Maria Caterina Negri

Maria Caterina Negri (28 September 1704 – after 1744) was an Italian contralto who created numerous roles in 18th-century operas, including many by George Frideric Handel.

Little is known about her early life or training, although according to François-Joseph Fétis she studied under the castrato singer Antonio Pasi in Bologna.

She was barely 15 when she made her debut at the Teatro Formagliari Bologna during the 1719 carnival season in Bononcini's Il trionfo di Camilla and Predieri's La Partenope.

The previous year in Prague her furious dispute with the impresario of Sporck's theatre ended in the police arriving at her house threatening her with arrest for breach of contract.

[2] In Venice Vivaldi cast her as the tyrant king Arsace in Rosilena ed Oronta and the female warrior Bradamante in Orlando furioso, a character she would reprise in Handel's Alcina six years later.