Maria Gallia (incorrectly called Maria Margherita by Burney), was an Italian born British soprano.
Gallia was described by Burney as the sister of Margherita de l'Epine. L'Epine did have a sister called Maria (Manina) but she did not appear on the London stage as a soloist until 1712. [1]
Gallia was the pupil of Nicola Haym. [2]
She appeared for the first time at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, in 1703 when she had "newly arrived". [3] She sang in 1706 and 1708 in 'Camilla,' in the libretti of which she is called Joanna Maria. In the former year she also performed the principal rôle in the 'Temple of Love' by Saggione, to whom she was then married. Documents signed by this composer, and by his wife as Maria Gallia Saggione, show that they received respectively £150 and £700 for a season of nine months,—large sums at that early date. [2]
Gallia appeared in Clayton's Rosamond at its production in 1707. She sang songs also at the Haymarket Theatre 'in Italian and English,' to strengthen the attraction. At this time she must have been very young, for we find her singing in 'Alexander Balus,' 'Joshua,' &c. in 1748; unless, indeed, her name is incorrectly put for that of Galli. [2]
Margherita Durastanti was an Italian singer of the 18th century. Vocally, she is best described as a soprano, though later in her career her tessitura descended to that of a mezzo-soprano. 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: indeed she enjoyed a longer personal association with the composer than any other musician.
Anna Maria Strada, also known as Anna Maria Strada del Pò, was an Italian soprano. She is best remembered for her association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Strada sang.
Seedo, also called Mr Seedo, as his forename is unknown, was a German composer who worked primarily in England until 1736 when he became musical director to Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia.
Cecilia Young was one of the greatest English sopranos of the eighteenth century, the wife of composer Thomas Arne, and the mother of composer Michael Arne. According to the music historian Charles Burney, she had "a good natural voice and a fine shake [and] had been so well taught, that her style of singing was infinitely superior to that of any other English woman of her time". She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists. Young enjoyed a large amount of success through her close association with George Frideric Handel. She appeared in several of his oratorios and operas including the premieres of Ariodante (1735), Alcina (1735), Alexander's Feast (1736) and Saul (1739).
Isabella Lampe was an English operatic soprano and the wife of composer John Frederick Lampe. She sang primarily in works by her husband and was part of a well-known English family of musicians, the Young family, that included several professional singers and organists during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Harriett Abrams was an English soprano and composer. Particularly praised for her performances in the repertoire of George Frideric Handel, Abrams enjoyed a successful concert career in London during the 1780s. Music historian Charles Burney praised the sweetness of her voice and her tasteful musical interpretations.
Isabella Girardeau was an Italian operatic soprano who flourished in London, England from 1709 to 1712. Commonly referred to by the opera going public in London as "La Isabella", she is best remembered today for creating the role of Almirena in the momentous premiere of George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo on 24 February 1711 at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in which she introduced the famous aria "Lascia ch'io pianga". She had succeeded Joanna Maria Lindelheim, "The Baroness", as one of the leading sopranos at that theatre. She is said to have had a bitter rivalry with the Queen's other prima donna, the soprano Elisabetta Pilotti-Schiavonetti.
Margherita de L'Épine was an Italian soprano of the Baroque era. She was among the most popular and successful of London's female singers in the years just before and after Italian opera became introduced to the city. Today, she is best remembered for her performances in the operas of George Frideric Handel, and her longstanding association with the composer Johann Pepusch, whom it seems she married around 1718.
Thomas Clayton (1673–1725) was an English violinist and composer, and a member of The King's Musick at the court of William III. His is said to be the first to acclimatise legitimate opera in England.
Catherine Tofts or Katherine Tofts was the first English singer who sang Italian opera in England.
Johann Jakob Greber was a German Baroque composer and musician. His first name sometimes appeared in its Italianized version, Giacomo, especially during the years he spent in London. Greber composed solo cantatas, sonatas, and stage works, including the opera Gli amori di Ergasto which opened London's Queen's Theatre in 1705. He died in Mannheim, where for many years he was Kapellmeister of the court orchestra of Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine.
Maria Caterina Rosalbina Caradori-Allan was a French operatic soprano.
Fanny Ayton (1806–1891) was an English soprano known for her operatic performances in London in the late 1820s.
Regina Mingotti, born in Naples 16 February 1722, died Neuburg an der Donau 1 October 1808, was an operatic soprano. Besides achieving great success as a performer in Germany, Spain, France, Britain and Italy, she composed and published songs and is notable for being the first woman to manage an opera company in London.
Thomyris, Queen of Scythia was a pasticcio opera based on a libretto by Peter Anthony Motteux. It was produced by John James Heidegger at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in April 1707. Motteux’s prologue directly referenced Anne, Queen of Great Britain, under whose reign female stage protagonists were very popular.
Almahide is a pasticcio opera arranged by John Jacob Heidegger. Musically the work was based on Ariosti’s Amor tra nemici (1708), but most of the arias were replaced by the work of other composers, including six arias from Giovanni Bononcini‘s Turno Aricino.
Pyrrhus and Demetrius was a 1708 adaptation for the London stage of the 1694 opera Il Pirro e Demetrio by Alessandro Scarlatti with a libretto by Adriano Morselli, first performed at the Teatro San Bartolomeo.
Maria Manina, later Maria Fletcher later Maria Seedo/Sydow, was an Italian opera and concert singer. She came to notice in London in 1712 and was last recorded in Potsdam in 1736.
Joanna Lindehleim who performed as the Baroness was a singer in London who was born abroad. She came to notice in about 1703. She was known as the wife of a Swedish baron named Andrew Lenduss of Lendenheim.
Livia Nannini Costantini was an Italian soprano. She was one of four sopranos of her period known by the moniker "La Polacchina"; a situation which has led to some confusion in scholarship on the singer.