Faustina Bordoni, who from the time of her radiant _début_ was known as
the "New Siren," was the daughter of a noble Venetian family, formerly
one of the governing families of the republic. Born in the year
1700, she began to study her art at an early age under Gasparoni, who
developed a beautiful and flexible voice to the greatest advantage.
She made her first appearance at the age of sixteen in Pollarolo's
"Ariodante," and her beauty, which was ravishing, her exquisite voice,
dramatic power, and artistic skill, gave her an immediate place as one
of the greatest ornaments of the lyric stage. She came into rivalry with
Cuzzoni even at this early period, but carried off the palm of victory
as she did in after-years. Venice, Naples, Florence, and Vienna were
successively the scenes of her triumphant reign as an artist, and she
became acknowledged as the most brilliant singer in Europe. At Vienna
she was appointed court singer at a salary of fifteen thousand thalers.
Here she was found by Handel, who carried her to London, where she made
her _début_ May 5,1726, in that great composer's "Alessandro," very
appropriately singing _Statira_ to the _Roxana_ of Cuzzoni. Faustina's
amiable and unobtrusive character seems to have made her an unwilling
participant in the quarrels into which circumstances forced her, and
to have always deserved the eulogium pronounced by Apostolo Zeno on her
departure from Vienna: "But whatever good fortune she meets with, she
merits it all by her courteous and polite manners, as well as talents,
with which she has enchanted and gained the esteem and affection of the
whole court." Throughout life a sweet temper and unspotted purity of
character made her the idol of her friends as well as of the general
public. Faustina seems to have left London gladly, though her short
career of two years there was a brilliant artistic success. The
scandalous bickerings and feuds through which she passed made her
departure more of a pleasure to herself than to the lovers of music in
turbulent London.
She returned to Venice in 1728, where she met Adolph Hasse, who was
leader of the orchestra at the theatre in which she was engaged.
Faustina, in the full bloom of her loveliness, was more than ever the
object of popular adulation; and many of the wealthy young nobles of
Venice laid their names and fortunes at her feet. But the charming
singer had found her fate. She and Hasse had fallen in love with each
other at first sight, and Faustina was proof against the blandishments
of the gilded youth of Italy. Hasse was the most popular dramatic
composer of the age, and had so endeared himself to the Italian public
that he was known as "_il caro Sassone_," a title which had also been
previously given to Handel. Hasse had commenced life as a tenor singer,
but his talent for composition soon lifted him into a higher field of
effort. His first opera was produced at Brunswick, but its reception
showed that he must yet master more of the heights and depths of musical
science before attaining any deserved success. So he proceeded to Italy,
and studied under Porpora and Alessandro Scarlatti. In a few years he
became a celebrity, and the opera-houses of Italy eagerly vied with each
other in procuring new works from his fecund talent. Faustina, then
at the zenith of her powers and charms, and Hasse, the most admired
composer of the day, were congenial mates, and their marriage was not
long delayed.
Of this composer a few passing words of summary may be interesting. His
career was one long success, and he wrote more than a hundred operas,
besides a host of other compositions. Few composers have had during
their lifetime such world-wide celebrity, and of these few none are
so completely forgotten now. The facile powers of Hasse seem to have
reflected the most genial though not the deepest influences of his time.
He had nothing in common with the grand German school then rising into
notice, or with the simple majesty of the early Italian writers. Himself
originally a singer, and living in an age of brilliant singers, he was
one of the first representatives of that school of Italian opera which
was called into being by the worship of vocal art for its own sake. He
had an inexhaustible flow of tunefulness, and the few charming songs
of his now extant show great elegance of melodic structure, and such
sympathy with the needs of the voice as make them the most perfect
vehicle for expression and display on the part of the singer. For ten
years, that most wonderful of male singers, as musical historians unite
in calling Farinelli, charmed away the melancholy of Philip V. of Spain
by singing to him every evening the same two melodies of Hasse, taken
from the opera of "Artaserse."
In 1731 the celebrated couple accepted an offer from the brilliant Court
of Dresden, presided over by Augustus II., as great a lover of art and
literature as Goethe's Duke of Saxe-Weimar, or as the present Louis of
Bavaria. This aesthetic monarch squandered great sums on pictures and
music, and gave Hasse unlimited power and resources to place the Dresden
opera on such a footing as to make it foremost in Europe. His first
opera produced in Dresden was the masterpiece of his life, "Alessandro
dell' Indie," and its great success was perhaps owing in part to the
splendid singing and acting of Faustina, for whom indeed the music had
been carefully designed. As the husband of the most fascinating prima
donna of her age, Hasse had no easy time. His life was still further
embittered by the presence and intrigues of Porpora, his old master and
now rival, and jealousy of Porpora's pupil, Mingotti, who threatened to
dispute the sway of his wife. Hasse's musical spite was amusingly shown
in writing an air for Mingotti in his "Demofoonte." He composed the
music for what he thought was the defective part of her voice, while the
accompaniment was contrived to destroy all effect. Mingotti was nothing
daunted, but by hard study and ingenious adaptation so conquered the
difficulties of the air, that it became one of her greatest show-pieces.
A combination of various causes so dissatisfied the composer with
Dresden, that he divided his time between that city, Venice, Milan,
Naples, and London, though the Saxon capital remained his professed
home. One of his diversions was the establishment of opera in London in
opposition to Handel; but he became so ardent an admirer of that great
man's genius, that he refused to be a tool in the hands of the latter's
enemies, though several of his operas met with brilliant success in the
English capital.
Dresden life at last flowed more easily with Hasse and Faustina on the
advent of Augustus III., who possessed his father's connoisseurship
without his crotchets and favoritism. Here he remained, with the
exception of a short Venetian sojourn, till late in life. On the evening
of Frederick the Great's entrance into Dresden in 1745, after the battle
of Kesselsdorf, Hasse's opera of "Arminio" was performed by command of
the conqueror, who was so charmed with the work and Faustina's singing
that he invited the composer and wife to Berlin. During the Prussian
King's occupation he made Faustina many magnificent gifts, an
exceptional generosity in one who was one of the most penurious of
monarchs as well as one of the greatest of soldiers. Faustina continued
to sing for eight years longer, when, at the age of fifty-two, she
retired from the long art reign which she had enjoyed, having held her
position with unchanged success against all comers for nearly forty
years.