Maria Landini ( 1668 – 22 June 1722) was an Italian

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 ...

who began her career as a singer at the court of Queen Christina in Rome but was primarily active at the imperial court in Vienna from 1711 until her death. She created numerous soprano roles in operas and oratorios by Fux,

Caldara Caldara is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Antonio Caldara (1670–1736), Italian composer * Domenico Caldara (1814–1897), Italian painter * Emilio Caldara (1868–1942), Italian Socialist Party politician * Jon Caldara, Ame ...

, and her second husband,

Francesco Bartolomeo Conti Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (20 January 1681 or 168219 July 1732) was an Italian composer and player of the mandolin and theorbo. He also wrote the oldest mandolin method book that has survived. Little is known about the biography of Conti. He wa ...

and was reputedly the highest paid musician in Vienna at the time.Sadie, Julie Anne (1998)
''Companion to Baroque Music''
p. 250. University of California Press. '' Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon'' (2016)
"Landini-Contini (Landini-Conti, La Conti, La Contini, La Landina, di Chateauneuf, detta Landini, di Castelnuovo), Maria"
Retrieved 18 July 2016 .

Life and career

Landini's mother, Francesca Portui, was the maid of Queen Christina of Sweden and married to Francesco Landini, the captain of Christina's guards. However, Francesco Landini was not her real father. Maria was born from a relationship between her mother and the marquise Orazio Del Monte, Christina's chamberlain. According to 17th-century sources, she was born in Hamburg where Christina's court periodically sojourned, although the date of her birth has variously been given as 1667, 1668, and 1670. Maria spent her entire childhood and youth at the court of Queen Christina where she was trained as a singer and was known by the diminutive "Mariuccia". By the late 1680s there are records of her regularly performing in private musical evenings at Queen Christina's court in Rome. She often sang together with another favourite singer of the queen, Angela Voglia (known as "La Giorgina").Zilli, Anna (2014
"Christina of Sweden queen of music in Rome and the women singers at her service"
''Il Ganassi, Bollettino della Fondazione Italiana per la Musica Antica''. Anno 17, Numero 14, pp. 2–3. Retrieved 19 July 2016. After Queen Christina's death in 1689, Landini entered the service of

Sophia Charlotte of Hanover Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (30 October 1668 – 1 February 1705) was the first Queen consort in Prussia as wife of King Frederick I. She was the only daughter of Elector Ernest Augustus of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. Her eld ...

in Germany. She married an actor named "Chateauneuf" in Hannover in 1695 and sometimes appeared under the name "Landini di Chateauneuf" or its Italian version "Castelnovo". According to Francesco Conti's biographer Hermine Williams, Castelnovo was from an aristocratic family and his full name was Mallo di Castelnuovo. Their marriage would produce three children: Ferdinando, Francesca, and Caterina. Landini was active in the opera houses of Italy from 1698 when she was in the service of the

Duke of Mantua During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...

. Her earliest appearance in Mantua was in 1698 in

Giovanni Bononcini Giovanni Bononcini (or Buononcini) (18 July 1670 – 9 July 1747) (sometimes cited also as Giovanni Battista Bononcini) was an Italian Baroque composer, cellist, singer and teacher, one of a family of string players and composers. Biography E ...

's '' Camilla''. She also appeared in Venice, Genoa,

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...

, Livorno, Modena, and Bologna before moving to Vienna in 1710 where she became the '' prima donna'' of Emperior Charles VI's court theatre. In 1714, following the death of her first husband, Landini married Francesco Bartolomeo Conti in Vienna's Schottenkirche. In her will, written in the year prior to her death, she asked, if she should die in Vienna, to be buried in the Schottenkirche next to her first husband. But she eventually was not buried there, because she died outside of Vienna. In 1725 Conti married Anna Maria Lorenzani who had succeeded Landini as the ''prima donna'' at the imperial court.Williams, Hermine Weigel (1999). ''Francesco Bartolomeo Conti: His Life and Music'', pp. 43; 50; 58; 66. Ashgate.

Roles created

Roles created by Maria Landini include: *Clori in Johann Joseph Fux's ''La decima fatica di Ercole'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 1710 Köchel, Ludwig (1872)
''Johann Josef Fux, Hofcompositor und Hofkapellmeister der Kaiser Leopold I., Josef I. und Karl VI. von 1698 bis 1740''
(Beilage X. Thematisches Verzeichniss der Compositionen von J. J. Fux pp. 131–137). A. Hölder *Merope in

Francesco Gasparini Francesco Gasparini (19 March 1661 – 22 March 1727) was an Italian Baroque composer and teacher whose works were performed throughout Italy, and also on occasion in Germany and England. Biography Born in Camaiore, near Lucca, he studied in ...

's ''Merope'',

Teatro San Cassiano The Teatro San Cassiano (or Teatro di San Cassiano and other variants) in Venice was the world’s first public opera theatre, inaugurated as such in 1637. The first mention of its construction dates back to 1581. The name with which it is best know ...

, Venice, 26 December 1711 *Dafne in Johann Joseph Fux's '' Dafne in lauro'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 1714 *Euridice in Johann Joseph Fux's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 1715 *Angelica in Johann Joseph Fux's ''Angelica, vincitrice di Alcina'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 1716 *Ifigenia in Johann Joseph Fux's ''Diana plaeata'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 1717 *Lucinda in Francesco Bartolomeo Conti's ''

Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena ''Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena'' is a tragicomic opera in five acts composed by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti to an Italian libretto by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati. The libretto is based on the episodes set in the Sierra Morena mountains of S ...

'', Habsburg court theatre, Vienna, 6 February 1719Fallows, David (October 1987)
"Buxton"
''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'', Vol. 128, No. 1736, p. 580. Retrieved 17 July 2016 .

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landini, Maria 17th-century births 1722 deaths Italian operatic sopranos 18th-century Italian women opera singers Court of Christina, Queen of Sweden