Faustina Bordoni

Faustina Bordoni, byBartolomeo Nazari

Faustina Bordoni(30 March 1697 – 4 November 1781) was an Italianmezzo-soprano.

InHamburg,Germany,theJohann Adolph Hasse Museumis dedicated toher husbandand partly to Bordoni.

Early career

She was born in Venice and brought up under the protection of the aristocratic brother composersAlessandroandBenedetto Marcello.Her singing teacher was another composer,Michelangelo Gasparini.For many years in the service of theElector Palatine,she made her operatic debut at Venice in 1716 inCarlo Francesco Pollarolo'sAriodante,singing in her home city until 1725 in operas byAlbinoni,the Gasparini brothers,Giacomelli,Leonardo Leo,Giuseppe Maria Orlandini,the Pollarolos, father and son, andLeonardo Vinci,amongst others. In 1718 and 1719 in Venice she sang alongsideFrancesca Cuzzoni,later to become her great rival. During this period she also performed several times at Reggio nell'Emilia, Naples and Parma, and at least once in Milan, Modena and Florence. After her German début in 1723, singing inPietro Torri'sGriseldaat Munich, she was a great favourite north of the Alps during the 1720s, also enjoying great success in Vienna (1725–26). Her nickname was the "new siren", and she was commonly known simply as "Faustina".

"The Rival Queens"

Portrait of Faustina Bordoni, byLudovico Mazzanti.(1740)Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Her London début, as Rossane inHandel'sAlessandro,took place on 5 May 1726, alongsideSenesinoand Cuzzoni. During the next two seasons she created four more Handel roles: Alceste inAdmetoand Pulcheria inRiccardo Primo(both 1727), and Emira inSiroeand Elisa inTolomeo(1728). She also sang in a revival ofRadamisto,and in operas by Ariosti andGiovanni Bononcini.In a performance of the latter'sAstianatteon 6 June 1727, a riot broke out in the audience between her followers and those of her 'rival' Cuzzoni in theKing's Theatre, Haymarket,in front of Caroline, Princess of Wales. This furore seized the public imagination and a great deal of journalistic exaggeration – the pamphleteerJohn Arbuthnotpublished "The DEVIL to pay at St. JAMES's: Or A full and true ACCOUNT of a most horrid and bloody BATTLE between Madam FAUSTINA and Madam CUZZONI", in which he lambasted the two ladies: "TWO of a Trade seldom or ever agree… But who would have thought the Infection should reach the Hay-market and inspire Two Singing Ladies to pull each other's Coiffs, to the no small Disquiet of the Directors, who (God help them) have enough to do to keep Peace and Quietness between them.… I shall not determine who is the Aggressor, but take the surer Side, and wisely pronounce them both in Fault; for it is certainly an apparent Shame that two such well bred Ladies should call Bitch and Whore, should scold and fight like anyBillingsgates."Recent research has shown, however, that it was the singers' supporters who were behaving badly, rather than the singers themselves, who had worked together before in Italy and continued to work together for theRoyal Academyuntil the directors were forced to dissolve it in 1728 owing to mounting debts.

Later career

Faustina Bordoni byRosalba Carriera

Unlike Cuzzoni, Faustina never returned to England. During the years 1728–1732, she was again much in evidence on the stages of major Italian cities, especially Venice. In 1730, she married the German composer,Johann Adolf Hasse,and the following year the couple were summoned to the court ofAugustus the Strongat Dresden, where Faustina enjoyed a great success in her husband's operaCleofide.They were described by the famous librettistMetastasioas "truly an exquisite couple".

Hasse remained at the Saxon court for more than thirty years, and his wife sang in at least fifteen of the operas he composed betweenCaio Fabricioin 1734 andCiro riconosciuto(1751). Faustina was, however, permitted to make many long trips to Italy, appearing again in Naples, Venice, Parma and elsewhere in operas byPergolesi,PorporaandVinci,alongside those of her husband. Though she retired from the theatre in 1751, Faustina kept her salary and title ofvirtuosa da camerato the Elector until the death of Augustus' successor,Frederick Augustus IIin 1763.

At this point, she and her husband moved to Vienna, before removing finally to Venice in 1773.Mozartgave her a visit in 1769. They had two daughters, both trained singers. On a visit in 1772,Charles Burneydescribed Faustina as "a short, brown, sensible, and lively old woman... with good remains… of that beauty for which she was so much celebrated in her youth." Unlike her rival Cuzzoni, who died in poverty, Faustina had a happy and prosperous old age.

Bordoni as an artist

The composerQuantzgave a description of Bordoni's qualities, as given to Charles Burney:

Faustina had a mezzo-soprano voice, that was less clear than penetrating. Her compass now was only from B flat to G in alt; but after this time she extended its limits downward. She possessed what the Italians callun cantar granito;her execution was articulate and brilliant. She had a fluent tongue for pronouncing words rapidly and distinctly, and a flexible throat for divisions, with so beautiful a shake that she put it in motion upon short notice, just when she would. The passages might be smooth, or by leaps, or consisting of iterations of the same note; their execution was equally easy to her as to any instrument whatever. She was, doubtless, the first who introduced with success a swift repetition of the same note. She sang adagios with great passion and expression, but was not equally successful if such deep sorrow were to be impressed on the hearer as might require dragging, sliding, or notes of syncopation andtempo rubato.She had a very happy memory in arbitrary changes and embellishments, and a clear and quick judgment in giving to words their full value and expression. In her action she was very happy; and as her performance possessed that flexibility of muscles and face-play which constitute expression, she succeeded equally well in furious, tender, and amorous parts. In short, she was born for singing and acting.

Burney himself remarked on the strength of the note E (E5) in her voice, and it is worth noting that half of the arias written for her by Handel are in E or A (minor or major), keys which could give this note particular prominence.

Further reading

• J. Arbuthnot,The Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot(London, 1751), pp 213–214
• C. Burney,The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces(1773)
• C. Burney, A General History of Music (London, 1789), Vol. 4
• S. Ograjenšek, "Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni: the Rival Queens?" 'Handel and the Divas' exhibition catalogue, Handel House Museum, (London, 2008), pp 3–7
• F. Rogers, "Handel and Five Prima Donnas" inThe Musical Quarterly,Vol. 29, No. 2 (April 1943), pp 214–224
• Dean, W. (2001). "Bordoni, Faustina". InSadie, Stanley;Tyrrell, John(eds.).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians(2nd ed.). London:Macmillan Publishers.ISBN978-1-56159-239-5.‎
• S. Ograjenšek, "Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni: the Rival Queens?" 'Handel and the Divas' exhibition catalogue, Handel House Museum, (London, 2008), pp 3–7
• Saskia Maria Woyke,Faustina Bordoni: Biographie – Vokalprofil – Rezeption,(Frankfurt 2009)