Margherita Durastanti (active 1700–1734) was an Italian singer of the 18th century. Vocally, she is best described as a
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
, though later in her career her
tessitura
In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or character ...
descended to that of a
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
. First heard of professionally in Mantua in 1700–01, she later appeared in Bologna and Reggio Emilia (1710), Milan and Reggio (1713) and Florence (1715). Today she is particularly remembered for her association with the composer
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: indeed she enjoyed a longer personal association with the composer than any other musician.
As well as performing many of his early Italian solo cantatas, Durastanti's first roles for Handel included Mary Magdalene in his oratorio ''
La resurrezione
''La resurrezione'' (''The Resurrection''), HWV 47, is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, set to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece (1652–1728). Capece was court poet to Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, Queen Marie Casimire ...
'' (1708) and the title role in ''
Agrippina'' (1709), in her capacity as ''prima donna'' of the
S Giovanni Grisostomo
The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo (or Crisostomo) after the nearby church,Lynn 2005, pp. 101—103 is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a ...
Theatre in Venice, where she sang from 1709 to 1712. After singing at Parma, Florence, Naples (where she appeared in operas by Scarlatti), and, in 1719, Dresden, she came to London in 1720. News of her imminent arrival evinced the following unflattering comment from the librettist
Rolli:
However, she received a strong recommendation from
Steffan Benedetto Pallavicini, court poet at Dresden:
She was offered her contract by the Royal Academy company rather late in the day, so was probably not the Academy's first choice as a member of it. Handel on the other hand stayed in Dresden until her contract arrived.
The roles Handel wrote for her during the next five years demonstrate her considerable abilities as a musician and actress, displaying a wide range of characters, both male and female, and an ability to cope with wide dissonant leaps in vocal lines and other difficulties, such as chromaticism and dramatic pauses.
First period in England
Though engaged as the first ''prima donna'' in the new company, she in effect began as ''primo uomo'' ("first man"), creating the name-part in ''Radamisto'' in April 1720. She was gradually demoted as more vocally gifted singers arrived, though even her lower-status roles, such as that of Sesto in ''Giulio Cesare'' (1724) made considerable vocal and theatrical demands. In 1721 she gave birth to a girl, and
King George I and the Princess Royal were among the child's godparents; in the autumn of that year she sang in Germany, and then in Italy during the spring of 1722. She returned to London in October 1722, but found herself superseded as "first woman" by the new sensation
Francesca Cuzzoni
Francesca Cuzzoni (2 April 1696 – 19 June 1778) was an Italian operatic soprano of the Baroque era.
Early career
Cuzzoni was born in Parma. Her father, Angelo, was a professional violinist, and her singing teacher was Francesco Lanzi. She ma ...
. Clearly not particularly disconcerted by this turn of events, she remained in Handel's company for a further two seasons. Her final performance for him was a revival of
Ariosti's ''Coriolano'' (March 1724), given for her benefit. In it she sang an English cantata to a text by
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
containing the lines "But let old charmers yield to new; /Happy soil, adieu, adieu!".
Second period in England
Handel brought Durastanti back to England for his 1733–34 season, when she sang in revivals of ''
Ottone
''Ottone, re di Germania'' ("Otto, King of Germany", HWV 15) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, to an Italian–language libretto adapted by Nicola Francesco Haym from the libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino for Antonio Lotti's opera ...
'' and ''
Il pastor fido
''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice.
Plot summary
To redress an ancient wron ...
'', as well as several ''
pasticcio
In music, a ''pasticcio'' or ''pastiche'' is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, o ...
s''. By this time she was probably in her fifties, and had been singing professionally for over thirty years. It is testimony to her enduring abilities that an aristocratic opera-lover of the time, Lady Bristol, was moved to comment:
Although there is little surviving contemporary opinion of Durastanti's singing,
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
wrote insightfully, though at second hand, of her performance in the first revival of Handel's ''
Floridante
''Floridante'' ( HWV 14) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli after Francesco Silvani's libretto for Marc'Antonio Ziani dramma per musica ''La costanza in trionfo'' ...
'' in 1722:
References
Winton Dean
Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his boo ...
: "Durastanti, Margherita", ''Grove Music Online'' ed L. Macy (Accessed 16 January 2007)
grovemusic.com subscription access.
Dean, W and
Merrill Knapp, J: ''Handel's Operas 1704–1726'' (Oxford, 1987), p 668
LaRue, C S: ''Handel and his Singers'' (Oxford, 1995), pp 80–104
Donald Burrows, Helen Coffey, John Greenacombe, Anthony Hicks: ''George Frideric Handel, Collected Documents'', Cambridge, 2015
Lists of operas:
https://www.academia.edu/28531318/La_Durastante_Performances_1700-1719.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/35050353/Margherita_Durastanti_List_of_major_vocal_works_operas_serenatas_and_oratorios_Part_II_1720_1734
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durastanti, Margherita
Italian operatic mezzo-sopranos
Italian operatic sopranos
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
18th-century Italian women opera singers