Francesca Cuzzoni

Cuzzoni ( born April 2, 1696 Parma, † June 19, 1778 in Bologna ) was an Italian soprano.

Life

Cuzzoni was the daughter of Angelo and Marini Castelli Cuzzoni. She was a student of Francesco Lanzi. Encouraged by him, she was seen for the first time on stage in the opera La virtù coronata o il Re Ferdinando at age 18 in 1714 in Parma. In 1718 she made her debut in Venice in the role of Dalinda in the opera Ariodante by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo. This was followed by smaller engagements, mostly in Bologna, Parma and Venice.

George Frideric Handel became aware of Cuzzoni and engaged her in 1722 for his Royal Academy of Music in London. There she debuted on January 12, 1723 Teofane in Handel Ottone. The next four years were a single artistic triumph for Cuzzoni.

In 1726 she married her singing teacher, composer Pier Giuseppe Sandoni. With him she had two children.

On June 6, 1727 it came to a head at the King 's Theatre in London. In the last season performance of the opera by Giovanni Battista Bononcini Astianatte the prima donnas Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni swore on stage. This dispute was Europe in conversation, and in the result, Cuzzoni could choose their commitment. She went on, inter alia, in Paris, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Genoa, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Stuttgart and Bologna. During these tours she used a very extravagant and lavish lifestyle. They inflicted with time so much that they had their debt twice due to jail. In 1748 she tried again to get a foothold in London, but after a failure, she returned in the same year returned to Bologna.

Livelihood Cuzzoni earned in her last years as a button maker. She died penniless in 1778 in Bologna.