thought ‘she sings better than the two previous ones’, meaning that the special skills of the two former divas, Francesca Cuzzoni’s expressiveness and Faustina Bordoni’s dramatism and vocal agility, became united in her voice.5 The musical material written for Strada shows an increase in lyric movements connected with demanding coloratura and a weightier dramatism. This indicates an exceptional vocal production entirely di petto ‒ as described by Pier Francesco Tosi and Giambattista Mancini,6 the very ←14 | 15→type of full-body singing that was in fact the main characteristic of the castrato style that became an essential characteristic of nineteenth-century bel canto.
Strada’s comprehensive range and flexibility, as well as her twofold lyric-dramatic talent, were most probably due to an unusual innate ability. She may have been a so-called natural soprano (or to use a Romantic expression, an early soprano sfogato or voce assoluta), who, having a strong upper register, sang with a chest-like vocal production in the head range as well, powerfully and sonorously. As Ellen T. Harris has pointed out, evidence for this can be seen in the arias written especially for her, where high notes as dynamic and musical climaxes are often textually and rhythmically accented,7 which was contrary to the general practice of the era and to Handel’s way of composing for Cuzzoni and La Francesina (Élisabeth Duparc), the sopranos preceding and succeeding Strada, respectively.8 My conclusions about Strada’s singing and sound features rest on three main pillars: (a) the musical sources, which focus on the original roles and arias created especially for her; (b) the surviving descriptions of her singing, and the period treatises – all of which is complimented with (c) my own practical experiences as a classical singer. The musical material per se can be misleading when it comes to the quality of singing, especially without the opinions of contemporary listeners who heard her voice and verify that Strada’s skills met all the technical, acoustic, musical, and expressive requirements these works imposed. Only after this foundation has been laid can the compositions, coupled with contemporary accounts of her singing, be interpreted as a sort of eighteenth-century ‘sound recordings’, preserving traces of her vocal personality. Setting Strada’s vocal profile, therefore, was like putting together remaining pieces of a puzzle or mosaic. This is what the cover of this book, my own painting, metaphorically illustrates.
The method I used is the same applied by Charles Burney, for example, who in the case of the soprano castrato Valeriano Pellegrini (1663‒1746) suggested certain abilities that the score might indicate concerning Mirtillo’s first aria, ←15 | 16→‘Fato crudo, Amor severo’ in Il pastor fido (1712).9 In the end, however, he classified the singer according to the general quality of singing, meaning that the requirements of the aria could have been accomplished by Valeriano, but neither easily nor excellently (the singer was nearly fifty years of age at that time):
The first air for a soprano, lets us know what kind of voice the Cavalier Valeriano possessed of; and the pathetic style of the first part of his song, as well as the agility necessary to the execution of the second, seem to imply abilities in that performer, of no mean kind. This air and many other airs in the opera, are only accompanied by a violoncello, in the old cantata style; but Handel always contrives to make this single accompaniment interesting without overwhelming the voice-part, or depriving it of attention. […] Valeriano was only of second class;10
Since Strada’s beauty of voice and manner of singing always drew admiration, and never received a negative review even from malicious critics ‒ she was rather criticised for her ‘frightfull mouths’ and unfavourable looks11 ‒ one can conclude that the ideal audible parameters of the arias inspired by and dedicated to her did reflect her actual vocal characteristics.
1 Karel Čapek, The Macropulos Secret. A Comedy, trans. Paul Selver (London: Robert Holden & Co. LTD, 1927), 86. At Janaček the same passage is as follows: ‘Did you ever hear Strada? Strada used to squeak! Corrona – she had a plum in her mouth! Agujari – she was just a silly goose!’ Leoš Janaček, The Makropulos Case. Libretto (1923‒1925).
2 Kathleen Kuzmick Hansell, ‘Aguiari [Agujari] Lucrezia [‘La Bastardina’, ‘La Bastardella’]’, in GMO, accessed 5 December 2015; Ronald R. Kidd, ‘Schröter, Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmine’, ibid. A French traveller’s letter to Mr Fougeroux, June 1728. HCD 2, 233.
3 Mrs Julian Marshall (Florence Ashton), Handel (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1883), 85‒86; Nigel Burton, ‘Marshall, Florence Ashton’, in GMO, accessed 12 September 2014.
4 GHM 4, 402.
5 Paolo Rolliʼs letters to Giusepe Riva, 11 December and 6 November 1729. HCD 2, 331‒32 and 316‒17.
6 ‘Nelle Femmine, che cantano il Soprano sentesi qualche volta una voce tutta di petto’. Pier Francesco Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi e moderni, o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato (Bologna: Lelio dalla Volpe, 1723), 38; Observations on the Florid Song or, Sentiments on the ancient and modern Singers, trans. John Ernest Galliard (London: Wilcox, 1743), 23; Giambattista Mancini, Pensieri, e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato (Vienna: Ghelen, 1774), trans. Pietro Buzzi, Practical Reflections on the Figurative Art of Singing (Boston: Gorham Press, 1912), 108.
7 Considering the repertoire of her early, Venetian years, especially the arias Vivaldi wrote for her, one can assume that Strada’s upper vocal range naturally tended to have a solid and bright sound from the very beginning of her career.
8 Ellen T. Harris, ‘Das Verhältnis von Lautstärke und Stimmlage im Barockgesang’, in Aufführungspraxis der Händel-Oper Karlsruhe 1988 und 1989, ed. Hans Joachim Marx (Laaber, 1990), 157‒71: 167‒69; ead., ‘Singing’, in GMO, accessed 3 November 2013.
9 Valeriano Pellegrini sang Nero in Handel’s Agrippina in Venice (1709). He sang for the composer in London in 1712–1713 as well, playing Mirtillo in Il pastor fido, the title role in Teseo and probably Lepidus in Silla. winton dean/john rosselli, ‘Pellegrini, Valeriano’, in GMO, ed. Deane Root, accessed 2 February 2016.
10 GHM 4, 234 and 237.
11 Mrs Pendarves to her sister, Anne Granville, 29 or 30 November 1729. HCD 2, 320.
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Chapter One:
Early Years
After setting out the (new) findings about Strada’s birth and death dates, parents, and possible educational background; the first chapter discusses the modern singing school (that of Pistocchi), the new singing style, and the singers connected to Strada. This leads further to an introduction of the cultural environment
