Tim Chang
Music 261: Professor Kasunic

The Blinding of a Rivalry

Both Cuzzoni and Faustina were superstars of their era with many similar, yet contrasting characteristics. Francesca Cuzzoni was born on April 2, 1696 in Parma, Italy. She started her career at 18 in Italy and continued to strive from that point on in various parts of Europe. In 1722, the established composer, George Frideric Handel, recruited Cuzzoni to be the star of his Royal Academy of Music. She eventually joined Handel in England in 1723. Faustina Bordoni was born on March 30, 1697 in Venice, Italy. She, like Cuzzoni, made her debut in her hometown at the age of 19 and continued to flourish in this career. While Cuzzoni moved to London to work with Handel in 1723, Faustina continued to thrive in Italy. It was not until 1726 when Handel drew Faustina over to London to “rival” Cuzzoni in the Royal Academy of Music. Think of these two stars of Handel as the Britney and Christina of the 1720’s. The Academy is where most the media about their rivalry is expressed. Scholars such as Isabelle Emerson, Winton Dean, Steven LaRue and Suzanne Aspden have various viewpoints on Handel’s contribution to this rivalry. Emerson, writing in 2005 in her research of Five Centuries of Women Singers, argues that Cuzzoni and Faustina, though rivals, relied on each other for success. Emerson writes that, “rivalry aside, the two artists must have complemented each other remarkable well as singers. Contemporary descriptions emphasize not only contrasts of vocal type, but also of role and speak of the affective nature of Cuzzoni’s pathetic heroines as opposed to the active, passionate characters portrayed by Bordoni in Handel’s productions.” She states that they contrast in various ways, but harmonize each other. It is obvious from their biographies that Cuzzoni and Faustina have many similarities such as their home country, their stardom, their age, and the company they work for; however, their performance styles, though both undeniably talented, differ in ways that allow for the two to balance each other out in an Opera. For example, Cuzzoni’s character is often portrayed as the pathetic heroine, or the one who is taken advantaged of. Faustina often plays the victor or the villain. She is usually the one who “wins” in the end. Clearly, two different personalities need to play these two characters, yet dramatic opera needs both characters involved. Winton Dean builds upon Emerson’s point on his monograph on Handel’s Operas in 2006 thorough descriptions of each of Handel’s operas. Dean starts out each chapter by giving a full synopsis of the respective opera, followed by his analysis of the composition, the reviews of the opera, and the explanation of his incite of the construction of the opera. In doing so, Dean suggests his opinion on why Handel composed the way he did. A repeated theme in Dean’s writing is that he seemed to emphasize the fact that Handel clearly devoted much time composing for his two prima donnas, Cuzzoni and Faustina more so than other singers. As he states, “Handel clearly devoted a great deal of care to his music for Faustina, whom he had almost certainly never heard, though he must have gained an idea of her voice from using some of her arias in the pasticcio Elpidia the year before.” Dean continued to note Handel’s devotion to these two staring ladies by going into meticulous details about how Handel composed for Cuzzoni and Faustina. He talked about the ways in which Handel composed music. Dean noticed many differences in the keys that these two women sang in as well as the melodic structure. For example, he will explain a context in which Cuzzoni sings an aria with pure melodic tones in the key of C minor, but then shortly after, Faustina will sing an aria in A major in an optimistic setting. Why is it that Dean doesn’t focus on others? Why is it that he keeps returning to this operatic coupling? Why is it that we’re just talking about Faustina and Cuzzoni. Dean is, like other writer, are fascinated by this coupling. The way in which people write about these Handel’s opera highlight the Cuzzoni and Faustina. C. Steven LaRue’s argument in his study in 1995, Handel and his Singers, reinforces Dean’s point that Handel spent much effort into each specific singer being tailored towards a specific character. LaRue observes that, “Handel both modified and adapted techniques he had developed for Durastanti to suit the new prima donna’s musico-dramatic style.” Here, he is arguing that Handel intentionally molds Cuzzoni and Faustina into these two roles. He also states that Handel keeps the two divas in similar roles throughout their careers in his Academy by observing that, “Cuzzoni’s roles during this period are consistent in that (1) Cuzzoni’s heroines are all at the mercy of forces beyond their control, and (2) the dramatic nature of these roles consistently makes possible the musical expression of pathos of a type of consistent with Cuzzoni’s abilities and talents.” He spends a lot of time talking about these characterizations. LaRue depicts Cuzzoni to be of a strong character who for some reason, succumbs to greater power. Though she has much determination, this is never enough to allow her to be the victor. Faustina, on the other hand, plays characters that are optimistic and active. She is usually the one who has something unfortunate happen to her, but usually finds a way to come out on top. Why does Handel spent so much time characterizing Cuzzoni and Faustina into specific roles? LaRue makes it very clear that the characters that the prima donnas play have a lot of intention. What is it about this characterization that is so important for LaRue to focus on? Suzanne Aspden writes an essay in 2006, which addresses the question to LaRue. She discusses the two characters in the opera, Admeto. She realizes that the characters that Cuzzoni and Faustina play in Admeto juxtapose each other through the design of the libretto. She gives this incite, “the similarities between Handel’s music for the two women emphasize their differences still further, but they also tease us into recognizing their parallels.” Here, she is saying that Cuzzoni and Faustina’s similarities only highlighted their rivalry even further. Aspden makes the argument that; “tensions between the women were brought to boiling points through libretto alterations that made Cuzzoni’s character a virtuous victim, while Faustina became the epitome of villainy.” She continues to conclude that, “the very clamour surrounding the women’s encounter demonstrates an enthusiasm for simulation which suggests the rivalry was less the creation of the singers than the manufacture of others.” From this observation, it becomes clear it was the manipulation of these two characters that created this rivalry, not the singers themselves. The libretto and composer that created the two characters pitted these two superstars against each other in many of the opera’s they were featured in. Through these scholars, it is evident that Handel molded the talent of Cuzzoni and Faustina to create a rivalry that flooded the media. Emerson argues that these two women complement each other in their contrasting styles. Both Dean and Larue further this argument by making it clear that Handel characterizes specific singers into specific characters. Aspden then shows that Handel created juxtaposition between the two women, especially, in Admeto. It is only logical that the composer himself creates this rivalry. It is not necessarily Cuzzoni and Faustina who are rivals. Much of the information regarding their rivalry has nothing to do with the two women. Instead, the rival is based on the characters that each woman plays. Handel has these two women repeating the same characters, as LaRue points out, that the public media now views Cuzzoni as the characters she always plays. The same goes for Faustina. The predetermination of creating a rivalry between Cuzzoni and Faustina has delineated the ways in which succeeding scholars approach Handel’s Opera. Even today, scholars pin point the Cuzzoni-Faustina rivalry over the opera as a whole. Through analyzing Dean’s study, he rarely recognized Handel’s composition for Francesco Bernardi Senesino, a world famous castrato. Senesino played almost all of Handel’s leading roles. In Alessandro, he played Alessandro. In Admeto, he played Admeto. In Guilio Cesare, he played Guilio Cesare. Though Senesino was usually the main role in the Operas, most of Dean’s analysis was on the two divas. Here, Dean reflects on Handel’s Admeto.

Jealous without a cause in II.vi, she [Alceste] fights down unworthy thoughts when Antigona gives her cause by admitting her love for Admeto; and when Ercole says that Admeto reciprocates it she sings a tender aria about flowers and birds. It is clear that Handel wished to stress the nobility of her character, quite apart from her heroic death. ‘Vedro fra poco’ in II.xii is an insertion for which there is no parallel in the source. ‘La dove fli occhi’ in III.vi flatly contradicts the source, where she sings an aria renouncing love—and Handel underlines the point by changing the last words of her recitative from ‘Admeto ingrato’ to ‘Admeto amato.’ Nevertheless her furtive behavior in Act III, lurking behind corners disguised as a man, detracts somewhat from her dignity. It is not surprising that the music falters at the same point. The last act, though a certain relaxation towards comedy was clearly deliberate, shows a decline from the superb level of the first two.” By reading this block quotation from Dean’s study, it is obvious where his intentions lie in his analysis. Dean first gives a contextual description that Alceste, played by Faustina, finds out Antigona, played by Cuzzoni, has fallen in love with the same person, Admeto, played by Senesino. Dean goes on to emphasis that Handel deliberately “stressed the nobility of her character” by creating an additional composition. Dean also emphasizes that Handel finds it imperative to change the last words of Alceste’s aria. “Handel underlines the point,” as Dean argues. Furthermore, Dean notes that the “music falters” the same emotions of Alceste. Many of these observations, such as the changes in one word, are exceedingly specific. In Dean’s study, titled Handel’s Opera, he obviously spends significantly more effort in his analysis of Cuzzoni and Faustina more than the greater work at large. This book, from the title, should have been a summary and analysis of the entire work, but clearly, Dean, just like other scholars tailored the information towards the Cuzzoni and Faustina’s rivalry. Handel seemed to have defined the pitting of these two star celebrities of the Academy to be the selling point of his operas. Whether it was intentional or not, scholars have made the effort to narrow in on this aspect of Handel’s operas. Subsequent scholars, such as Emerson, LaRue, Dean, and Aspden, have followed the focus of their predecessors. Most analysis of Handel’s operas lies in the composition of Cuzzoni and Faustina’s characters. This speaks to the way in which the initial focus of an argument can determine the arguments that follow. This process often blinds scholars to aspects that may be more worthy of attention. Handel has blinded the critical reception to the larger meaning the work. Scholars do not talk about the big work; instead, they focus mainly on the rivalry of Cuzzoni and Faustina because this is what Handel markets through his composition.

Work Cited: Aspden, Suzanne. "The 'rival queans' and the play of identity in Handel's Admeto." Cambridge Opera Journal (November 2006): 301-331. doi:10.1017/S0954586706002217 (accessed October 24, 2010). Dean, Winton. Handel's Operas. Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2006. Emerson, Isabelle. Five Centuries of Women Singers. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2005. LaRue, Steven. Handel and his Singers. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. McGeary, Thomas. "Gendering Opera." The Journal of Musicological Research 14 (1994): 17-34. McGeary, Thomas. "Warbling Eunuchs." Restoration and 18th Century Theatre Research 7, no. 1 (1992): 1-22. Pain, Stephanie. "Superstar Sopranos." New Scientist 189, no. 2544 (March 2006): 52-53. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=20351125 (accessed October 25, 2010).

Rogers, Francis. "Handel and Five Prima Donnas." The Music Quarterly 29, no. 2 (April 1943): 214-224. http://jstor.org/stable/739522 (accessed October 25, 2010). Rogers, Francis. "Some Prima Donnas of the Latter Eighteenth Century." The Musical Quarterly 30, no.2 (April 1944): 147-162. http://www.jstore.org/stable/739449 (accessed October 24, 2010).

Streatfeild, R. A. "Handel, Rolli, and Italian Opera in London in the Eighteenth Century." The Music Quarterly 3, no. 3 (July 1917): 428-445. http://www.jstor.org/stable/738033 (accessed October 25, 2010).

Wierzbicki, James. "Dethroning the Divas: Satire Directed at Cuzzoni and Faustina." The Opera Quarterly (2001): 175-196. http://0-oq.oxfordjournals.org.oasys.lib.oxy.edu/content/17/2/175.full.pdf+html (accessed October 24, 2010).

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Winton Dean, Handel’s Operas (Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2006), page 17.
[ 2 ]. Steven LaRue, Handel and his Singers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), page 141.
[ 3 ]. Steven LaRue, Handel and his Singers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), page 138-139.
[ 4 ]. Suzane Aspden, The ‘rival queans’ and the play of identity in Handel’s Admeto (Cambridge Opera Journal: 2006), page 325.
[ 5 ]. Suzane Aspden, The ‘rival queans’ and the play of identity in Handel’s Admeto (Cambridge Opera Journal: 2006), pages 303-304.
[ 6 ]. Suzane Aspden, The ‘rival queans’ and the play of identity in Handel’s Admeto (Cambridge Opera Journal: 2006), page 303.
[ 7 ]. Winton Dean, Handel’s Operas (Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2006), page 41.