Anastasia Robinson 2

Anastacia Robinson, · 1755-01-01T00:00:00Z

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_Robinson  https://archive.li/gJVCJ https://archive.org/details/17778571998888bsb-11384147/page/300/mode/1up?q=Thomas  https://archive.org/stream/17778571998888bsb-11384147/17778571998888bsb11384147_djvu.txt  BOOK IV. Guwaok., J.  R. Handel continued to fulfil his engagements with the direc  tors, until the year 1726, when, having compofed a new opera,  entitled Aleffandro, and engaged a new finger, namely Signora Fau-  ftina, he laid the foundation of a difpute, that terminated in the ruin  of the whole undertaking.  But before we proceed to relate the circumftances of this event, it  may be obferved that it feemed to be no more than the neceflary  confequence of that extravagant applaufe which the opera au-  dience had fhewn itfelf ever ready to beftow on their favourites among  the fingers. Senefino was one of the firft that difcovered this bene-  volent propenfity in the Englifh, and he laboured by a vigo~  rous exertion of all his powers, to cultivate and improve that good  opinion which had been conceived of him on his firft appearance  among us; and it was not long before he began to feel his own im-  portance. Handel was not a proud man, but he was capricious : In  his comparifon of the merits of a compofer and’ thofe of a finger, he  eftimated the latter at a very low rate, and affected to treat Senefino  with a degree of indifference that the other could but ill brook; in  fhort, they were upon very ill terms almoft from the time of their  firft coming together ; but in a year or two after Fauftina’s arrival,  the  Chap.1: AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 301  the flame of civil difcord burft forth, and all was diforder and confu-  fion. The two women were foon fenfible, from the applaufe beftow-  ed upon Senefino, that the favour of an Englith audience was worth  courting ; and in proportion as it appeared defirable, each of them  began to grow jealous of the other: Senefino had no rival, but each  of the women was poffeffed of talents fufficient to engage a very  ftrong party. To render the hiftory of this conteft a ee will  require a fhort digreflion,  ‘ MRS.ANAS TASIA ROBINSON.  AFTERWARDS COUNTESS OF PETERBOROUGH.  Mrs. ANASTASIA RoBINSON was defcended from a good fa-  mily in the county of Leicefter; her father was brought up to the  profeffion of a portrait painter, and having, to perfect himfelf in  Vou. V. Mmm his  302 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE BookIV.  his ftudies, travelled to Rome, he returned to England, and fet-  tling in London, married a woman of fome fortune, by whom he  had one only child, the fubje&t of the prefent article. In the in-  fancy of this his daughter, Mr. Robinfon had the misfortune to lofe  his wife. By a fecond marriage with a young gentlewoman of the  name of Lane, he had another daughter, who was baptized Margaret.  Mr. Robinfon had for fome time laboured under a diforder in his  eyes, which terminated in the lofs of his fight, and deprived him of  the means of fupporting himfelf and his family by the exercife of his  pencil. Under the heavy preflure of this calamity, he and: his  wife reflecting on their inability to make a provifion for them, re-  folved to bring up both the children to a profeflion : Anaftafia, the  elder, having difcovered in her childhood an ear for mufic, was de- -  figned by them for a finger; and other motives, equally cogent at  the time, determined them to make of Peggy a miniature painter:  The ftory of this younger daughter is but fhort, and is, againft the  order of precedence, here inferted, to prevent a digreffion in that  which is more to our purpofe, the hiftory of her fifter.  The fecond Mrs. Robinfon was poffefled of a fmall income, which,  under the direction of her hufband, was appropriated to the inftruétion  of the two children in the profeffions they were feverally intended for;  but all the endeavours of the parents in favour of the younger were in  vain; fhe flighted her ftudies, and, deviating into her fifter’s track,  would learn nothing but mufic: Yielding therefore to this {trong  propenfity, Mr. Robinfon placed her under Bononcini, and after-  wards fent her to Paris, where, being committed to the tuition of  Rameau, and having a moft delicate ear, and great powers of execu-  ‘tion, fhe attained to fuch a degree of perfection in finging, as fether  upon a level with the moft celebrated performers of the time; but  having a natural bafhfulnefs, which fhe could never overcome, and  being befides lower in ftature than the loweft of her fex, the could  never be prevailed on to become a public finger, but {pent her life  in obf{curity. On the other hand, Anaftafia, who had been com-  mitted to the care of Dr. Croft, but was rather lefs indebted to na-  ture for the gift of a voice than her fitter, profecuted her ftudies with  the utmoft induftry. With the affiftance of her father the became  fuch a miftrefs of the Italian language, that fhe was able to converfe  in it, and to repeat with the utmoft propriety paflages from the poets.  To remedy fome defeats in her finging, to mend if poflible her thake,  which  OR OE ee ae ee  ee Ba i eS |  ee ee  Chap. 1. .AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 403  which was not altogether correct, and, above all, to make the Italian  modulation familiar to her, the affiftance of Sandoni, a celebrated  teacher *, was called in ; but all that could be done by him, and the  lady called the Baronefs, a finger in the opera, then greatly careffed,  in thefe refpects was but little ; fhe had a fine voice, and an extenfive  compafs, but fhe wanted a nice and difcriminating ear to make her  a perfect finger. Her firft public appearance was in the concerts  performed at that time in York-buildings, and at other places, in  which fhe fung, and generally accompanied herfelf on the harpfi-  chord. Her father had carefully attended to her education, and had  exerted his utmoft efforts in the improvement of her mind ; the ad-  vantages fhe derived from thefe inftances of his affe€tion, added to  her own good fenfe and amiable qualities, confifting in a ftritly vir-  tuous difpofition, a conduc full of refpect to her fuperiors, and  an undiffembled courtefy and affability to others, mixed with a chear-  fulnefs that diffufed itfelf to all around her, were vifible in the re-  ception fhe met with from the public, which was of fuch a kind, as  feemed to enfure her fuccefs in whatever fhe undertook. En-  couraged by the favour of the public to his daughter, and more  efpecially by the countenance and bounty of fome perfons of high  rank of her own fex, Mr. Robinfon took a houfe in Golden-fquare,  and had concerts, and alfo converfations on certain days in every  week, which were the refort of all who had any pretenfions to-  politenefs.  At the time when Mrs. Tofts and Margarita retired from the  ftage, {carce any female fingers worth hearing were left; Mrs.  Linfey, Mrs. Crofs, Signora Ifabella Girardeau, and the Baronefs  abovementioned, are the only names that we meet with, except the  two former, and Signora Maria Gallia, who-fung the part of Rofa-  mond in Mr. Addifon’s opera of that name, between the time of the  firft introdu@ion of the opera and the year 1718. Under thefe fa-  vourable circumftances, and the feveral others above enumerated, Mrs.  Robinfon was prevailed on to appear on the opera ftage: The firit  opera fhe fung in was that of Narciffus mentioned in a preceding page  to have been compofed by Domenico Scarlatti, and brought on the  ftage by Rofeingrave; in this fhe fung the part of Echo with great  applaufe. Inthe fucceeding operas of Mutius Scevola, Crifpus, Gri-  * Pier-Giufeppe Sandoni ; he publifhed, and dedicated to the countefs of Pembroke, a:  work of his entitled * Cantate da Camera e Sonate per il Cembalo.’  felda,,