Margherita de L'Épine

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.

After performing at Venice between 1698–1700, de L'Epine arriving in London in possibly 1702 but for certain the following year as in May 1703, she received twenty guineas "for one day's singing in ye play called ye Fickle Sheperdesse;" while her appearance at Lincoln's-Inn-Fields Theatre (where she was to sing "four of her most celebrated Italian songs") on 1 June 1703, though announced to be her last, was followed by another on 8 June, when a song called "The Nightingale" was added to her répertoire.

Her repertoire initially consisted of songs and cantatas by such diverse composers as Henry Purcell and Alessandro Scarlatti, but from 1706 she starred in such Italian operas as began to appear on London stages at this time, the most popular being Giovanni Bononcini's Camilla, in which she replaced Catherine Tofts at the fourth performance, singing the role of the heroine.

She had been joined in 1703 by her sister Maria Manina, who, however, did not become equally popular, and her only important rival was Mrs. Tofts, an established favourite at Drury Lane.

Hughes wrote: Music hath learn'd the discords of the state, And concerts jar with whig and tory hate.

There fam'd L'Épine does equal skill employ While list'ning peers crowd to th' estatic joy; Bedford to hear her song his dice forsakes; And Nottingham is raptured when she shakes; Lull'd statesmen melt away their drowsy cares Of England's safety, in Italian airs.

Margherita, advancing in years, "retained her hand on the harpsichord, and was in truth a fine performer," so much so that amateurs would assemble to hear her play Dr. Bull's difficult lessons out of Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book.

[2] A replica in oils of Sebastian Ricci's picture A Rehearsal at the Opera, containing a portrait of Margherita, is in the possession of Messrs. John Broadwood & Sons, the pianoforte-makers.