Angelica Catalani

[1] On leaving the convent, into which she had been introduced by the Cardinal Onorati, and where the congregation could frequently not be prevented from openly applauding her splendid notes in the services, she found herself, owing to the sudden impoverishment of her parents, compelled to perform in public.

Her musical education had been but ill cared for in the convent, where she passed three years; and she had contracted bad tricks of vocalisation, which she never entirely overcame, even after hearing such great models as Luigi Marchesi and Girolamo Crescentini.

In spite of this fault, which was indeed more within the criticism of connoisseurs than of the public generally, her voice was so full, powerful, and clear, her intonation so pure and true, and her instinctive execution of difficult and brilliant music so easy and unfaltering, that her singing had a charm which has scarcely ever been equalled, and her very first steps in a theatrical career were marked by the most extraordinary success.

Thus at Paris she failed comparatively in a tender song of Piccini's, 'Se'l ciel mi divide,' though shortly after, she created the greatest enthusiasm by her 'Son regina,' by an air of Rode's with variations, concerti for the voice, and other pieces of the most florid execution.

[1] Her reputation now reached the ears of the Prince Regent of Portugal, who engaged her, with Elisabetta Gafforini and Crescentini, to sing at the Italian Opera there, and she arrived about the end of the year 1804.

Before crossing, however, she gave concerts at Madrid and Paris, by which she gained large sums of money, and created a deep impression; indeed, Napoleon offered her an engagement from which she had some difficulty in escaping, in order to fulfil that at the King's Theatre.

At the moment of her arrival in London, Grassini and Mrs. Billington had just retired; and, as Lord Mount Edgcumbe says, the great, the far-famed Catalani supplied the place of both, and for many years reigned alone, for she would bear no rival, nor any singer sufficiently good to divide the applause...It is well known, that her voice is of a most uncommon quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural.

Her throat seems endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite surprising; while its agility in divisions, running up and down the scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at once, are equally astonishing.

It were to be wished,... that she was less lavish in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is left to her discretion (or indiscretion), without being confined by the accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in ad libitum passages with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if possessing ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical excess.The opinions of all good judges were nearly the same with the above; but the public was led completely away by her marvellous powers.

[1] She appeared also in 'Mitridate,' 'Elfrida,' and most unwillingly in 'La Clemenza di Tito,' for the strict time required in Mozart's music, and the importance of the accompaniments, were not suited to her style.

Subsequently, she assumed also the place of prima buffa, and succeeded equally well in that line; singing with greater simplicity and ease, she was by some preferred in comic opera.

More serious causes, however, contributed to dissipate these riches as fast as she gained them; for her husband was passionately addicted to gambling, and lost vast sums at play.

After leaving this stage, she for many years never trod any other, except at Paris, where she obtained the management of the Italian opera, with a subvention of 160,000 francs; but the undertaking was not fortunate.

On her arrival at Paris, she resumed the direction of the Théâtre Italian, and established the same ruinous system which had destroyed, for a time, opera in London.

Every expense of scenery, orchestra, and chorus, was curtailed, and every singer of worth excluded, in order that the entire receipts might go, with the subvention, into the purse of Valabrègue.

The rest consisted of variations by Rode, and similar things, with the famous 'Son regina,' interpolated in place of the concerted pieces and songs which had been cut out.

Lord Mount Edgcumbe heard her the same year at Plymouth, and describes her as having lost, perhaps, a little in voice, but gained more in expression: as electrifying an audience with her 'Rule Britannia;' and as still handsome, though somewhat stout.

On the stage, she is described as having always produced an unnatural impression, owing to an invincible nervousness, which made her exaggerate the effects she wished to create.