insertions in operas from Italy (Nina, La pastorella nobile). Thus, she performed more newly composed Rondòs during her three seasons in Vienna than she had performed during the seven years before.88 Thus, it was only in Vienna that her capacities in that genre were fully developed, yet, the most successful of her Viennese Rondòs was still a replacement aria from Italy: Tarchi’s “Ah sol bramo, oh mia speranza”, his Rondò for Marchesi from Il conte di Saldagna. Already in Genoa, she had turned this Rondò into a showpiece of her own, as will be demonstrated in the second part. When she inserted it in L’arbore di Diana in October 1788, it immediately eclipsed Martín’s original Rondò for Morichelli Bosello, “Teco porta, o mia speranza”. For the Viennese it simply became “the” Rondò from L’arbore di Diana, which is mirrored in Lausch’s piano score and full score. 89 Ferrarese performed it more than 50 times in L’arbore di Diana.90 Its success was so overwhelming that is was chosen by da Ponte for his pasticcio L’ape musicale, in the scene where Signora Zuccherina alias Ferrarese had to pick her Rondò. In early 1789, this could be nothing else but Tarchi’s “Ah sol bramo”. 91 Only two years later it was seen as old fashioned in comparison to two more recent pieces: Cimarosa’s “Ah tornar la bella aurora” and Mozart’s “Al desio di chi t’adora”, KV 577, his new Rondò for Susanna in the fourth act of Le nozze di Figaro. Here is the respective dialogue from L’ape musicale rinnuovata, the sequel to the successful pasticcio, performed in lent 1791: Bon. Zuch. Far. Zuch. Bon. Zuch. Bon. Zuch. D.C. Ma se volesse poi farmi la grazia Di cantare un Rondò Coronorebbe l’opra. Perche no? Quale quale? Quel dell’Arbor di Diana? E troppo vecchio. Quel del Figaro. E bello Ma non saprei come introdurlo? Quello Ti canterò della molinarella. Su la terra non v’è cosa più bella.92 Bonaro: But if you liked to do me the favor To sing a Rondò, It would crown the whole work. Zuccherini: Why not? Farinella: Which one? Which one? Zuccherina: That from Arbore di Diana? Bonaro: It is too old. Zuccherina: The one from Figaro? Bonaro: It is beautiful, But I would not know how to introduce it. Zuccherina: I will sing you the one from he little molinara. Don Capriccio: In the world there is nothing more beautiful.                                                                                                                 88 Perfectly summarized in Rice, Rondò vocali. I examined Lausch’s piano score in a digital copy from Salzburg: L’Arbore di Diana / Rondò / con Recitativo / Ah sol bramo o mia Speranza / per / Cembalo. / Del Sig:re Tarchi, A-Sfr 230. The Berlin score copy by Lausch, digitalized on my request, can now be studied online: L’arbore di Diana / Recitvo / Ah se tu m’ami / Con Rondeai /Ah sol bramo, o mia speranza / Del Sige: Tarchi / Partitur / Lausch, D-B Mus.ms. 21621/5: https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht/?PPN=PPN1670661261. 90 Dexter Edge listed 40 performances between 27 June 1789 and 3 March 1791. “Mozart’s Reception in Vienna, 1787-1791”, in: Wolfgang Amadé Mozart: Essays on his Life and His Music, ed. Stanley Sadie, Oxford 1996, p. 95-96. Otto Michtner, Das alte Burgtheater als Opernbühne, Graz-Wien-Köln 1970, listed 11 performances between 13 October 1788 and 2 February 1789. 91 Cp. John A. Rice, A Bohemian Composer, p. 212. Rice also quoted da Ponte’s libretto of L’ape musicale rinnovata as a proof for the popularity of Tarchi’s Rondò in Vienna. 92 Libretto L’ape musicale rinnuovata (Vienna 1791), US-Wc ML48 [S11308], p. 53. 89    17   The laconic labeling of the three Rondòs is characteristic of their popularity: “Quel dell’Arbor di Diana” was Tarchi’s “Ah sol bramo”. “Quello della molinarella” was Ferrarese’s insertion in Paisiello’s La bella molinara for its Viennese premiere on 13 November 1790. Despite the naïve character of her role she selected a highly pathetic aria: “Ah mirar la bella aurora”, Idalide’s Rondò from Cimarosa’s La vergine del sole, written for Anna Pozzi at St Petersburg in 1789.93 “Quel del Figaro” was KV 577, for which Ferrarese earned an enthusiastic press reaction, when Mozart’s opera was revived on 29 August 1789: Madame Ferrarese appeared as prima donna and sang with her well-known ability and art, showing her strength especially in a harmonically elaborate Rondeau, where the music of Herr Mozart competed with the chant of the famous singer.94 In the end, she sang “Al desio” 29 times in Figaro, it was widespread in Lausch’s keyboard reduction, and it found its way into German concert programs in the 1790s.95 Despite its success in the late 18th century it has received only little attention in recent times.96 Roger Parker wrote an essay about the attacks Cecilia Bartoli had to suffer when she decided to replace Susanna’s “Deh vieni” by “Al desio” in the 1998 Met production of Le nozze di Figaro.97 He analyzed KV 577 as a highly convincing and musically subtle alternative to Mozart’s original Susanna aria, defending Ferrarese against her many critics in modern times: Mozart […] was writing for real voices, for individual women and men. Rhetorically, we often forget this: Mozart wrote music, not words, not characters, not libretto. The influence of a singular voice and individual is not a matter of reproach, but something positive for the formation of his work (music), a something perhaps more positive as we want to imagine.98 In this sense, “Al desio” like all the Rondòs composed for Ferrarese in Vienna is a lasting tribute to her personality and musical style. The dialogue from da Ponte’s second “musical bea” clearly reflects the vital importance of the two-tempo Rondò in Vienna and the way in which Ferrarese was identified with it. It was during her early years that she had slowly gained her expertise in that genre. In London and Italy she had learnt to create that “nimbus” around her Rondòs that we nowadays usually associate with Fiordiligi’s “Per pietà”. The Viennese of Mozart’s time would have rather thought of his “Al desio” and of Tarchi’s “Ah, sol bramo“, when remembering Ferrarese at her best.                                                                                                                 93 Rice, A Bohemian Composer, p. 213. Preßburger Zeitung no. 70 (2 September 1789), p. 634: „Samstag als den 29ten v. M. wurde in k. k. Nationalhoftheater das lang erwartete italiänische Singspiel die Hochzeit des Figaro [...] aufgeführet. Das Publikum war damit sehr zufrieden, und legte seine Zufriedenheit mehr an Tag, als vor 3 Jahren, wie das Stück zum erstenmal erschien. Madame Ferrarese spielte als Prima Donna, und sang mit ihrer bekannten Geschicklichkeit, und Kunst, zeugte sich besonders in einem künstlich-harmonischen Rondeau, wo die Musik des Herrn Mozart mit dem Gesang der berühmten Sängerinn um die Wette stritten.“ 95 Caterina Carnoli sang it in two court academies in Koblenz on 10 June and 18 November 1790. Koblenz, Landeshauptarchiv, 1 C 948, fol. 151-152. Cp. Gustav Bereths, Die Musikpflege am kurtrierischen Hofe zu Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein (Beiträge zur mittelrheinischen Musikgeschichte 5), Mainz 1964, p. 217, n. 111. Josepha Duschek probably performed it in her famous academy in Prague on 26 April 1791. Paul Corneilson, “‘Aber nach geendigter Opera mit Vergnügen’: Mozart’s Arias for Mdme Duschek”, in: Mozart in Prague (see n. 2), 194-195. Madame Schicht performed it on 23 September 1793 in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Ian Woodflied, Performing Operas for Mozart. Impresarios, Singers, and Troupes, Cambridge 2012, p. 250-251. 96 John Rice wrote a detailed musical analysis of KV 577 in comparison to “Solo e mesta” from Salieri’s La cifra in his chapter “Rondòs for Ferrarese”, Rice, Salieri, p. 479-486. 97 Roger Parker, “Ersatz Ditties. Adriana Ferrarese’s Susanna”, in: Remaking the Song. Operatic Visions and Revisions from Handel to Berio, Berkeley 2006, p. 42-66. 98 Ibid., p. 65-66. 94    18   Part II: Ferrarese’s early repertoire and her Rondòs up to 1788 As we have seen, Ferrarese’s career between 1783 and 1788 included only three operas newly written for her: Cherubini’s Giulio Sabino, Tarchi’s Il conte di Saldagna and Nasolini’s Nitteti.99 Therefore, she mostly appeared in three other types of productions: 1. Second or third versions of recent opere serie (the Florentine version of Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride; the 1787 version of Prati’s La vendetta di Nino; the Genoa version of Bianchi’s L’orfano cinese); 2. Repertoire pieces with a long performance history like Sarti’s Giulio Sabino, Gluck’s Alceste, or the opere buffe she performed in London; 3. Pasticcios, either supervised by one house composer like in London or as compilations of insertion arias freely chosen by the singers. Any of her colleagues among Italy’s first singers would have had experiences in all those variants of daily opera practice, but most of them usually sang more first performances of new opere serie than repeat performances of older ones or pasticcios. In Ferrarese’s case it was the London predilection for pasticcios and the geographical limits of her Italian career that caused the lack of original scores composed for her. Had she been allowed to the opera houses of Venice, Padua, Bologna or Vicenza, she would have been part of the “first performance” culture of opera seria. Strangely enough, she was never invited to either Turin or Naples, who presented new serious operas each year. Cities like Livorno, Genoa, or Trieste, on the contrary, could only rarely afford the costs for a newly composed opera. As a consequence of this, the number of Rondòs newly written for her before her arrival in Vienna was actually small. It did include several new Rondòs by London’s house composers, though, and at least one Latin piece from her early Venetian oratorios transformed into an Italian opera aria. In general, she was more used to look around for suitable Rondòs in the repertoire of her colleagues, prima donnas as well as primi uomini. Typically she did not keep the Rondò written for her by Tarchi in Il conte di Saldagna, but preferred the one written for Marchesi. It seems as if the young Adriana Ferrarese felt more comfortable in the clothes of other singers than in her own, although she tailored the former carefully to her own taste. Only a small portion of the Rondòs Ferrarese sang in Italy are preserved in musical sources.100 Others can be found solely in the respective librettos.101 I chose two case studies for which the documentary basis seems sufficient. The first case shows how she managed to turn one of her early Venetian oratorio arias with Latin text into a highly efficient opera Rondò in Italian, sung as Didone in Florence in 1786. The second case concerns her most famous Rondò in Vienna, “Ah, sol bramo, o mia speranza”, and its forerunner from the Carnival season 1788 at Genoa.                                                                                                                 99 In comparison, Domenico Bedini, her primo uomo partner in Florence and Trieste, sang eight new operas during the same years: Cimarosa’s Circe and Sarti’s Idalide (Milan, Scala, Carnival 1783), Borghi’s Olimpiade (Modena, Teatro Rangone, Carnival 1785), Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride and Bianchi’s Alonso e Cora (Venice, Teatro S. Benedetto, Carnival 1786), Gazzaniga’s Circe (ibid., Ascensione 1786), Andreozzi’s Virginia (Genoa, Teatro S. Agostino, Carnival 1787) and Nasolini’s Nitteti (Trieste, Teatro S. Pietro, Spring 1788). 100 Only rarely her name appears on a separate aria copy like the score of her Rondò from Tarchi’s Il conte di Saldagna in Berkeley: Cantò La Sig:r Ferraresi in Milano La Primavera 1787 Del Sig:r Angelo Tarchi, USBEm MS 385. 101 Due to the shut-down of the libraries everywhere in Europe during 2020 and 2021, I was not able to complete the list of Ferrares’s Rondòs, since I could not study all the extant librettos. Only in rare cases, no libretto at all exists, like for the two operas she sang in Trieste (Sarti’s Giulio Sabino and Nasolini’s Nitteti).    19   1. A Venetian Rondò by Anfossi transformed for Didone in Florence (1786) Ferrarese’s habit to change the text of a Rondò completely before inserting it into another opera makes it literally impossible to discern the models for several of those pieces. The Rondò she chose for Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride is a typical example.102 Luckily, the one she inserted into Didone abandonata during the same Florentine autumn season has been preserved in a manuscript in Paris: “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza”.103 It was based on one of her earliest Rondòs, composed by Anfossi in Venice in 1782, when she sang the role of Ismaele in his Latin oratorio Sedecias. A score of the latter is preserved at the Conservatorio in Milan.104 Italian versions of the oratorio are to be found in the Roman Congregazione dell’Oratorio and in the Palazzo Massimo collection.105 Ferrarese herself sung an Italian version of the oratorio in Florence during Lent 1787, which is documented in a score copy in Bologna.106 The extraordinary success of her Anfossi Rondò in Didone must have induced her to present the Latin original as part of the whole oratorio.107 For Didone, she ordered a new Italian text, as Anfossi’s Rondò had to replace Didone’s aria “Ah, non lasciarmi, no” in the second act. Following the recitative “Basta, vincesti, eccoti il foglio”, the Rondò paraphrases the lines of Metastasio’s famous aria text, though in reversed order: Rondò Didone II,7 (Firenze 1786): Se mi lasci, o mia speranza, Nell’affanno, o Dio, quì resto, Troppo barbaro e funesto, Troppo acerbo è il mio martir. Moti d’anima dolenti Presagiscon la mia sorte Senza te non v’è che morte Per dar fine al mio dolor. Se tu sei con me spietato, Se resisti al pianto mio In chi mai fidar poss’io? Da chi mai sperar pietà?108 Metastasio, Didone abbandonata, II,4 Ah non lasciarmi, no, Bell’idol mio, Di chi mi fiderò, Se tu m’inganni? Di vita io mancherei Nel dirti addio. Che viver non potrei Fra tanti affanni. The indication Andante espressivo hints at a not too slow tempo.109 In the first four bars, Anfossi’s sweet A major melody is constantly interrupted by rests, as if to suggest Didone’s sighs while she tries to speak her first words to Enea: “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza.” The stepwise motion and the chromatic appoggiaturas beautifully express her caressing love.                                                                                                                 102 Libretto Ifigenia in Tauride (Firenze 1786), I-Fc E.V.1444, p. 22: “Ah cor mio gelar ti senti / Nè più reggi al tuo penar.” The text structure resembles Giordani’s “Partirò dal caro sposo”, sung by her in London in 1786. 103 F-Pn, MUS VM4-561: Rondò Del Sig.r Pasquale Anfossi / Se mi lasci ò mia Speranza. Score copy for soprano, strings and bass. The opera was performed from 20 October 1786 until late November. 104 I-Mc M.S. ms. 10-1: Anfossi / Sedecias / Autografo incerto. Concerning Anfossi’s four oratorios for the Mendicanti cp. Giovanni Tribuzio, „Pasquale Anfossi. Operista alla moda“, in: Il secolo d’oro della musica a Napoli, ed. L. Fiorito, Frattamaggiore 2019, vol. II, p. 143. 105 I-R AMCO D.III.5: Sedecia / Oratorio / Del Sig.r Pasquale Anfossi; I-Rmassimo (without shelfmark): Il Sedecia / Oratorio / Del Sig.r Pasquale Anfossi. 106 I-Bc MS.CC.197: Sedecia / Oratorio del Sig.r Pasquale Anfossi. / Rappresentato a Firenze nel Teatro degli Immobili in via della Pergola nella Quaresima del 1787. The respective performance is confirmed in the Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli di tutto l’Anno 1787-1788, p. 49. 107 Ismaele’s Rondò was either sung with the Italian text “Ah del grave mio tormento” (Palazzo Massimo score), or with the text “Al crudel affanno mio”, preserved in a Milan score copy: I-Mc Mus. Tr. Ms. 33: Rec.vo, e Rondò del Sig.r Pasquale Anfossi Napolitano in Venezia 1782. 108 Libretto Didone abbandonata (Firenze 1787), I-Bc Lo.06216, p. 24-25. 109 For the following analysis cp. the short score in the appendix.    20   In the next verse, the melody comes to a sudden halt on the word “resto”: “Nell’affanno, oh Dio, qui resto.” In the following double verse Didone depicts the consequences of Enea’s imminent departure: “Troppo barbaro funesto / Troppo acerbo è il mio martir.” The melody slowly descends into the dark, “funereal” register of her chest voice, but suddenly rises up a fifth over an octave on the word “funesto”. The fourth line is illustrated by a small coloratura and by another wide leap on “martir”. Thus the whole refrain is divided into an amorous first half and a pathetic second half, hinting at Ferrarese’s typical cantar di sbalzo. The latter is spectacularly displayed towards the end of the Allegro espressivo in whole notes on a’’-g’ and f-sharp’-d’’’. Another typical feature of Ferrarese’s Rondòs is the coloratura climax. The espressivo in the Allegro soon gives way to coloraturas culminating on c-sharp’’’. Primi uomini usually avoided bravura passages in their Rondòs. Ferrarese, on the contrary, insisted on having her showy conclusion with fast runs, wide leaps and long trills. Besides the Paris source a second source of Anfossi’s “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza” has turned up in the Conservatorio Nicolò Paganini in Genoa: A pasticcio based on Didone abbandonata contains Ferrarese’s Rondò in full score.110 In private correspondence, the librarian Camela Bongiovanni pointed out that the respective score is a chaotic assembly of the most diverse material in one hybrid pasticcio.111 I tend to suspect that behind all the different layers there is one basic source: the original score of the Florentine Didone pasticcio from October 1786. Domenico Bedini probably took it with him to Genoa where he sang in another Didone pasticcio just four months later, in February 1787. In order to prepare the latter, he simply used the score of the former. This is the only explanation how Ferrarese’s Rondò “Se mi lasci”, an aria exclusively from her repertoire unknown to other singers, could find its way into that pasticcio score at Genoa. Likewise Enea’s first aria was an insertion only Bedini could have chosen: “Frà mille acciari in campo”, his first aria from Bianchi’s Alonso e Cora, written for him in Venice in early 1786.112 He sang this aria instead of Enea’s “Quando saprai chi sono” in the first act.113 There is a third piece in the same pasticcio unequivocally pointing to Bedini and Ferrarese: the duetto “Consola le mie pene” by Luigi Cherubini.114 It was exactly this duet the two singers chorse for the Florentine Didone from autumn 1786. 115 For the moment, no further information about that fascinating pasticcio score from Genoa can be acquired. However, it contains the most complete version of Anfossi’s “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza” known so far, since the Paris score only provides the string parts and short hints at woodwind solos, but not the full orchestration.                                                                                                                 110 La Didone / Musica / Del Sig.re Giuseppe Sarti, I-Gl GEO148, M.7.6-7, p. 47-58. Sarti’s Didone (Padua 1782) served as the basis of several pasticcios from those years in Italy, yet with only a minimum amount of Sarti’s original arias being kept by the singers (Florence 1786, Lucca 1786, Venice 1790, Padua and Bergamo 1791). 111 I am very grateful to Camela Bongiovanni for sending photos of the first pages of Didone’s Rondò and Enea’s first aria from that score. 112 The Ajuda Palace in London holds the only extant score of Bianchi’s Alonso e Cora. Alonso’s first aria is found in the first volume: P-La Mús. Ms. 44-III-15, fol. -54v-62r. Cp. Böhmer, “Sul gusto dello Spettacolo di Parigi” (see N. 52), p. 1-2 and 34. 113 I-Gl GEO148, M.7.6, p. 111. The aria copy in the Genoa pasticcio is obviously from Venice, very similar to the respective pages in the Lisbon score, but with the role name Enea added to the soprano stave. 114 I-Gl GEO148, M.7.7, p. 157: Duetto Luigi Cherubini. 115 Cherubini composed the duetto in B flat major for the tenor Babbini and Ferrarese in his London Giulio Sabino, cp. the score copy in Regensburg, D-Rtt Cherubini 1. Ferrarese brought it with her to Florence and inserted it in Didone, transposed to A major. Cp. the score copy DK-Sa R145: “Duetto nell’Opera Didone abbandonata d. Cherubini”. The text of the inserted duetto “Consola le tue pene / Scordati il primo amor” is found in the Florentine libretto I-Bc Lo.06216, p. 19. In Genoa, the prima dona Margherita Morigi decided not to sing Cherubini’s duetto, but another one “Deh cessi, mio bene”. I-Vnm Dramm. 3261.008, p. 27-28.    21   Concerning Ferrarese’s Rondò style, “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza” seems to prefigure several features of Mozart’s “Per pietà ben mio perdona” from Così fan tutte. In Mozart’s Adagio Ferrarese could shine in the same dramatic register shifts on the words “ascoso” and “vergogna” that she had sung in Anfossi’s Rondò to the words “funesto” and “acerbo”. Cantar di sbalzo of that spectacular form was uncommon in the slow part of a Rondò. In both pieces the Allegro starts with an espressivo melody rather than the typical agitato. Mozart’s “A chi mai mancò di fede” is written in the same manner of a “sighing” melody interrupted by rests as Anfossi’s “Se mi lasci, o mia speranza”. Both Allegro sections inevitably lead to the obligatory “coloratura climax” prepared by spectacular cantar di sbalzo. Anfossi’s widest leap (f-sharp’ to d’’’) even surpasses Fiordiligi’s most athletic shift (d-sharp’ to g-sharp’’). Anfossi’s sustained d’’’ and the coloraturas hitting three times c-sharp’’’ contradict Gidwitz’ description of Ferrarese’s limited upper range.116 2. Tarchi’s “Ah, sol bramo” between Milan, Genoa and Vienna (1787-88) Ten months before Ferrarese chose to sing Tarchi’s Rondò “Ah, sol bramo, o mia speranza” in her Viennese debut, she had already excelled in this piece at Genoa’s Teatro S. Agostino. For Carnival 1788, Pacchierotti, the star singer of the season, had brought an old cheval de bataille with him: Bertoni’s Artaserse, first performed in Venice in 1776 and successfully revived in London in 1779. Ferrarese did not hesitate to turn this piece into a pasticcio. This is documented not only in the libretto,117 but also in several short scores written for her use during the rehearsals. The latter are to be found in the vast collection of material from the Teatro S. Agostino, preserved at Genoa’s Conservatorio.118 Mostly consisting of short scores for the singers, those items of the Fondo Antico provide a unique insight into the arrangement and insertion practices of late opera seria.119 Fondo Antico NN. 321 consists of several short scores written in 1788 for Ferrarese as Mandane in Artaserse and later bound together by a librarian. Fol. 4r-5r contains her Rondò under the typical headline Atto 2do. Rondò di Mandane, written for soprano and bass. Apart from the key of G major the music is identical with Tarchi’s “Ah, sol bramo, o mia speranza” in the Viennese version, sung by Ferrarese ten months later. The text, however, is completely different. It is identical with the printed libretto from Genoa, but does not show any similarity to the original text from Il conte di Saldagna, apart from a few key words. For Mandane, a completely new text had to be written, since her situation is so different from Ramiro’s conflict in the Milanese opera: She is still in love with Arbace, although he seems to be the murderer of her father. Ruthlessly, she demands to take bloody revenge on him, but Arbace’s sister Semira reminds her of the tender love she once felt for her brother. In this situation she abandons herself to despair: “Quante pene in tal cimento / L’alma mia dovrà provar”. Without the short score from Genoa it would have been impossible to identify the music to this text with Tarchi’s Rondò from Milan.                                                                                                                 116 Gidwitz, Mozart’s Fiordiligi, p. 202: “For most of her career Ferrarese commanded only a modest upper range, with a’’ as her practical limit for sustained singing.” 117 Libretto Artaserse (Genoa 1788), US-Wc ML48 [S907]. 118 Carmela Bongiovanni, the librarian at Genoa, wrote in private correspondence: „Il fondo di adespoti proviene con ogni probabilità dall'archivio del Teatro Sant'Agostino di Genova durante la gestione della famiglia Durazzo. Si tratta in buona parte di mss. speciali, prodotti dal teatro per il proprio uso interno (prove al clavicembalo, suggeritore, prove con la sola orchestra ecc.). Ritengo che per l'epoca si tratti di documentazione importante.“ 119 Thanks to Carmela Bongiovanni and her consent to reproductions, I was able to study the short scores from the Carnival season of 1789, when Maria Marchetti Fantozzi and Domenico Bedini performed together at Genoa: Karl Böhmer, „Nel lasciar l’amato bene“. A Rondò by Angelo Tarchi in Enea e Lavinia and the Mozart Singers Maria Marchetti Fantozzi and Domenico Bedini in Genoa 1789. Paper posted on accademia.edu in a revised version on 27 April 2020.    22   Rondò di Mandane, Genoa 1788: Quante pene in tal cimento L’alma mia dovrà provar! Ma saprà del mio tormento La costanza trionfar. Se non parli a me di sdegno, (a Semira) Non ascolto i detti tuoi. Rondò di Ramiro, Milan 1787: Ah sol bramo, o mia speranza Quell’affanno consolar. Perdo o cara la costanza Se ti vedo lagrimar. Solo in me lo sdegno appaga (Ad Alfonso) Né m’è grave la catena. Alf. Non t’ascolto; alla sua pena (Alle guardie) Sia serbato il traditor. Tremo ... oh Dio ... già sento ... oh pena! Ram. Sposa addio. Cim. Mi lasci? … Oh fato! Vacillarmi in seno il cor. Ram. Ma con te rimane il cor. Sarà dunque il caro bene (da se) Questa dunque è la mercede (da se) Per me oggetto di terror? Che si serba a tanta fede! Ah! d’amor le dolci pene Ah d’amor chi non s’accende Son cangiate in rio dolor.120 Non comprende il mio dolor.121 The Genoa version helps to explain how Tarchi’s Rondò became the piece that made Ferrarese immediately popular in Vienna.122 John Rice already pointed out that Tarchi’s Rondò originally was full of pertichini, short insertions of the other characters.123 This was typical of Rondòs written for Luigi Marchesi. In the role of Ramiro, he directed the first quatrain with the slow Rondò melody to his beloved Cimene, before turning to the tyrant Alfonso in the second quatrain. The King answered with uncompromising cruelty: “I won’t hear you”, and to the guards: “The traitor shall be discharged to his punishment”. In two extra lines after the second quatrain the hero paid his last farewell to Cimene: “Spouse, farewell!”, answered by her whispering: “You are leaving me … oh fate!” The third quatrain, sung by the hero to himself, provided the two lines for the beginning of the Allegro and the two last lines for the Cabaletta, as usual. Marchesi, however, was not content with two short pertichini in the Largo, but instated on further dialogies in the course of the Allegro, which resulted in a rather complex structure of the original Rondò.124 For Genoa, an unknown musician provided a solo arrangement for Ferrarese without pertichini and in a higher range. She chose G major instead of Marchesi’s typical E major. The pertichini were removed in three different ways: Two insertions of Alfonso were simply cut (two bars in the Largo, ten bars in the Allegro), while the third one was replaced by a newly composed bridge passage (b. 61-64 in the Genoa version instead of ten bars of the original Allegro). The two recitative dialogues between Ramiro and his bride Cimene were taken over into Ferrarese’s own part (b. 18-21 and 98-99). This quite sophisticated arrangement, 30 bars shorter than the original, was probably provided by a composer at Genoa, since just one year later exactly the same procedures of “erasing” pertichini were used, when Maria Marchetti Fantozzi appeared in Genoa singing another Rondò by Tarchi originally composed for Marchesi: “Nel lasciar l’amato bene”.125                                                                                                                 120 Libretto Artaserse (Genoa 1788), US-Wc ML48 [S907], p. 32-33. I-Gl Fondo Antico NN. 321, fol. 4r-5r. Libretto Il conte di Saldagna (Milano 1787), I-Bc Lo.05285, p. 51. 122 One characteristic detail is the triplet figure Ferrarese added to the upbeat of the slow Rondò melody. In Tarchi’s original version for Marchesi, there is no broken chord in triplet rhythm, but a simple third in eighth notes. Cp. the score copy of the original Rondò in volume 66 of the Giordani collection in Turin: I-Tn Giordani 66, Recitvo, ed Aria / Ah sol bramo o mia speranza / Del. Sig.r Angelo Tarchi, fol. 38v. Possibly, however, the triplet was already added by Marchesi as en embellishment and simply adopted by Ferrarese. 123 John A. Rice, A Bohemian Composer, p. 212. 124 For an analysis of the original Rondò cp. McClymmonds, Il conte di Saldagna, p. 3095. 125 Böhmer, „Nel lasciar l’amato bene“, p. 8-11. 121    23   Those Genoa versions of two of Marchesi’s most famous Rondòs are important documents for the transformation of the genre by the prima donnas of the age. Instead of the complex context of the originals, where Marchesi turned from his beloved to the tyrant and vice versa, Marchetti and Ferrarese preferred to sing their Rondòs in more isolated situations. Apart from two short lines addressed to Semira, Mandane sings her Rondò to herself, practically as a monologue. In the later Viennese operas the isolation of the prima donna in her Rondò was a gradual, but important shift in the function of those pieces. It allowed for the insertion of a Rondò from an opera seria in an opera buffa, where a similarly pathetic ensemble situation could not be found. When a Rondò was kept with its pertichini in an opera buffa, it was necessarily turned into a parody like Tarchi’s “Cari oggetti del mio core” in Salieri’s Prima la musica. Bereft of its pertichini, however, such a highly pathetic Rondò could serve as a reflective moment of the prima donna buffa before the second finale. In Vienna, Ferrarese returned to the original text of Tarchi’s Rondò and introduced it with the recitativo con stromenti from Il conte di Saldagna, transposing the former from E to F major and the latter from A to C major. Despite the new key, she kept her solo version from Genoa without the pertichini. Here is the text of the Viennese version, as it was printed in the libretto to L’ape musicale with the recitative and the pertichini in comparison: L’Ape musicale, Atto Secondo, p. 73-74:126 [Recitativo] Ah se tu m’ami Deh calma la tua pena, e non lagnarti Di questo cor: troppo mi costa, oddio! Il doverti lasciar, caro idol mio. Pur dolce à me: se di mio bene il nome Teco porti alla tomba: addio, mia vita. Al par del punto estremo È crudele per me questo momento. Te serbi il cielo, e fia il mio cor contento. [Rondò] Ah sol bramo o mia speranza Quell’affanno consolar. Perdo, o caro, la costanza; Se ti vedo lagrimar. Un istante il guardo amato A me volgi, o mio tesoro; Caro … addio … ti lascio … o fato Ma con te rimane il cor. Questa è dunque la mercede, Che si serba a tanta fede! Ah d’amor chi non s’accende Non intende il mio dolor. [Altered or cut lines from the Milanese version] Solo in me lo sdegno appaga (ad Alfonso) Né m’è grave la catena. Alf. Non t’ascolto: alla sua pena Sia serbato il traditor. Ram: Sposa addio. Cim: Mi lasci? … Oh fato! Ram: Ma con te rimane il cor.                                                                                                                 126 L’Ape musicale / Comedia per Musica / in due atti, / da rappresentarsi / La Quadragesima dell’anno / M.DCC.LXXXIX. / nel Teatro di Corte / a / Benefizio di alcuni virtuosi (Vienna 1789), A-Wn 396448-A, p. A2: “La Musica è una scelta dei migliori pezzi, tratti dai più celebri Maestri di Cappella […] Nel second’Atto v’è: […] La Sce. dell’Arb. di Diana. Ah se tu m’ami. Del Sig. Tarchi.”    24   By its key of F major, its compact dimensions and its use of two obbligato instruments in the tenor range, English horn and violoncello, Ferrarese’s Viennese version of “Ah sol bramo” was the immediate forerunner of “Al desio di chi t’adora”, KV 577. Characteristically, both pieces start in the contralto register, only rising slowly to the second octave. Tarchi’s melody stays within the limits of a ninth c’ to d’’, while Mozart carefully postponed the f’’ to the end of his Rondò theme. This was an afterthought, as Janet K. Page and Dexter Edge found out when they analyzed the draft for KV 577.127 Originally Mozart had intended to answer the stepwise motion of the first two bars with a sudden high f. Later he decided to explore Ferrarese’s strong chest voice first, before testing her second octave. There are striking differences, too: Tarchi’s wailing chromatic lines turn his Rondò into a lamento, while Mozart strictly kept diatonic motion throughout, mirroring Susanna’s tender expectation. Tarchi’s tiny instrumental interludes cannot compete with Mozart’s elaborate concertante writing for the two basset horns and the two bassoons. The written-out “Eingang” leading back to the reprise of the slow Rondò theme is the climax of this “sinfonia concertante” for a soprano and four woodwind players. Tarchi, on the contrary, introduced a sudden shift to D-flat major in the first couplet, after which there is no reprise of the slow Rondo theme, but a direct transition into the Allegro. There, the sweet initial melody finally returns in double note values after the first Cabaletta. A certain melodic similarity between Tarchi’s and Mozart’s Cabalettas seems to underline the relation between the two Rondòs. 3. Ferrarese as Mandane in Genoa, a Duettino and a Duetto by Cherubini (1788) The Genoa arrangement of Bertoni’s Artaserse, in which Ferrarese ultimately tested the effect of Tarchi’s “Ah sol bramo” before transferring it to Vienna, is an excellent example for her reinterpretation of one of Metastasio’s great prima donna roles. Far from relying on stereotypes, she was able to breathe new life into the part of Mandane, the daughter of King Serse, who condemns her lover Arbace as the supposed murderer of her father, while being unable to forget their tender love. Ferrarese vividly expressed this inner conflict at the end of Act I by combining Bertoni’s recitativo con stromenti, “Arbace, Arbace, ah se veder potessi / In qual tumulto stanno per te gli affetti miei” with a tender aria from her own repertoire: “Ah che scordar non può / L’amor primiero”.128 The constant alternation of senario and quinario verses in the text and the rather short Allegro section with only one staccato coloratura up to c’’’ seem to suggest that its model was another early Venetian oratorio aria, originally sung in Latin. Its new text must have been ordered by Ferrarese on the occasion and provided her with ample opportunity for heartrending emotion. The beautiful phrases of the first half, a Largo in E-flat major and 3/4, contradict Gidwitz’ notion that Ferrarese was unable to sing in real cantabile style.129 Four fermatas are being spread over the aria, almost as lavishly as in Fiordiligi’s “Come scoglio”. Ferrarese’s musical mastery, which Joseph II acknowledged in 1788, included the ability to improvise short cadenzas, the so-called “Eingänge”. Mandane’s aria proves that she was a much more affectionate singer and less addicted to “bravura manœuvres” and “austerity” than Gidwitz was willing to imagine.130                                                                                                                 127 Janet K. Page and Dexter Edge, “A newly uncovered autograph sketch for Mozart’s ‘Al desio di chi t’adora’ K577”, in: The Musical Times 132, No. 1786 (Dec. 1991), p. 601-606. 128 I-Gl Fondo Antico NN. 321, 1r-2r. (composer not identified). 129 Gidwitz, Mozart’s Fiordiligi, p. 202: “Besides an absence of high notes, there was in Ferrarese’s music a dearth of long-breathed cantabile.” 130 Ibd., p. 205: “Already we can see that in the repertory of seria virtuosity, one that requires a blending of cantabile singing with vocal pyrotechnics, Ferrarese’s abilities appear to have been confined to a limited number of bravura manœuvres.” P. 203: “Ferrarese was an austere and inflexible presence […] Her arias are isolated compositions.”    25   Consequently her beautiful Rondò by Tarchi, the central piece of the second act, contains only a minimum amount of coloratura, so does her Cavatina in the third act. This additional piece was inserted in the dramatic scene where Mandane almost commits suicide because she thinks that Arbace has already been executed: “Ah! se il mio ben morì / Deh taci, o crudo Amor”. Ferrarese chose a sweet Andante in A major and 2/4 by Salvatore Rispoli, another “sighing” melody, interrupted by rests and furnished with slow triplet legato. With its original text “Perchè non puoi calmar / O cetra il mio dolor?” this Cavatina had formed part of Rispoli’s dramma sacro Il trionfo di David and was sung by Andrea Martini in the Neapolitan Teatro del Fondo di Separazione in February 1787.131 Martini took the Cavatina with him to Livorno, where he appeared with Ferrarese in autumn 1787. Thus she was able to obtain a copy and insert it with a new text in the Genoese Artaserse. Besides her three demanding solos Ferrarese shared the stage with Pacchierotti in two duets, the first of which revealed her expertise in another characteristic genre of the 1780s: the Duettino notturno sung in parallel thirds in a simplistic, melodious style.132 Fondo Antico N. 319 contains this Andante in D major and 2/4, based on a famous text from Metastasio’s Achille in Sciro, “Tornate sereni, begli’astri d’amore”, which was prolonged and turned into a classical Duettino.133 Although I could not identify the original composition and its author, the association with the Notturno genre is obvious.134 It seems most adequate to the first scene of the opera, the secret rendezvous of the lovers in moonlight, and it prefigures the duet of Fiordiligi and Dorabella at the beginning of the first Finale of Così fan tutte, also an Andante in D major and 2/4, starting in simple parallel thirds, but soon enriched by chromatic part writing similar to “Tornate sereni”. Another variant of Ferrarese’s refined style of ensemble singing is documented in the second duet from Artaserse, “Per pietà de’ miei tormenti”, a lovely A major Andante in 6/8, giving way to a pathetic Allegro in 4/4. Once again the text was changed completely, but the first two lines of the original text are still visible under the new one in the short score NN. 319: “Mille volte, o mio tesoro, se ti dissi che t’adoro”.135 This was the duet Cherubini wrote for Ferrarese and Crescentini in his first London pasticcio, Demetrio.136 The lovely melody of the slow part is first sung separately by the two soloists and on different texts. When they finally come together, they turn it into a sort of canon,137 before embarking on the Allegro. The Genoa version was not the last transformation of this duet. Pacchierotti took it to Venice where he sang it together with Anna Casentini in his next version of Artaserse performed during the autumn season of 1788. Now it was his turn first to sing Cherubini’s melody to the second quatrain of the text from Genoa before Casentini was allowed to sing the first quatrain. Thus “Per pietà di tante pene” was turned into “Vuoi ch’io viva, amato bene”, the                                                                                                                 131 Libretto Il trionfo di Davide (Napoli 1787), I-Bc Lo.04586, p. 14. Ferrarese’s Genoa version is to be found in I-Gl Fondo Antico NN. 321, 6r-6v. 132 Cp. the chapter “I Duetti notturni” by Licia Sirch, “Notturno Italiano. Sulla musica da camera tra Sette e Ottocento”, in: Rivista Italiana di Musicologia 40 (2005), p. 165-181. 133 Libretto Artaserse (Genoa 1788), US-Wc ML48 [S907], p. 10. I-Gl Fondo Antico NN. 319, 1r-1v . 134 The same piece is actually preserved in a Roman collection of 18 Notturni a due voci, formerly owned by the 19th century tenor Mario alias Giovanni Matteo de Candia. I-Rama A.Ms.2586. 135 Libretto Artaserse (Genoa 1788), US-Wc ML48 [S907], p. 50. I-Gl Fondo Antico NN. 319. 136 Recit: et Duo ajouté dans l'Opéra il Demetrio No 22. / Scena e Duetto nel Demetrio. Del Sigor Cherubini. in Londra l'anno 1785, PL, Kj Inw.Nv 6282 („In questa guisa ... Mille volte, o mio tesoro“). The score copies in Steinfurt (D-BFb C-he 65), Rome (I-Rsc G.Mss.223) and London, Ontario (CDN-Lu GM/AR 776) confirm the attribution to Cherubini. Only the score in Brussels (B-Bc 4898) contains an attribution to Tarchi under the title 1787 in Milano Duetto del Sig:r Angelo Tarchi. Probably Ferrarese and Marchesi inserted Cherubini’s duet in Tarchi’s Conte di Saldagna, which might have led to the respective misattribution. There is a modern edition of the duet by Tesori Musicali Toscani, Firenze 2010. 137  Mozart chose the same procedure for “Prenderò il brunettino”, though in B-flat major and 2/4.      26   Venice version documented in score copies in Beroun and Berlin.138 This version was finally adopted by Teresa Saporiti and the tenor Paolo Mandini as a buffo duet.139 Thus Ferrarese by inserting the Cherubini duet from her first London opera in Genoa initiated a vogue for that lovely piece in Italy. Here is the London text with its parody from Genoa: Cherubini, Duetto Cleonice, Alceste, Demetrio, London 1785: Cl. Mille volte, mio tesoro, Se ti dissi che t'adoro, Perchè torni a dubitar? Alc. Care labbra, lo rammento, Ma vorrei che ogni momento Lo tornaste a replicar. Cl. Sì, mio ben, sol tua son io. Ah, potendo io non vorrei Il mio Alceste abbandonar. Alc. L'idol mio solo tu sei. Ah, volendo io non potrei Cleonice abbandonar. A 2 Stelle, tiranne stelle! Sorte, spietata sorte; Venisse almen la morte Quest'alma a consolar. Cl. Addio. – Alc. T'arresta. – Cl. Ah, mio bene! A 2. Son nata/nato a sospirar. Duetto Mandane, Arbace, Artaserse, Genova 1788: Man. Per pietà di tante pene Non parlarmi, oh Dio! d’amore, E ti basti il mio rossor. Arb. Vuoi, ch’io viva, o caro bene; Ma se nieghi a me quel core Non resisto al mio dolor. Man. Taci, oh Dei, deh taci almeno. E potendo io non dovrei Il tuo affetto rammentar. Arb. L’idol mio solo tu sei. E volendo io non dovrei La mia fiamma abbandonar. A 2 Stelle, tiranne stelle! Sorte, spietata sorte; Venisse almen la morte Quest’alma a consolar! Man. Ti lascio. – Arb. Ascolta. – Man. Oh pena! A 2. Son nata/nato a sospirar.                                                                                                                 138 CZ-BER HU 710: Recitativo e Duetto Vuoi ch’io viva / Nel Artaserse del Sig. Luigi Cherubini. D-B Mus. Ms. 3500: Nell’Artaserse | Recitativo e Duetto | Vuoi ch’io viva o Caro bene | Del Signor Luigi Cherubini | Cantato dalla Signora Casentini e Sigr. Pacchierotti | Partizione | Nel Nobil Teatro di S. Samuel. Cp. Libretto Artaserse (Venezia 1788), I-Mb Racc.dramm.3997, p. 59. 139  CH-Beb, Burgerbibliothek Mss.h.h.LII.16.2. (8): Duetto nell’Opera: L’Italiana in Londra, del Sgr. Cimarosa, cantata dalla Sgra. Saporiti e Sgr. Paolo Mandini.      27   All in all Ferrarese as Mandane was able to stand comparison with even the greatest of all primi uomini and united her voice with Pacchierotti’s in two beautiful duets. Their success was stunning.140 Concerning Ferrarese’s predilection for the Duettino genre, there are other examples from her Italian repertoire: She opened her first opera in Genoa, L’orfano cinese, with a Duettino for her and the seconda donna Silvia Ponsoni, a piece from Bianchi’s original Venetian version of the opera.141 In Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride she sang a similarly sweet and simple Duettino with the seconda donna Teresa Boden: “Il mio destin non piangere”.142 What were the roots of that kind of duet singing still so present in Mozart’s parts for Fiordiligi and Dorabella? Like her predilection for the Rondò Ferrarese adopted that style during her early vocal training in Venice. Already in 1781, she had opened Bertoni’s Latin oratorio Balthassar in a Duettino together with Cecilia Giuliani.143 4. Summary of her early career During the glamorous early years of her career Adriana Ferrarese del Bene managed to win the favor of the Italian audience as a true prima donna seria, despite the machinations of her father-in-law. Her spectacular gift as a tragic heroine became first visible in Florence in 1786 and 1787, when she was celebrated in the roles of Ifigenia, Didone, Alceste and Semiramide. Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo was a witness of her success, so were his brothers Archduke Ferdinand in Milan and Emperor Joseph II in Trieste during the following months. Certain elements of her style, which she cultivated in perfection in her Italian two-tempo Rondòs, paved her the way to Vienna: expressive vocal gestures like her “sighing” melodies and pathetic dotted rhythms, her spectacular cantar di sbalzo and the “coloratura climax” of her Rondò. Just like per predilection for Duettini those elements were a consequence of her early training in the Venetian Ospedale dei Mendicanti and the preference of her teacher Antonia Lucovich for the pathetic style. In Vienna as before in London, Ferrarese was revered not so much as a true prima buffa, but as a prima donna seria in opera buffa: She was at her best transplanting the serious style into the comic genre. Hence came the success of her grand Viennese Rondòs, where she felt truly at home. In the comic scenes of opera buffa, on the contrary, she earned only mixed reactions, first of all by Mozart. As is well-known he criticized her for her lack of the naïve and compared her disadvantageously with Margerita Allegranti, the prima donna buffa of the Dresden court. His reservations found an even more critical echo in Warsaw in 1793, as will be shown in the next chapter. Such brutal rejection, however, was typical for musicians north of the Alps who did not subscribe to the Italian notions of good singing or expressive acting. Such harsh criticism was never being found during her early Italian years, as long as she stayed in the realm of opera seria.                                                                                                                 140 Unfortunately Carmela Bongiovanni could not find any press reference to either Ferrarese or Pacchierotti in Genoa, “Musica e musicisti attraverso gli Avvisi di Genova (1777-1797)”, in: la berio 33 N. 1 (1993), p. 17-89. 141 Libretto L’orfano cinese (Genova 1788), I-Fm Melodrammi Mel.2297.03, p. 11: “In sì crudel momento / Mancar il cor mi sento”. 142 Libretto Ifigenia in Tauride (Firenze 1786), I-Fc E.V.1444, p. 32. Cp. the Florentine score copy I-Fc D.I.669, fol. 84r-89v. 143 Bertoni, Balthassar (see N. 13), p. 24-27, Duettino – Palmira, Jezael (Sostenuto, G major, 3/4).    28   Part III: The Last Decade of Ferrarese’s Career and Her Late Rondòs Originally the present paper covered only the early years of Ferrarese’s career up to 1788. However, when I presented it at the Mozart Colloquium in October 2020, Paul Corneilson missed a chapter on her last years after the departure from Vienna in 1791. Therefore I added the following pages rounding off the portrait of a singer versatile in both comic and serious roles, revered for her two-tempo Rondòs and highly experienced in the art of the pasticcio. Echoes of her great successes in London, Italy and Vienna still resounded during her last years on stage overshadowed by the political tensions of the Coalition Wars in Italy. It seems natural to start this chapter with her last months in Vienna, because the final stage of her career was far less miserable than Lorenzo da Ponte made posterity believe it was. 1. Her last months in Vienna Ferrarese’s departure from Vienna has most often been described in connection with the fall of Lorenzo da Ponte. John Rice called the respective chapter of his Salieri biography: “The Fall of Da Ponte and Ferrarese”.144 Otto Michtner dedicated a famous archival study to the “da Ponte case”, in which Ferrarese played a substantial role, and also Sheila Hodges drew a close connection between the fates of the singer and the poet during the year 1791.145 It was da Ponte himself who blamed Ferrarese for being the major reason of his ruin in his memoirs and in his letters to Italian friends.146 For his contemporaries, however, his fall was the consequence of his own arrogance and misbehavior towards the new Emperor Leopold II, which was acidly described in the pamphlet Anti-Da Ponte, printed in Vienna in summer 1791.147 In fact, Ferrarese played only a minor role in the intrigue leading to the dismissal of the court poet. She was extremely busy during her last months in Vienna, and ultimately da Ponte profited more from her star status than he would have been willing to admit. The decision to disband Ferrarese at the end of her third season in Vienna, i.e. after Carnival 1791, was announced by Count Rosenberg early on. This can be deduced from da Ponte’s memorandum presented to the theater director in December 1790 in order to prevent the dismissal of his mistress. In this long document published by Michtner148 he tried to prove that she was irreplaceable, as neither of her two successors did possess her full qualification – neither Irene Tomeoni, the new prima buffa, nor Cecilia Giuliani, Ferrarese’s former school mate at the Mendicanti, who was a mere prima donna seria. Da Ponte conceded that Tomeoni was at her best where no gran canto was needed, but any attempt to integrate Giuliani in opera buffa would necessarily result in “a sacrifice of hers and the respective operas”.149 On the contrary he claimed that Ferrarese was experienced in both areas, the “grand chant” and the light comedy, since she also possessed “the motion and grace necessary for comic, natural and true acting”.150                                                                                                                 144 Rice, Salieri, p. 496-500. Otto Michtner, „Der Fall Abbé da Ponte“, in: Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 19 (1996), p. 170-209. Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 106-128. 146 Ibd., p. 124-125. Pompeo Molmenti, Carteggi Casanoviani. Parte II. Lettere del Patrizio Zaguri a Giac. Casanova, Milano 1918, p. 159: „Egli [da Ponte] era pazzamente innamorato della Ferrarese; diceva di aver perduto tutto per Lei; essa lo piantò, nè gli scrisse più.“ (Zaguri, Lettera 48, Venezia 12 Ottobre 1791.) 147 Anti Da Ponte. Translated with Commentary by Lisa de Alwis, Mozart Society of America 2015. 148 Michtner, Burgtheater, p. 441-443: Copia di Memoria da me presentata alla Direzione il mese di Xbre dell’anno 1790. 149 Ibd., p. 443: “Mettiam che sia vero che per una parte ove non si richiede il gran canto sia ottima la Tomeoni, cosa dobbiamo pensare della Giuliani? “Accidentally” da Ponte had got hold of “several letters of a well-known impresario”, “dalle quali si vede se facendo cantar il buffo a questa donna sarebbe un sacrificare e l’opere, e lei.” 150 Ibd., p. 442: “il moto, e le grazie necessarie a un’azione comica, naturale, e vera”. 145    29   Mozart and other Viennese contemporaries would have denied the latter, of course. For obvious reasons da Ponte was not impartial, and he was reluctant to accept the new direction Leopold II imposed on his court theater, which John Rice has analyzed meticulously in several studies.151 Tomeoni was engaged because she was an ideal singer for the new sort of harmless, but heartrending musical comedies imported from Naples, whereas Giuliani guaranteed the reinstatement of opera seria.152 The days of the Josephine opera buffa with its infusion of the serious style were over. By praising Ferrarese in this mixt genre, da Ponte unwittingly underlined the reasons for her removal. When he listed the operas in which she had most excelled in Vienna, he started with two of those newly imported comedies from Naples, La molinara and La pastorella nobile. His defense of her acting skills in La molinara betrays that she had not seemed ideal for the role from the very beginning.153 Her success in the other works of his list was undisputable, though: L’arbore di Diana, La cifra, Una cosa rara, Figaro and Axur. These were the true highlights of her Viennese career. Consequently they vanished from the court theater as soon as she had left Vienna, whereas La molinara and La pastorella nobile were successfully revived with Tomeoni. The one opera nowadays most frequently associated with Ferrarese is missing from da Ponte’s Memoria: Così fan tutte. As her dismissal seemed inevitable, her lover and her husband developed a plan how to postpone the date of her departure in order to raise money for the journey: Da Ponte wrote an oratorio for scenic performances in the Court Theater during Lent, Il Davide, followed by L’ape musicale rinnuovata. Due to the diary entries of Count Zinzendorf and the research of Otto Michtner, both works were quite successful.154 They were intended to bestow the necessary financial means on Ferrarese for her return to Italy, which was clearly spoken out by Luigi del Bene in a letter to da Ponte, written in February 1791.155 Adriana’s husband had left Vienna for Venice, in order to clarify the heritage of his late father Antonio, who had died in January 1791. Still two years earlier a sojourn of his in Venice was thought to be so dangerous that the Imperial resident Count Breuner had to grant him his special protection. Vienna feared for the life of the young man while his father was still alive.156 After Antonio’s death, Luigi had to solve his father’s chaotic estate, before heading for Rome in a vain attempt to secure the title of Consul for himself. Da Ponte got clear instructions: Please persuade my wife to exercise the greatest possible economy, because if possible I don’t want our embarrassment to leak out on the family. Meanwhile, I hope that with the Oratorio, the pasticcio and the accademie everything will go well with a little good management.157                                                                                                                 151 Most elaborately in his dissertation: John A. Rice, Emperor and Impresario: Leopold II. and the Transformation of Viennese Musical Theater, 1790-92, Ph. D. Dissertation, Berkeley 1987. See also Rice, Salieri, p. 501-503. 152 On Tomeoni in Neapolitan operas see Rice, Salieri, p. 507-524, on Leopold’s return to opera seria ibd., p. 502-503. See also: John A. Rice, Nasolini’s Teseo a Stige (1791) and the Return of Opera Seria to Vienna, p. 142 (an essay, based on parts of his dissertation and published on academia.edu). 153 Ibd., p. 442:“giacchè non ha mancato chi men doveva di opporsi ai progressi suoi, tentando con cento ragioni che non eseguisse la parte della Molinara, ch’è scritta divinamente per le sue corde”. 154 Michtner, Burgtheater, p. 314-315 and 507; Dexter Edge, “Public and Private Concerts in Vienna, 17801800. Addenda and Corrigenda” (as part of his review of Mary Sue Morrow, Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna, New York 1988), in: Haydn Yearbook vol. 17 (1992), p. 160. 155 Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 112 and annotation on p. 243: “Luigi del Bene’s letter, which is undated but which must have been written early in February 1791, is in the records of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Inquisitori di Stato, Busta 257.” 156 Ibd., p. 124. 157 Ibd., p. 112. Translation by Hodges, no Italian text quoted.    30   2. The pasticcio oratorio Il Davide based on Ferrarese’s earlier repertoire Il Davide, the oratorio whose text da Ponte wrote for Lent 1791, was first performed in the court theater on 11 March “a conto della Signora Ferrarese”.158 Its music is lost, but was tentatively attributed to Antonio Liverati.159 Already in 1987, however, Monika Holl clarified that Liverati’s Viennese oratorio Il David from 1802 did not have anything to do with that earlier work.160 Given Ferrarese’s Italian repertoire one arrives at a quite different conclusion: Da Ponte wrote Il Davide as a pasticcio oratorio due to the wishes of his mistress. All of her six solo numbers were based on earlier opera arias or duets, either from her own repertoire or borrowed from the parts of singers with whom she had appeared in Italy (see Table). Ferrarese’s arias and duets in Il Davide (Oratorio sacro, Vienna, 11 March 1791) Form (scene) Text incipit Duetto (I,1) Dell’ amor mio t’abusi Aria (I,6) Or vedi il suo periglio Composer, opera, first performance – Model aria, role (scene), text, original singer Not yet identified Earlier insertions by Ferrarese – Sarti, Medonte (Firenze 1777, Senigallia 1783) Aria Arsace (I,2) Non vedi il mio periglio 1777: Aprile 1783: Marchesi Duettino (II,4) Giusto ciel! che fier cimento! Andreozzi, La morte di Giulio Cesare (Roma 1790) Bianchi, L’orfano cinese (Venezia 1788) Duettino Cesare/Bruto (II,3) Giusto ciel, che fier cimento! Crescentini/ Maffoli Preghiera Zamti (II,7) Queste ch’io porgo umile – Tu seconda i voti miei, Pacchierotti Demetrio (Pasticcio, London 1785) Ifigenia in Tauride (Tarchi, Firenze 1786) Nitteti (Pasticcio, Piacenza 1788) – Cherubini, Giulio Sabino (London 1786) Duetto Epponina/Sabino (I,11) Consola le mie pene, Ferrarese/Babbini Didone (Pasticcio, Firenze 1786), Ferrarese/Bedini Giordani, Erifile (Genova 1783) Rondò Erifile (II,5) Partirò dal caro bene Maccherini Ansani La scuola de’ gelosi (Salieri, London 1786) Ifigenia in Tauride (Tarchi, Firenze 1786) Preghiera (II,4) Recit. Queste ch’io porgo umile – Cavatina: Tu seconda i voti miei – Coro: Alma figlia – Cavatina: Altro premio Duetto (III,4) Consola le tue pene Rondò (III,9) Caro ben, de’ nostri mali (sung by Pacchierotti in Genoa, Carnival 1788)                                                                                                                 158 Otto Michtner, Altes Burgtheater, p. 314-315. Ibd., p. 315. Dexter Edge, “Public and Private Concerts in Vienna, 1780-1800. Addenda and Corrigenda” (as part of his review of Mary Sue Morrow, Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna, New York 1988, in: Haydn Yearbook vol. 17 (1992), p. 160. Christine Blanken, Franz Schuberts ‘Lazarus’ und das Wiener Oratorium zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts (Schubert: Perspektiven – Studien 1), Wiesbaden 2002, p. 67 and N. 209, referring to Liverati as the composer. 160 In the critical report to NMA I/4, Vol. 3: Davide penitente, p. XV, N. 56, she reported that Hans-Josef Irmen had compared the scores of Liverati’s David to the libretto of da Ponte’s Davide. 159    31   The oratorio starts with a duet for the villainous general Abnero and Saul’s daughter Micol, for which the source is still unidentified: “Dell’amor mio t’abusi”.161 The rest of Ferrarese’s numbers, however, were obvious parodies, revealing her longstanding affection for her London and Italian repertoire. Also the arias of the other singers and the choruses of Il Davide were borrowed from operas.162 For an oratorio intended for scenic performance such predominance of opera repertoire must have seemed a natural choice. Ferrarese’s first aria had been a favorite of hers since her London debut in January 1785: “Non vedi il mio periglio”.163 This was the famous first aria of Arsace from Sarti’s Medonte, though not necessarily in the first version composed for Giuseppe Aprile in Florence in 1777.164 Since the tessitura of this E-flat major aria was too high for Luigi Marchesi, when he sang Arsace at the Senigallia fair of 1783, Sarti wrote a new version for him in B-flat major, preserved in Milan.165 Given her usual preference for arias originally sung by Marchesi, Ferrarese might have chosen this lower version. After inserting it into the London Demetrio, she repeated the aria in the Florentine Ifigenia in Tauride during autumn 1786 and once again in Nitteti at Piacenza in June 1788, before finally reviving it in Vienna for Il Davide. Only slight text changes were necessary to adapt the aria to the new context of the oratorio: Whereas Arsace in Medonte tries to conceal his feelings from Zelinda, Micol openly admits her despair to her confident Zelma, after David has left for the duel with Goliath: Il Davide, Vienna 1791: Or vedi il suo periglio Or sai l’affanno mio, Come lasciar poss’io Così di palpitar. Anime a torto oppresse Dalle vicende stesse Vi muova un’infelice Ridotta a delirar. Nitteti, Piacenza 1788: Medonte, Firenze 1777: Non vedi il mio periglio, Non vedi il mio periglio, Non sai l’affanno mio; Non sai l’affanno mio; Come parlar poss’io Come parlar poss’io Ridotto a palpitar? Ridotto a palpitar? Anime amanti oppresse, Anime amanti oppresse, Da un fiero ingiusto fallo Da un fiero ingiusto fato, Vi muova un cor piagato Vi muova un sventurato Già presso a delirar. Già presso a delirar.166 After David’s triumphant return he has to leave again, in order to defeat the Philistines. Now, his adieu to Micol is expressed in a Duettino d’azione, “Giusto ciel! Che fier cimento”, one of the most successful numbers from the repertoire of the tenor Vincenzo Maffoli whom Leopold II was due to engage for Vienna during the following summer. During Carnival 1790, Maffoli had sung this piece at the Roman Teatro Argentina, in the role of Brutus together with Crescentini as Cesar in La morte di Giulio Cesare by Andreozzi. Brutus takes leave from Cesar before joining the conspiracy of the assassins, but cannot make up his mind:                                                                                                                 161 Il Davide. Oratorio sacro in quattro atti dell'abbate da Ponte da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di Corte la quadragesima dell'anno 1791 per conto di Madama Ferrarese. [Vienna] 1791. A-Wn 32551-A, p. 4. 162 The opening chorus of the second act, “Solo di lieti accenti”, stems from Cimarosa’s La vergine del sole, the final chorus “Vivi, e regna” from Bertoni’s Orfeo. David’s aria in the third act, “Ah no, ben mio, non piangere”, was originally sung by Matteo Babbini in Gazzaniga’s Gli Argonauti in Colco in Venice during Carnival 1790. Vincenzo Calvesi borrowed this aria for his own part as Davide in the oratorio. 163 „Signora Ferrarese Bene made her first appearance, and from her execution, the dilettanti may fairly promise themselves every enjoyment that a musical ear can wish for. She was greatly applauded in her airs, but more so in that beginning Non vede il mio periglio." The London Chronicle 38 (Jan 8-11 1785), quoted in Burden, Metastasio, p. 131. Cp. also the list of insertions in Demetrio 1785, ibd., p. 137. 164 Cp. the score copies in Perugia (I-PEsp M CXXVIII/8) and Washington, D.C. (US-Wc M1505.A1 (205)). 165 I-Mc Mus. Tr. Ms. 1219: Aria | Non vedi il mio periglio | Del Sig. Giuseppe Sarti di Faenza | Per il Sig. Luigi Marchesi. 166 Libretto Il Davide (Vienna 1791), A-Wn 32551-A, p. 12-13. Libretto Nitteti (Piacenza 1788), I-SORmde LA.073, p. 13-14. Libretto Medonte (Firenze 1777), I-Rn 35.7.,C.11.06, p. 20.    32   “Giusto ciel, che fier cimento / Già il furor mancando và.”167 In Il Davide this duet of contradictory phrases in rapid succession was turned into a very fast and agitated farewell of David, who is hardly able to break away from his desperate beloved: “Giusto Ciel! che fier cimento / Già l’ardir mancando và.”168 After he has left, Micol turns to the God of Israel with a solemn prayer. For this vital scene, Ferrarese chose the Preghiera from L’orfano cinese, the one piece from Bianchi’s famous opera based on Voltaire that was copied all over.169 At Genoa in February 1788 Ferrarese had witnessed Pacchierotti’s incomparable interpretation of this piece in the role of Zamti.170 Since it was a prayer accompanied by the choir, it was an ideal insertion for an oratorio. Three slight text changes were sufficient to integrate the whole scene into Il Davide: After Micol has kneeled down together with her maidens, she commences her prayer with the Recitativo “Queste ch’io porgo umile”. In her first Cavatina “Tu seconda i voti miei” the verse “Ad un Orfano innocente” was changed to “All’Eroe di nostra gente”, since she is praying for the welfare of the hero David. The choir joins her with the verse “Alma figlia, esulta e godi” instead of “Alma grande, esulta e godi”, culminating in the wish: “Salvo sia Davidde, e il Re” instead of “Sarà salvo il nostro Re”. The second Cavatina “Altro premio non attendo” was sung by Ferrarese unaltered. The whole scene must have been one of the highlights of the oratorio, immediately before David defeats the Philistines, led by an angel in a cloud of fire. The mis-en-scène of Il Davide did not spare with “special effects”. After David’s second triumph, Saul’s envy inevitably approaches its violent climax, and the hero has to flee. The duet Ferrarese chose for this third farewell stemmed from Cherubini’s Giulio Sabino, the unhappy London novelty from March 1786. One of the reasons for its total failure in the King’s Theatre was the fact that the tenor Matteo Babbini sang the title role instead of a mail soprano.171 Thus, Cherubini composed the duet “Consola le mie pene” for soprano, tenor and orchestra, originally in B-flat major and as an intricate concertante dialogue between the two voices and two solo instruments: Violino obbligato and Violoncello obbligato.172 After the one and only performance in London on 30 March 1786, Ferrarese took this duet with her to Florence, where she sang it with the soprano Domenico Bedini in the Didone pasticcio in October 1786.173 In this version it is transposed to A major and assigned to the new role names Didone and Enea. It is preserved not only in the score of the Didone pasticcio now in Genoa,174 but also in a set of parts in the library of the Danish Sorø Akademi, explicitly labeled Didone abbandonata.175 For Vienna, Ferrarese reinstated the original version for her and the tenor Vincenzo Calvesi in the role of David.                                                                                                                 167 Libretto La morte di Giulio Cesare (Roma 1790), I-Rn 4.9.G.15.08, p. 31. Score copies of that Duettino in Bflat major are to be found in D-HVs Kestner No. 155g, US-Laum Ms 23 and many other libraries. 168 Libretto Il Davide (Vienna 1791), A-Wn 32551-A, p. 23 169 I-CHc 50 D 42: Del Signor Francesco Bianchi Cremonese, Preghiera 1787; I-BGc E.1.3.: Preghiera | Nel Teatro in S. Benedetto | Del S.r Franco Bianchi; I-Mc Mus. Tr. Ms. 128: Preghiera con Le Due Cavatine Del Sig|r Francesco Bianchi Cantata in S. Benedetto Dal Sigr Gaspare Pacchiarotti; and numerous others. 170 Libretto L’orfano cinese (Genova 1788), I-Bc Lo.00547, p. 47. 171 Charles Burney, A General History of Music, London 1789, p. 527: “Babini, the tenor, being elevated to first man” was a circumstance “not likely to prejudice the public in favor of the composer”. 172 Cp. the score copy in Regensburg, D-Rtt Cherubini 1. 173 Libretto Didone abbandonata (Firenze 1786), I-Bc Lo.06216, p. 19. 174 I-Gl GEO148, M.7.7, p. 157: Duetto Luigi Cherubini. 175 DK-Sa R145: “Duetto nell’Opera Didone abbandonata d. Cherubini”: short score for two sopranos (Didone, Enea) and Bass plus orchestral parts, including the two solo parts for Violino obligato and Violoncello obligato. I am very grateful to Ann Eunice Furholt Pedersen for sending scans of this source.    33   As always, the choice of her Rondò was of major importance for Ferrarese, and once again she decided to change its text completely. Nevertheless it seems highly probable that Micol’s “Caro ben, de’ nostri mali” was nothing else but Giordani’s “Partirò dal caro bene”, the famous Rondò from Erifile, printed in Paris and sung by Ferrarese as an insertion in Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi in London in 1786. Most probably she had also inserted it into the Florentine version of Tarchi’s Ifigenia in Tauride.176 Not by chance Ferrarese chose three numbers she had sung in Florence for her Viennese oratorio. Back in 1786, Grand Duke Leopold had appreciated her singing and acting in those arias. Therefore, she and da Ponte might have hoped for the presence of the Emperor and the Neapolitan royal pair at the premiere of the oratorio on 11 March, all the more so since scenic oratorios had been a specialty of the Neapolitan opera houses since 1785. In the end, however, no royalty showed up. The royal pair left Vienna on 10 March, and Leopold was preparing his own departure for Italy, scheduled for 14 March. During the same days in early March da Ponte fell in disgrace. The last performance of Il Davide took place on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. On the same day, the Heimliche Botschafter, a manuscript newspaper, reported on da Ponte’s dismissal and his imminent departure from Vienna together with Ferrarese.177 3. Departure from Vienna and final break with da Ponte The latter report revealed to be premature. On 23 March L’ape musicale rinnuovata was premiered, its run of five performances ending only on 9 April.178 Four days later Ferrarese appeared for the very last time in an accademia: On 13 April, ten days before Easter, Joseph Weigl repeated his cantata Flora e Minerva performed in the garden of the Palais Auersperg two months before for the entertainment of the Neapolitan royal pair.179 Ferrarese sang again her role of Flora, including her beautiful Rondeau with corno da caccia obbligato.180 She could have left immediately afterwards, but stayed on until early summer. Michtner claimed that she parted together with da Ponte in late June.181 In reality, she traveled with her husband to Venice in mid June. This results from a letter da Ponte wrote to Casanova on 18 June 1791, erroneously dated one year too early in Molmenti’s edition.182                                                                                                                 176 The features common to all three versions are the declamation of the first line and the third stanza consisting only of two lines instead of four. Whereas in a usual Rondò the initial line would be divided in four plus four syllables, “Partirò dal caro bene”, has three syllables, followed by five, the same constellation as in “Caro ben, de’ nostri mali” (Vienna 1791) and “Ah cor mio, gelar ti senti” (Florence 1786). In all three texts the third stanza is reduced to a double verse, since Giordani repeated the first two lines of the first quatrain at the beginning of the Allegro. This unusual procedure is hardly found anywhere else in the Rondò repertoire and seems to suggest the doubly parody of Giordani’s Rondò by Ferrarese, after she had sung it in London to the original text. 177 Quoted by Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 112. 178 Journal des Luxus und der Moden. Sechster Band. Jahrgang 1791, p. 273-274. There, also the five performances of Il Davide are listed: “11. David, ein geistliches Oratorium, zum Benefiz für Madam Ferrarese. 12. Wiederholt. […] 16. David, geistliches Oratorium. 18. David, geistliches Oratorium […] 23. L’Ape musicale rinnuovata. S. in 3. A. vom Abbate da Ponte, zu dessen Benefiz. 14. König Lear. 25. David, geistliches Oratorium.” Cp. Edge, Review, p. 160. 179 Flora e Minerva. Cantata a due voci con Cori. Rappresentata nel tempio di Flora, Per Solennizzare ll Giorno 17. Gennajo 1791, in cui le LL. MM. Siciliane. Onorarono di Lor Reale Presenza L'Abitazione del Principe Adamo D' Auersperg. Score copy A-Wn 180 Ibd., p. 41-50: F major, 2/4, Adagio non tanto: „Oh di qual giubilo, piena la mente“. 181 Michtner, Burgtheater, p. 306: „Nach dem Abgang von Ferrarese, die Ende Juni 1791 gemeinsam mit da Ponte nach Triest reiste ...“. 182 Pompeo Molmenti, „Carteggi Casanoviani. Parte IV. Di Lorenzo da Ponte (1790-93)“, in: Archivio Storico Italiano Serie V, Vol. 48, No. 263 (1911), p. 38-39. Da Ponte reports on events from summer 1791: his “defense” against his enemies in Vienna and his imminent departure for Trieste “in the course of four or six days”.    34   Amidst the chaos of his fall and his departure for Trieste he revealed to his friend in Bohemia that Venice was the true destination of his journey: Anyway my thoughts are now revolted versus Venice […] I have written to Zaguri, Memmo, da Lezze on this subject […] La Ferrarese who has already departed for Venice together with her husband will act on my behalf with more prudence and with more interest.183 Thus she was not with him when he met the Emperor in Trieste on the latter’s return trip from Italy. Leopold arrived there on 8 July, immediately after his weeklong “opera vacation” in Padua.184 Da Ponte could not have chosen a worse moment for imploring pardon. The Emperor was determined to reinstall opera seria in Vienna and fully occupied with urgent political decisions after the unhappy “flight to Varennes” of the French royal family. Quite understandably, he was all but amused to spot his discharged court poet in the Teatro S. Pietro in Trieste. Reluctantly he granted him an audience the next day, described in detail in da Ponte’s memoirs.185 The unhappy result was another period of uncertainty spent in Trieste, while Ferrarese acted behind the scenes in Venice. In the end, da Ponte blamed her of letting him down, for which she had very good reasons, though: In a desperate attempt to rehabilitate himself in Venice, da Ponte betrayed Luigi del Bene by delivering compromising letters to the Venetian authorities.186 The damage for del Bene’s future was considerable. Therefore, Ferrarese called da Ponte “a madman”, while her husband broke off any contact with the poet.187 In late March 1792 the del Bene pair left for Warsaw.188 Adriana had been engaged as the new prima donna of the Royal opera house in the Polish capital. Despite the rupture of 1791, the “chapter da Ponte” in Ferrarese’s life was not closed yet. When the poet came to the Netherlands two years later in order to establish an Italian opera compny, he was not reluctant to contact her again. When he was looking for a prima donna in late August 1793, he received news that she was in Vienna on her return trip from Poland. Almost cynically he wrote to Casanova: “If her husband wants to earn 500 zecchini for one and a half months, I will write to him through a third hand tomorrow.”189 This clearly proves that Luigi del Bene still acted as the agent of his wife negotiating her salaries. By mid October, however, da Ponte had not received an answer: “La Ferrarese has not answered yet. She will not answer and she will not come - so much the worse for her. She could have comfortably earned 2000 zecchini in one year.”190 In the end, nothing came off da Ponte’s grand projects in The Hague, while Ferrarese was enjoying her salary as prima donna seria at the Teatro S. Cassiano in Venice during the same autumn of 1793.                                                                                                                 183 Ibd., p. 38, Lettera 1: “Ad ogni modo le mire mie sono per ora rivolte a Venezia […] A questo oggetto ho scritto al Zaguri, al Memmo, al da Lezze […] la Ferrarese che è già partita per Venezia con suo marito agirà per me con più giudizio, e con più interesse.” 184 Cp. Karl Böhmer, Paving the Way for La clemenza di Tito: Leopold II in Padua, Ipermestra by Giovanni Paisiello, and Luísa Todi as Didone, published on academia.edu on 13 July 2019. 185 Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 118-122. 186 Sheila Hodges discovered that unpleasant affair in the archives of Venice, cp. Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 124-125 and 243-244 (annotations). 187 Ibd., p. 125, according to Zaguri’s letter from 14 January 1792 to Casanova. 188 Due to a letter of Conte Collalto to Casanova from 28 March 1792, quoted in Gillio, p. 436, n. 25. 189 Molmenti, Carteggi Casanoviani. Parte IV, p. 56, Lettera 9. Rotterdam, 29 agosto 1793: „Ho scritto in diverse parti per un’altra prima Donna, ma non so ancora se potrò averla. Mi scrivono che la Ferrarese è in Vienna; se il marito vuol guadagnare 500 zecchini, per un mese e mezzo, io gli fo scriver domani da terza mano.“ 190 Ibd., p. 56, Lettera 11, The Hague, 13 October 1793: “La Ferrarese non mi ha ancora risposto. Non risponderà, e non verrà. Tanto peggio per lei. Avrebbe potuto guadagnare comodamente 2000 zecchini in un anno.“    35   The way in which da Ponte portrayed her during those last years – a miserable, unsuccessful und unattractive singer without engagements – has had a long-lasting influence on her posthumous reputation. The poet crowned this mischievous portrait with a downright lie: According to his memoirs they met for the last time during Carnival 1799 in Venice, when he was auditioning new singers for the opera in London. After spending a pleasant theater evening together in Il re Teodoro in Venezia it was his turn to let her down.191 The story seems to be totally fictitious: There was no performance of Paisiello’s old Viennese opera buffa during those months in Venice, and Ferrarese was fully occupied with the Carnival opera in Brescia, a former Venetian city, now part of the Repubblica Cisalpina. 4. Intermezzo in Warsaw Concerning the last decade of Ferrarese’s career, Gillio and others have followed the guidelines of da Ponte and drawn the picture of an inevitable descent into insignificance.192 Quite on the contrary she successfully continued her double career as prima donna seria and prima buffa first in Warsaw, than at major opera houses in Italy until 1799. Several of those opera productions reveal surprising “relapses” into her Viennese repertoire. The artistic profile of the Royal opera in Warsaw under King Stanislaw Poniatowski has been brilliantly analyzed by Anna Parkitna in her dissertation from 2020.193 There she gave a full account of the prominent singers at Warsaw including Ferrarese, who appeared during the last season of the Poniatowski era before the dramatic events leading to the Third Polish Partition. Patkina revealed the strong Viennese influence in that season: Between April 1792 und May 1793, Ferrarese appeared in seven opere buffe recently performed in Vienna. On the playbill for Salieri’s La cifra, premiered on 2 March 1793, she was announced as the singer for whom the opera had been “especially composed”.194 While her merits in the Viennese repertoire were undisputable, she was received with mixed feelings in the Neapolitan comedies of a lighter vein. Before she gave her debut in La molinara on 28 April 1792, the playbill announcement apologized for her not being able to show “her voice in its fullest glory” in that opera.195 Four months later she was finally allowed to show off in the only opera seria of the season, Bianchi’s Alessandro nell’Indie, premiered on the anniversary of the King’s election, 6 September 1792. In the surrounding examples of Neapolitan opera buffa she had to stand the test of her comic talents and the comparison with the born buffa singer Anna Benini. The most prominent pieces were Paisiello’s Nina, newly put on stage in May 1792, his I zingari in fiera presented in December 1792 and Cimarosa’s Il falegname premiered on New Year’s Eve. Patkina described the paradox situation of Ferrarese in Warsaw in the following terms: It was thus an ironic twist in operatic migrations that brought Ferrarese to Warsaw following her dismissal from Vienna at the end of the 1790–91 season. The prima donna ended up performing in the same light comic operas preferred by Leopold II for which she had been considered an entirely ill-suited voice by the Viennese theatrical management.196                                                                                                                 191 Hodges, Da Ponte, p. 154. Gillio, Le Donne di Teatro, p. 436. 193 Anna Parkitna, Opera in Warsaw, 1765-1830: Operatic Migration, Adaptation, and Reception in the Enlightenment, Dissertation Stony Brook University, January 2020. Online on Academia.edu: www.academia.edu/42675705/Opera_in_Warsaw_1765_1830_Operatic_Migration_Adaptation_and_Reception _in_the_Enlightenment 194 Ibd., p. 125. 195 Ibd., p. 125. 196 Ibd., p. 147. 192    36   Notwithstanding the reservations against her comic talent, Ferrarese was able to demonstrate her expertise in the realm of gran canto. From the few extant librettos it seems obvious that she kept the grand Rondò as the vehicle of her art also in Warsaw. In Cimarosa’s I due baroni di Rocca Azzurra she took the role of Madama Laura, formerly sung by her colleague Luigia Villeneuve, for whom Mozart in 1789 had written the insertion aria “Alma grande a nobil core” KV 578. Ferrarese chose another aria for the first act and a famous Cimarosa Rondò for the second act: “Quant’è grave il mio tormento”.197 Once again this was a Rondò from Marchesi’s repertoire, originally composed for the Turin Artaserse from Carnival 1785. In Vienna it had been inserted into the pasticcio version of Guglielmi’s La quacquera spiritosa, a total fiasco performed only two times in August 1790. Vertunna’s Rondò was introduced by a new recitativo con stromenti presumably by Mozart.198 In Warsaw, Ferrarese sang the Rondò, but not the Viennese recitative. The limited number of extant librettos does not allow for a full reconstruction of her insertions arias in Warsaw. Possibly they included the same arias by Mozart she sang in Venice during autumn 1793 (see below). During Spring 1792, the “travelling Livonian” Friedrich Schulz stayed in Warsaw and gave a lively report on the singers of the court opera – not to the advantage of Ferrarese, whom he saw in Paisiello’s La molinara. Deriding her for her ugly figure and her exaggerated gestures he set her off against the natural grace of her competitor Anna Benini: A company of Italian opera singers arrived in spring 1792, which belonged to the mediocre troupes and did not contain a single good singer apart from one called Benini. The prima donna [Ferrarese] was a cloddish figure with a flat face who in the roles of the giardiniera brillante and the bella molinara waddled like a duck on two large feet, either pressing her breasts with her gigantic hands or slowly cutting the air top down […] Solely Benini, though already high in her thirties, combined a pretty voice and a meaningful face with a lot of grace […] She was the favorite of the audience, and almost every night Italian and Polish poems in her praise were being thrown down on the parterre. This attachment grew into enthusiasm, when the prima donna found a small party of her own, singing her praise. For a while the great world forgot even the Sejm and its political negotiations in view of the envy and rivalry of those two women. The King was on Benini’s side, but his old friend Grabowska supported the ugly prima donna.199                                                                                                                 197 Libretto Li due baroni di Rocca Azzurra (Varsavia 1792), Pl-Kj BJ St. Dr. 294265 I, p. 53-54. The first act aria is to be found on p. 22: „Se chi son io non sai. / All’opre mie lo chiedi“. Unusually both arias bear a separate title in the libretto, Aria atto I and Rondò atto II, documenting their being inserted by Ferrarese. 198 Concerning the attribution and music of this recitative see Dexter Edge, “Attributing Mozart (i): three accompanied recitatives, in: Cambridge Opera Journal 13, p. 230-237. 199 [Friedrich Schulz], Reise eines Liefländers nach Riga nach Warschau. Viertes Heft, Berlin 1795, S. 74-76: „Ganz anders verhielt es sich, als im Frühlinge 1792 eine Gesellschaft Italienischer Opernsänger, die man verschrieben hatte, zu spielen anfing. Sie gehörte in der That zu den mittelmäßigen und, eine Sängerin ausgenommen, Benini genannt, hatte sie kein einziges gutes Subjekt aufzuweisen. Die ‚prima donna’ war eine ungeschlachte Figur, mit einem platten Gesichte, die als ‚gardinara [sic] brillante’ und als ‚bella molinara’ auf zwey stattlichen Füßen entenhaft herumwatschelte und mit zwey Riesenhänden, bald sich die linke und rechte Brust zerdrückte, bald die Luft von unten nach oben langsam spaltete […] Die einzige ‚Benini’, obgleich schon hoch in den dreyßigen, vereinigte mit einer niedlichen Stimme und einem sehr sprechenden Gesichte, viel Anstand […]. Auch ward sie sogleich der Liebling des Publikums, und fast bey jeder Vorstellung flogen Italienische und Polnische Lobgedichte in das Parterre herab. Diese Anhänglichkeit ward zur Begeisterung, als die ‚prima donna’ auch eine kleine Partey fand, die ihr Lob sang und singen ließ; und eine Zeitlang vergaß die große Welt, vergaßen selbst jüngere Landboten, den Reichstag und dessen Verhandlungen über dem Neide und der Nebenbuhlerschaft dieser beyden Weiber. Der König war auf Seiten der Benini, aber seine alte, erprobte Freundin, die Generalin Grabowska (man sagt, bloß deswegen) gegen sie, auf Seiten der häßlichern ‚prima donna’.“    37   Cruel as they might seem those remarks on Ferrarese’s pathetic acting style are in full concordance with similar judgments about Italian prima donnas written north of the Alps in the 1790s.200 5. Back to Italy: Mozart arias in Venice and Così fan tutte in Trieste When Ferrarese finally returned to Italy in summer 1793, she received a contract for the autumn season at the Teatro S. Cassiano – the Venetian scrittura she had hoped for during all those years since 1783. In the Indice de’ Teatrali spettacoli she is listed as the prima donna seria of the season, while her colleague Palmira Sassi Nencini was the prima buffa – a constellation ideal for her preferences.201 Once again she presented La cifra as her cheval de bataille singing Salieri’s beautiful Rondò “Sola e mesta” in the second act.202 As her sortita in the first act, however, she revived Mozart’s “Come scoglio” from Così fan tutte.203 Thus the Venetian audience listened to one of Mozart’s greatest arias in the interpretation of its original singer. Subtle text changes also allowed for the parody of Fiordiligi’s recitativo, now adjusted to the situation of Eurilla, the poor daughter of the peasant Rusticone: La ciffra (Venezia 1793) Recitativo ed Aria di Eurilla: Ah Genitor ti calma … Il grave pianto asciuga, e non inondi Del fiero affanno suo, del suo dolore, Il mio spirto, i miei sensi, ed il mio core. In me ti fida; in van si cerca, e tenta Quest’Alma di sedur, il dolce affetto, Che serbo in petto per te, amato Padre, Converserò costante infino a morte, A dispetto del Mondo, e della sorte. Come scoglio immoto resta, Contro i venti, e la tempesta. Così ognor quest’alma è forte, Nella fede, e nell’onor. Non temer della tua Figlia, Vivi in pace, e ti consola, Che potrà la morte sola, Far che cangi affetto il cor. Rispettate i[n]cauti Amanti, Questo esempio di costanza, E una barbara speranza, Non vi renda audaci ancor. Così fan tutte (Vienna 1790) Recitativo ed Aria di Fiordiligi: Temerari, sortite, Fuori di questo loco: e non profani L’alito infausto degl’infami detti Nostro cor, nostro orecchio, e nostri affetti. Invan per voi, invan per gli altri si cerca Le nostre alme sedur: l’intatta fede Che per noi già si diede ai cari amanti Saprem loro serbar infino a morte, A dispetto del mondo, e della sorte. Come scoglio immoto resta, Contro i venti e la tempesta. Così ognor quest’alma è forte, Nella fede, e nell’onor. Con noi nacque quella face Che ci piace, e ci consola, E potrà la morte sola Far che cangi affetto il cor. Rispettate, anime ingrate, Questo esempio di costanza, E una barbara speranza, Non vi renda audaci ancor.204                                                                                                                 200 Cp. the unfriendly comments on Luísa Todi in Berlin and the acid description of Maria Marchetti Fantozzi as Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, published in Brno in 1794: „eine mehr mit den Händen als der Kehle singende Primadonna, die man für eine Besessene halten mußte“. „Einige Nachrichten über den Zustand des Theaters in Prag. Im Dezember 1794“, in: Allgemeines europäisches Journal. Zweiten Bandes drittes Stück, Brünn 1794, p. 569f. 201 Indice de’ teatrali spettacoli per l’anno 1793, p. 173: “Autunno. Teatro a S. Cassiano. In quel nobilissimo Teatro si rappresentarono varie Opere buffe de’ seguenti Signori Attori: Prima Donna seria Adrianna Ferraresi. Prima Buffa Palmira Sassi Nencini.” 202 Libretto La cifra (Venezia 1793), I-Rn 35.9.H.17.01, p. 65, Rondò di Eurilla, but without Salieri’s recitativo con stromenti “Alfin son sola”, which was cut. 203 Ibd., p. 23. 204 Libretto Così fan tutte (Vienna 1790), US-Wc ML-48[S6762], p. 27-28.    38   In the second buffa she inserted an even more surprising Mozart aria: Cherubino’s “Voi che sapete”. As the poetessa Angelica in Paër’s Le trame amorose she appeared in the fifth scene of the first act with a book in her hand, obviously reading da Ponte’s Canzonetta with Mozart’s music from the latter, with only minimal text changes.205 Her Rondò in the second act was nothing else but Tarchi’s “Ah sol bramo”.206 These two pieces helped her to gain applause in Paër’s buffa, which otherwise fell through, while La Cifra gained an undisputed success. The Gazzetta Urbana Veneta reported on Ferrarese in both productions: The prima donna [in La Cifra] is the Signora Ferraresi, of whom is being said all the best in the world […] The new Opera at S. Cassiano called Le trame amorose does not have the luck of La Cifra that lasted for so many performances. Intrigues, bad conventions and the pretentions of the singers always run against the interests of the impresarios […] The diverse reactions towards firstly the applauded Signora Ferrarese, who was called forth, secondly the rest of the company is an example of that truth known to anyone acquainted with the affairs of the theater.207 Ferrarese’s choice to sing “Come scoglio” in Venice in 1793 prefigured the complete performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Trieste four years later.208 In the Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli Mozart’s opera was announced for the summer 1797 at the Teatro S. Pietro: “La scuola degli Amanti Musica del Maestro Mozzard”.209 The cast included Ferrarese as “prima donna”. Here is the presumable division of the roles in Mozart’s opera: Prima Donna Primo Buffo Primo Mezzo Carattere Secondo buffo Seconda Donna Terza Donna Andrianna Ferraresi Del Bene Francesco Bergani Giuseppe Macchiavelli Luigi Sola Giacinta Macchiavelli Maria Minghini210 Fiordiligi Guglielmo Ferrando Don Alfonso Dorabella Despina Unfortunately no libretto survives for this production. Curiel based his account solely on the Indice and drew a direct connection between the respective summer season and recent political events in the city: After Bonaparte and the French garrison had left in concordance with the piece negotiations, the Austrians had taken hold of their harbor city again. On Ascension day, 25 May, they celebrated their return with a concert including Haydn’s hymn “Gott erhalte Franz, den Kaiser”.211 Two months later, an extraordinary summer season was granted, with Mozart’s La scuola degli amanti and Portugal’s La donna di Genio volubile.                                                                                                                 205 Libretto La trame amorose (Venezia 1793), I-, p. 15: Angelica, con libro in mano, indi Orlando. Ibd., p. 47. Rondò di Angelica, “Ah sol bramo o mia speranza / Il tuo affetto consolar.” 207 Gazzetta Urbana Veneta 1793, p. 677: “La prima Donna è la Signora Ferraresi, di cui edesi dire tutti il bene del Mondo.” P. 781: “La nuova Opera a S. Cassiano int- Le trame amorose non ha la fortuna ch’ebbe la Cifra la quale sostennesi per tante recite. Gl’intrighi, le mal intese convenzioni, le pretensioni de’ personaggj sempre nuocono agl’interesse degl’impresarj […] Il vario destino ch’ebbe alla prima recita di quest’Opera, prima l’applaudita Sig. Ferrarese chiamata fuori, poi il resto della Compagnia, è un esempio di questa verità conosciuta da chi ha pratica delle teatrali vicende.” 208 Carlo L. Curiel, Il Teatro S. Pietro di Trieste 1690-1801, Milan 1937, p. 324: “Il teatro si riaperse con una buona stagione d’opera buffa. Fu dato La Scuola degli Amanti del Mozart […]; e per seconda opera, La Donna di Genio volubile del Portugal. Andriana Del Bene Ferraresi, per la quale il poeta cenedese aveva scritta la parte della protagonista de La Scuola degli Amanti, dando al personaggio il nome trasparente di ‘Fiordiligi, Dama Ferrarese’, ne fu l’interprete a Trieste.” 209 Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli 1797-98, p. 127. 210 Ibd., p. 127. 211 Curiel, Teatro S. Pietro, p. 322-323. 206    39   6. Revolutionaries in Reggio, Venice and Brescia The political tension lying behind the opera productions in Trieste accompanied all the rest of Ferrarese’s career. She had to perform for either side of the Coalition wars: for enthusiastic republicans in Reggio, Venice and Brescia and for stern Austrian monarchists in Mantua, Trieste, Livorno and Bologna. Her regular Carnival seasons do prove her lasting popularity with audiences in Northern Italy: She appeared as prima buffa in Mantua (1795)212 and as prima donna seria in Modena (1796), Reggio (1797) and Brescia (1799). Her two seasons in Modena and Reggio dramatically illustrate the political overthrow of the age. When she performed the wonderful title role of Nasolini’s Cleopatra in Modena in January 1796, she still sang to the elevated ears of duke Ercole III.213 Eight months later, the rule of the d’Este duke had come to an end with the revolutionary rising of his subjects and the proclamation of the Repubblica Reggiana on 26 August 1796.214 When Ferrarese returned to the former dukedom for the following Carnival, the opera seria at Reggio’s Teatro di Citadella had to serve a radically new purpose: It was premiered on 27 December 1796 for the festive opening of the Congresso Cispadana, the congregational congress held in Reggio until 9 January.215 The libretto proclaimed the Anno I della Repubblica Cispadana, and the high ideals of the new “Teatro giacobino”216 were mirrored in the title role of Metastasio’s Attilio Regolo, the very embodiment of the stern Roman republican.217 The music of this pasticcio mostly stemmed from Cimarosa and was performed by three leading singers of the 1790s: the tenor Giuseppe Carri from Reggio, the soprano Vincenzo Bartolini and Ferrarese del Bene. On 7 January the Congresso Cispadana took a famous and far-reaching decision for Italy’s future: it declared the colors green, white and red the official tricolore for the banner and cockade of the Repubblica Cispadana.218 Thus Adriana Ferrarese del Bene was the first Italian prima donna ever to wear the national colors of the Italian tricolore.                                                                                                                 212 Archduke Ferdinand of Milan and his wife passed through Mantua on Sunday 8 February 1795 and attended Portugal’s I due gobbi with Ferrarese. Gazzetta Universale Num 14. Martedì 17 Febbrajo 1795, p. 112. 213 La Cleopatra. Dramma serio per musica del signor A.S. Sografi avvocato veneto da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Rangoni di Modena il carnevale dell'anno 1796, umiliato all'altezza serenissima di Ercole III, duca di Modena, Reggio, Mirandola, etc. etc., Modena 1796. I-Rsc Carv. 3452. The title role was originally composed for Maria Marchetti Fantozzi and first performed in Vincenza in June 1791. Cp. John A. Rice, „Mozart and His Singers: The Case of Maria Marchetti Fantozzi, the First Vitellia“, in: The Opera Quarterly 11/4 (1995), p. 39. 214 Doina Pasca Harsanyi, “Sidestepping a Historical Wave: A Cancelled Revolution in Northern Italy. 179697”, in: Napoleonica 2020/2, No. 37, p. 12: “In Reggio pro-reform political activists had recently decided, amidst celebratory planting of liberty trees, to take matters in their own hands, break their ties with the historical house of Este in Modena, and constitute themselves in a republic (26 August 1796). This in turn prompted the French authorities to help topple the duke of Modena (4 October 1796), opening the way to the formation of the Cispadane republic (16 October) comprising Reggio, Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara; the previous day, in Milan, Bonaparte had proclaimed the Transpadane Republic.” 215 Paolo Fabbri, Roberto Verti, Due secoli di teatro per musica a Reggio Emilia. Repertorio cronologico delle opere e dei balli 1645-1857, Reggio Emilia 1987, p. 132. 216 Cp. the documents in: Sergio Romagnoli, Elvira Garbero, Teatro a Reggio Emilia I. Dal rinascimento alla rivoluzione francese, Firenze 1980, p. 267-270. 217 Attilio Regolo. Dramma serio per musica da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di Reggio il carnevale dell'anno 1797 anno I della Repubblica Cispadana, Reggio 1797. Cp. Anselm Gerhard, „Republikanische Zustände – Der tragico fine in den Dramen Metastasios“, in: Zwischen Opera buffa und Melodramma. Italienische Oper im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt 1994, p. 56. Gerhard analyzed the „republican“ additions in Regolo’s last monologue introduced for the production in Reggio. 218 On the congress, its history and decisions cp. Ugo Bassi, Reggio nell’Emilia alla fine del secolo XVIII (17961799), Reggio nell’Emilia 1895, p. 195-196. The document on the tricolore is found ibd., p. 478: “Nella seduta in Reggio del giorno 7 Gennaro corrente il Congresso decretò: […] 2.o Che sia universale lo stendardo, o Bandiera Cispadana di tre Colori Verde, Bianco, e Rosso col Turcasso. 3.o Che li pred[ett]i Colori si usino nella Cocarda Cispadana, da portarsi tutti […] 5.o Che l’Era della Repubblica Cispadana incominci dal primo giorno di Gennaro del corrente anno 1797; e che questo si dichiari Anno I della Repubblica Cispadana.”    40   Even before she arrived in Reggio for the rehearsals of Attilio Regolo, she had collected her first experiences with the citizens of the new Cispadane republic in Ferrara’s Teatro Scroffa during autumn 1796. The Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli reveals that she sang as a substitute for the sickened prima buffa of the season, Maria Camilla Guidi, who was able to resume her duties only on 21 November.219 Ferrarese took over the part of Carolina in Cimarosa’s Matrimonio segreto220 and sang a second opera called La capricciosa corretta, obviously Gazzaniga’s popular La moglie capricciosa from 1785.The impresario dedicated the season to the “Cittadini componenti l’amministrazione centrale del Ferrarese”, i.e. the revolutionary administration of the republican region of Ferrara, which had declared its independence from the Church State and had joined the Reggiani in the new republic. By no means Ferrarese was sorted out as prima donna assoluta, but appeared in the very center of revolutionary enthusiasm. Also Venice was drawn into the wave of republican upheaval.221 At the Teatro S. Benedetto she was engaged for the Ascesa dell’anno 1797, Primo Della Libertà d’Italia. Being announced as “La Cittadina Andrianna Ferrarese del Bene” she appeared in Il ritorno di Serse by Marc’Antonio Portugal, an opera seria about an unjust ruler and the rising of his subjects.222 While the aging choreographer Onorato Viganò had to feel the full force of displeasure, fueled by the new democratic self-confidence, “la Ferarresi del Bene” as prima donna was still very much applauded.223 The third “revolutionary” opera in her career was La morte di Mitridate by Nasolini, performed in Brescia during Carnival 1799.224 Since the former Venetian city now belonged to the French dominated Repubblica Cisalpina, this Carnival opera was fully dominated by the new Republican ideals.225 According to the Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli the first Carnival opera of that season was Nasolini’s Il Tiranno punito.226 Most probably this was another title for his radically republican opera Timoleone, written for the fiera 1798 in Reggio.227 Thus Ferrarese in the course of just two and a half years performed four heroic operas and two opere buffe to the new republican audiences in Northern Italy.228                                                                                                                 219 ITS 1796-97, p. 25: “Cantò parimenti in questo Teatro in due Opere intitolate Il Matrimonio Segreto, La capricciosa corretta da Prima Donna – Adriana Ferraresi del Bene. Nel giorno 21 Novembre poi, ristabilitasi, riprese a cantare la suddetta Maria Camilla Guidi.” 220 The primo buffo Agostino Lipparini took Cimarosa’s opera with him to Reggio, where it was performed during the Fiera in May 1797, and to Modena, where it was premiered on 20 June. Cp. Gandini, Cronistoria I, p. 172. Obviously, the impresarios in the newly founded Repubblica Cispadana helped each other out with opera buffa productions. 221 Cp. Martha Feldman, Opera and Sovereignty. Transforming Myths in Eighteenth Century Italy, Chicago and London 2007, p. 389-435 (Chapter 9. Death of the Sovereign. Venice, 1797.) 222 Il ritorno di Serse. Dramma per musica da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Venier in San Benedetto l'Ascensione dell'anno 1797, primo della libertà d'Italia, Venezia 1797, I-Bc Lo.04380. List of singers p. 3. 223 Gazzetta Urbana Veneta 1797, p. 351: “Questo spettacolo ebbe alla prima recita una tempesta d’urli e di fischi mossa da un universale disgusto il quale si accrebbe al vedere, non solo per capo di Balli, ma per primo Ballerino Onorato Viganò. E quando mai, Cittadino Viganò, crederete voi d’aver finito? Quando vi persuaderete che siete stato, e non siete più? […] Il Pubblico ve lo ha detto tante volte in prima, ora ve lo dice il Popolo, che colla sua democratica autorità non vuol più soffrire le ostinazioni del vostro amor proprio.” 224 Il Mitridate. Tragedia per musica da rappresentasi nel Teatro Nazionale di Brescia nel carnovale dell'anno VII repubblicano, Brescia 1799, I-Vnm Dramm. 3269.007. 225 Feldman analyzed Sografi’s radical libretto with the music of Zingarelli, written for Venice in 1797, Feldman, Opera and Sovereignty, p. 415-430. 226 ITS 1797-98, p. 22-23: “Brescia. Carnevale 1799. Nello stesso teatro si rappresentarono due Drammi serj intitolati Il Tiranno punito – Musica del Maestro Sebastiano Nasolini. La Morte di Mitridate – Musica dello stesso. Attori. Prima Donna – Andrianna Ferrarese. Primo Uomo – Paolo Belli. Primo Tenore – Pietro Righi.” 227 Timoleone. Dramma serio per musica da rappresentarsi per la prima volta nel Teatro di Reggio la fiera dell'anno VI repubblicano, Reggio 1798, I-Bc Lo.07623. 228 Unfortunately it is unknown where she appeared in 1798. She is neither listed in the ITS 1798-99 nor for any Carnival opera of 1798. A similar gap in her career appears during the year 1794.    41   7. Pro-Austrian Propaganda in Mantua, Livorno and Bologna The famed singer had to convey quite another political message in two scenic oratorios performed for pro-Austrian audiences in Mantua in 1796 and in Livorno in 1799. In 1796 the Accademia Virgiliana in Mantua ordered its usual oratorio for Lent: Isacco figura del redentore by Tarchi, arguably the most important oratorio of the Neapolitan composer.229 In contrast to the operas Ferrarese sang during those years this was an original score written for her in the role of Sara.230 The title role was composed for another important Mozart singer: Francesco Ceccarelli. The former friend of the Mozart family from Salzburg had been serving the Elector of Mainz since February 1788, but had left the destroyed city in 1794, in order to start a late career as primo uomo in Italy.231 His thirteen oratorio evenings in Mantua at the side of Ferrarese were celebrated in the press.232 The Gazzetta Universale differentiated between Ceccarelli’s “majestic” singing for the connoisseurs and Ferrarese’s “enchanting” performance for the rest of the audience. Obviously her voice had not lost its attraction: The applause he [Tarchi] collected is universal and continued all the time. Francesco Ceccarelli, first soprano, virtuoso in the service of the Electoral court at Mainz, who represents the part of Isacco, distinguishes himself with the ravishing majesty of his singing and attracts the attention of the most intelligent spectators. The part of Sara is being sustained by Adriana Ferraresi, who with her enchanting voice moves and delights […] The spectacle is tastefully decorated, and the music is full of novelty und grace, so that the whole fully merits to be celebrated by persons of every rank.233                                                                                                                 229 Gian Giuseppe Bernardi, La Musica nella Reale Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova, Mantova 1923, p. 69: “1796. - Nella quaresima del 1796 fu rappresentato come saggio, nel Teatro Scientifico, l'Isacco di Pietro Metastasio, musicato da Angelo Tarchi, di cui si diedero, dal 3 al 28 marzo, tredici rappresentazioni.” Ibd., p. 70, N. 2: “Da una nota risultano alcuni nomi di cantanti: Adriana Ferraresi, Francesco Ceccarelli, Gustavo Lazzerini.” The names of the singers are also contained in the original libretto preserved in Parma together with an ode about Tarchi’s music: Al celebre signor Angelo Tarchi, I-PAp F. Libretti sc.216 182. 230 There are at least five full scores of Tarchi’s oratorio: The presumed autograph is still in the possession of the Accademia Virgiliana in combination with the orchestral parts of the original performance, I-MAav Cart. 21/1,2. Score copies are found in Paris (F-Pn D-8962), Florence (I-Fc F.P.T.504), Ostiglia (Mss.Mus.B 1329/1, 1330) and Bologna (I-Bc KK.140). 231 Cp. Karl Böhmer, „Schöne Stimmen in den Mainzer Akademien der Erthal-Zeit: Francesco Ceccarelli, Luísa Todi und Hortensia Gräfin Gräfin von Hatzfeldt, in: Musik und Musikleben am Hof des Mainzer Kurfürsten Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, ed. by Axel Beer, Ursula Kramer und Klaus Pietschmann (Beiträge zur Mittelrheinischen Musikgeschichte 48), Mainz 2021, p. 111-144. Concerning Ceccarelli’s late Italian career see p. 127-131. 232 Bernardi, Accademia Virgiliana, p. 69: „La Gazzetta del 4 marzo riferisce l'esito eccellente della prima rappresentazione. N. 2: Il giornale mantovano, da cui ho preso la notizia, non menziona nè il Poeta nè il Compositore; ma in Archivio della R. Accademia Virgiliana c'è un Oratorio intitolato Isacco, onde le parole corrispondono col poema di Metastasio, che porta la data: Mantova 1796 e il nome del Maestro Angelo Tarchi. Nessun dubbio quindi che non si tratti di questo. Oltre a ciò c'illumina una pubblicazione, contenente sette sonetti e un'ode, fatta per l'occasione dai Pastori Arcadi della Colonia Virgiliana intitolata: Per l'Oratorio Intitolato - l'Isacco messo in musica - dal celebre Sig.r Angelo Tarchi - Maestro di Cappella napoletano rappresentato - nel R. Teatro Scientifico di Mantova - la quaresima del MDCCIVC - Coi tipi della Società Mantovana ali'Apollo.” 233 Gazzetta universale Num. 22. Martedè 15. Marzo 1796, p. 175: „Mantova. 11. Marzo […] Nella sera de’ 3. del corrente in questo Teatro della R. Accademia venne eseguita la prima recita dell’Oratorio Sacro intitolato l’Isacco posto in musica a richiesta di questi Sigg. Filarmonici dal celebre Maestro Tarchi. L’applauso che ne riscosse, e che và tuttavia riscuotendo è universale. Il Sig. Francesco Ceccarelli, primo Soprano, Virtuoso al servizio della Corte Electorale di Magonza, che rappresenta la parte d’Isacco, si distingue colla sorprendente sua maestria nel canto, e attrae a se l’attenzione, e gli applausi de’ più intelligenti Spettatori. La parte di Sara è sostenuta dalla Sig. Adriana Ferraresi che coll’incanto della sua voce commuove e diletta […] Lo spettacolo è decorato col maggior gusto, e la musica è piena di novità, e di grazie, cosicchè il tutto merita di essere ed è aggradito da ogni ordine di persone.”    42   The extraordinary success of Tarchi’s music and the two protagonists is documented in a great number of separate aria copies, including Ceccarelli’s Rondò “Voi teneri oggetti” and Ferrarese’s aria agitata “Deh parlate, che forse tacendo”.234 In these arias both singers vividly expressed the fears and religious feelings of those inhabitants of Mantua loyal to the ruling Habsburgs. Eleven months later, the city surrendered to Bonaparte’s army. A similar urgency of musical prayer could be felt in Livorno during Lent 1799: Giuseppe Giordani’s La distruzione di Gerusalemme was performed as a scenic oratorio at the Teatro degli Avvalorati, the former Teatro degli Armeni, where Ferrarese had sung her very first opera fifteen years before. Now she appeared as Semira, the wife of Nabuccodonosor, sung by Vitale Damiani. As secondo uomo Giuseppe Batazzi was involved. The most successful singer, however, was a 23-year-old tenor from Bergamo in the role of Sedecia, the deposed King of Juda: Andrea Nozzari, the future Rossini tenor. Thus Ferrarese in her very last year as prima donna met one of the protagonists of the next generation. In his Rondò in the scena ultima, Nozzari had to convey the tragic feelings of the disobedient king, deposed by the Babylonians, before the spectacular scenography offered the audience a terrifying view of Jerusalem in flames.235 The political warning towards the republican forces in Italy was unmistakable, but in vain. Only a few days after the last oratorio performance an army of the French Republic invaded Tuscany and occupied Florence on Easter Monday, 25 March. Livorno followed a few days later. Destruction and burnings could be avoided, after Grand Duke Ferdinand III had asked his subjects to surrender peacefully. Now it was he, the Habsburg-Lorrain ruler who was deposed and sent into exile. The dynamic of the Second Coalition War in Italy did not allow for a pause, though. The provisionary French government in Tuscany lasted only until mid July, when the Austrian and Russian forces occupied the region again. On 16 July the French evacuated Livorno, three days later the commander of the Austro-Russian vanguard, Johann Count Klenau, entered Florence in triumph.236 Three weeks before the same Bohemian general had been celebrated as the liberator of Bologna with a festive illumination at the Teatro Zagnoni.237 Adriana Ferrarese del Bene was there. Together with her fellow-singers she had the idea to put on an opera season in                                                                                                                 234 Scena ed Aria | Deh parlate | Nell'Oratorio Isacco | Del Sig. M° | Tarchi: I-Mc M.S.ms.243-2, I-Ostiglia Mss.Mus.B 4365. Also Sara’s other arias “Sin ne tormenti istessi” and “Fermate, oh Dio” were copied out separately several times. The extraordinary success of the oratorio is also described in a long poem by Luigi Bulgarini under his Arcadian shepherd’s name Eugilbo Collideo: Per l'oratorio sacro intitolato L'Isacco, cantato nel teatro scientifico dell'Accademia, la quaresima del 1797. La musica fu eccellentemente composta dal celebre maestro di capella signor Angelo Tarchi (“Oh di musiche note arte maestro.” Eugilbo Collideo Pastore Arcade), I-Fn Varano III,49. 235 La distruzione di Gerusalemme. Azione sacra per musica da rappresentarsi nel Regio Teatro degl'illustrissimi signor Accademici Avvalorati in Livorno la quadragesima dell'anno 1799, Livorno 1799, I-Fm Melodrammi Mel.2039.12, p. 4 (Personaggi), p. 7 (Mutazioni di Scene), p. 36-39 (Scena Ultima); p. 38: Rondò di Sedecia, „Io ti lascio, o sposa amata“; p. 39: „quì si vedrà il Tempio, e la Città in preda alle fiamme, ed alle Rovine che finirà di cadere alla chuisa del Quintetto.“ 236 Gazzetta universale Num. 59. Giovedì 18. Luglio 1799, p. 565. Num. 60. Sabato 20. Luglio 1799, p. 573. 237 Gazzetta universale Num. 56. Giovedì 11. Luglio 1799, p. 542-543, “Bologna, 6 Luglio 1799. Siamo col Divino ajuto finalmente ancor noi tolti dalle mani de’ rapitori, e lungi da’ funesti mali che ci opprimevano, possiamo cantare delle sacre laudi al Signore in rendimento di grazie. Ecco i dettagli della nostra vera felice sorte […] Difatti nella mattina del dì. 30. del caduto Giugno, giorno festivo dell’Apostolo San Paolo, le Imperiali Regie milizie si accostarono a questa Città. Bologna resa così a` suoi antichi pregi, e tolta ogni idea di truppa Francese, entrò le ore 2. pomeridiane una numerosa Vanguardia d’Infanteria e Cavalleria Austro-Russa [...] Nel lunedì [1 Luglio], alle ore 2. pomeridiane l’Emo. nostro Cardinale Arcivescovo [...] si portò col treno e Croce alzata a Casa Caprara a complimentare il General Conte di Klenau [...] Comandante la Vanguardia dell’Armata Austro-Russa [...] Nella sera fuvvi grande illuminazione per la Città, essendo alle casi nobili gran copia di torce. Fu altresì bella l’illuminazione al Teatro Zagnoni ove portatosi il General Comandante Austriaco vi ricevè da’ numerosi spettatori i più vivi e sinceri applausi.”    43   minimum time. With hundreds of Russian and Austrian officers in the city, it must have seemed a promising perspective. A pair of recent one-act operas was imported from Venice: Furberia e puntiglio, a Farsa per musica by “Marcello da Capua” alias Marcello Bernardini, and Fedeltà e amore alla prova, a Dramma semiserio by the old Gazzaniga.238 The libretto of the former was dedicated to none else but the Austrian commander Count Klenau and revealed that the singers were the impresarios of the season: Your Excellency may concede your benign favor on the labors of several virtuosi, who as impresarios have undertaken the risky task of giving the city an entertainment, honored by the presence of Your Excellency. We dare hope for Your Patronage, for us and for the spectacle we are humbly dedicating to you.239 It is as yet unknown if Ferrarese belonged to Li Soccj Impresarj, but since she had grabbed a similar occasion in Trieste two years before, when she revered the returned Austrians by her performances of Così fan tutte, she might have been a driving force behind the Bolognese operas, too. The double libretto is dated 5 July, so that the season might have started on the same day in the presence of Count Klenau, who departed for Tuscany several days later. Gazzaniga’s dramma semiserio was a perfect opera to honor a General saving a whole city: In the Finale a Tenente appears with soldiers and rescues poor Lindora from being immured by the angry Count Rodolfo, an unforgiving nobleman who must have reminded Ferrarese of her late father-in-law. He threatens her with a cruel death unless she desists from marrying his son. In a nocturnal solo scene she tries to flee her cruel fate by climbing the half erected wall.240 The latter, however, collapses under her steps and she is trapped motionless on top of the precarious wall.241 The Rondò she sang in Furberia e puntiglio was another beautiful example of the genre that had accompanied her whole career: “Che bel core avete in seno / Adorabile Papà”.242 With its classical Rondò melody in Gavotte rhythm and the sheer beauty of its cantabile, it was an adequate vehicle for the art of Ferrarese. In early August, the rapid advance of the Austrian and Russian troops demanded another tribute from the singers in Bologna: After a long siege Mantua had surrendered on 28 July. The tenor Antonio Brizzi offered just the right panegyric cantatas for the occasion, recently performed by him in Trieste and Venice as a reverence for the triumphant Austrian military: Il Valore, la Verità, il Merito and Marte e la Fortuna.243 In Bologna the original music by                                                                                                                 238 Cp. the two libretti I-Bc Lo.00840 and Lo.02071. The double production was announced as “le due Operette ch’esponiamo al pubblico in questo nostro Teatro” in the dedication of the first opera, I-Bc Lo.00840, p. III. 239 Ibd., p. IV. “Si degni addunque V. E. di benignamente accogliere, e proteggere le fatiche d’alcuni virtuosi, che come Impresarj si sono addossati il periglioso incarico di dare un trattenimento alla Città, che viene onorata della presenza di V. E. Azzardiamo sperare il di Lei patrocinio, e per noi, e per lo spettacolo, che umilmente le dedichiamo.” 240 Libretto Fedeltà e amore alla prova (Bologna 1799), I-Bc Lo.02071, p. 59-60: Scena XXII. Lindora sola. Si fa notte a poco per volta. Recitativo “Ah poveretta me” and aria “Si vada … Ardir mio core”. 241 Ibd., p. 60: “Monta su la Pietra, leva il piede dalla seconda, la quale nell’atto stesso rovina abbasso con qualch’altra vicina, a tale che Lindora può più scendere. Segue a tentare il modo di sopra, ma la rovina di altre pietre Superiori da lei afferrate glielo impediscono a segno ch’ella si trova in necessità di restare sospesa in alcune pietre della Muraglia senza potere ne salire ne scendere.” 242 Libretto Furberia e puntiglio (Bologna 1799), I-Bc Lo.00840, p. 22. Three different composers are listed for this piece in RISM: Gazzaniga, Sarti and Francesco Gardi. However, Isabella’s Rondò was part of the original score by Marcello Bernardini, composed in Venice in 1798 for Teresa Strinascchi. 243 About Brizzi and the two cantatas in Trieste and Venice see Curiel, Teatro S. Pietro, p. 351: “Il suo nome assieme a quello della primadonna Camilla Balsamini si legge sul libretto di una cantata, eseguita il 12 febbraio [1799], giorno natalizio dell’Imperatore, e intitolato Marte e la Fortuna. Scritta in onore di Marte, ebbe fortuna davvero: nell’anno stesso venne data in vari teatri, modificata seconde le circostanze. Nella primavera fu rappresentata al S. Benedetto ‘per festeggiare le vittorie dell’armi di S. M. I. Francesco II’, esecutori Antonio    44   Vittorio Trento was expanded for a series of scenic performances in the Galli Bibbiena theater of today’s Teatro Comunale. Premiered on 10 August 1799, the evening was announced as a Rappresentazione Regio-Eroica consisting of the two cantatas and a ballet in the middle. It could not have been more spectacular and more direct in its political message.244 The first cantata is set in a rural landscape, through which the Imperial troops are passing on their way from the Rhine to Italy, announced by a march and by the singing of a martial choir. Before their arrival, Il Merito, sung by the tenor Pietro Pezzi, is being lead onto the stage by Il Valore, performed by Brizzi. Together with the troupes La Verità appears, Ferrarese of course, proclaiming the future victory of the Imperial army. Before joining her two colleagues in the final Terzetto, she was given the opportunity for an aria, culminating in four lines of sheer propaganda: “Tu Nume assistemi / Punisce l’empio. / Scaglia I tuoi fulmini / Contro l’error.”245 Politics had finally taken hold of her beautiful voice. The entr’acte ballet literally put on the stage the recent military triumph of the Austrians: La presa di Mantova, the reoccupation of Mantua. Consequently, the second cantata Marte e La Fortuna was set in the temple of Glory, with the statue of Emperor Francis II in its center. The original roles, Mars (Brizzi) and Fortune (Ferrarese), were joined by a newly invented third part, an Austrian General (Pezzi) entering the temple and laying down the “spoglie nemiche” as a sign of his triumph. Although Ferrarese in the role of Fortune had to promise that she would be faithful to the Austrian weapons in eternity, Bonaparte soon enough turned the weal of fortune another time. 8. The decline of her career It is as yet unknown what happened to Ferrarese during the following four years. No Indice de’ Teatrali Spettacoli was printed, and her name does not show up in any libretto from those years. It reappeared only in 1804 in three librettos printed for the spring season at La Scala. By then she was booked as a mere substitute for the leading singers of a new generation: “Supplimenti. Adriana Ferraresi del Bene – Vincenzo Zardi”.246 Two operas by the fashionable Simone Mayr were rounded off by an old classic Ferrarese knew by heart from Vienna and Warsaw: Paisiello’s Nina ossia la pazza per amore. By then, the decline of her career had become irreversible. During the autumn season, she was engaged again as a supplementary soprano for the original production of L’impostore avvilito by Vincenzo Lavigna on a libretto by Luigi Romanelli, first performed on 11 September.247 For the next premiere of the season, however, the post of supplemento alla prima donna is labeled N. N. in the libretto of Gazzaniga’s La vendemmia.248 Obviously, Ferrarese was unable to fulfill her obligations at La Scala, possibly because of poor health. Her date of death is unkown.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Brizzi ed Eufemia Eckarth; l’11 agosto, con la stessa motivazione, al Teatro Comunale di Bologna (impresa a conto del Governo), alquanto ampliata, esecutori Andriana Ferraresi del Bene, Antonio Brizzi, Gio. Battista Gozzi con 24 coristi.” 244 Cp. the double libretto of both cantatas and the ballo in Bologna: I-Bc Lo.05358. 245 Ibd., p. 7. 246 Libretto Amor non ha ritegno (Milano, Scala, Primavera 1804), I-Bc Lo.02955, p. 3. 247 Libretto L’impostore avvilito (Milano, Scala, Autunno 1804), I-Bc Lo.02668, p. 3: “Supplementi. Adriana Ferraresi del Bene – Gaetano Bianchi.” 248 Libretto La vendemmia (Milano, Scala, Autunno 1804), I-Bc Lo.02038, p. 3.