Timms Lindgren Steff..

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76 LOWELL LINDGREN AND COLIN TIMMS Jacob Jan Hamel-Bruynincx was the Dutch envoy extraordinary in Vienna from 1700 to 1738 (Bittner and GroB, Repertorium, 3545, and Hausmann, Repertorium, 242). The first omitted passage reveals that Marquis Nomis has gone to Hamburg to take his nephew to Captain Moer [recte More?], an English seaman or vessel bound for Cadiz; when Nomis returns, Steffani will tell him that Riva has not forgotten to order their hats (see no. 15, above). The cancellation of the London production of Tassilone is also discussed in nos. 8 and 15, above. From the second omitted passage we learn that no news of a resolution has reached Troisio in Rome, even though Madame d'OrlCans continues to affirm that the matter is settled and Baron Schack says the same thing in London. Letters were written to (Torri in) Munich in response to Riva's request for news of Durastanti's reception there (see no. 19, above, and no. 21, below). In no. 17, above, Riva told Steffani that Parliament had adjourned until 19 October, after which there would probably be new elections; Steffani now wants more information on this subject. The two ampersands at the end of the letter emulate the '&C.' at the end of Riva's nos. 14 and 19, as noted above, in our introduction to 'Counterpoint, 1-50'. 21. Steffani to Riva Hanover, 14 November 1721 [Friday, hand A] In these few lines I will give you an account of the first reply from Munich concerning what you wanted to know. It assures me that Durastanti sang to great applause in the opera that was staged there at the beginning of this month and that she was universally loved and esteemed. This report-which was given to me by a very reliable source [Torri?], together with a promise, moreover, to inform himself [or herself?] of all the circumstances-must be well-founded, because the electress [Kunigunde Therese Sobieska, daughter of King John Sobieski of Poland] took the virtuosa with her into the nunneries when she went to visit them. I cannot doubt this, because my sister [Ippolita, born in 1656 and known as Teresa Maddalena], mother superior of the Convent of the Visitation, has written to say that she saw Durastanti. When the most serene electress told Durastanti that she [the mother superior] was my sister, Durastanti expressed a thousand compliments and a thousand obliging remarks about me. When the good nun asked her how she knew me, she replied with utmost gallantry that the whole of the Catholic world must know me, and that if they did not, they had only to hear the king of England speak of me. This is all I can tell you about this for today . . .. [f. 211 Con queste poche righe devo renderLe conto della prima risposta ricevuta da Monaco sopra quanto Ella desiderava sapere. Vengo dunque assicurato que la Durastante reciti con grande applauso nella opera che ivi si rappresentava a1 principio di questo mese, e che sia universalmente amata e stimata. Questo awiso, che mi viene dato da man0 assai sicura, con promessa pero d'informarsi piu particolarmente di tutte le circonstanze, deve pero esser fondato, poichC la Signora Elettrice conduce seco quella virtuosa nelli monasteri di monache quando va a visitarli. NC di questa particolarita posso dubitare, poichC mia sorella, Superiora del Monastero della Visitatione, mi scrive haver veduta la Signora Durastante, alla quale la Serenissima Elettrice havendo detto che quella era mia sorella, ella gli ha fatto mille finezze e mille obbliganti espressioni di me. La buona monaca havendogli domandato come mi conosceva, rispose con somma galanteria che tutto il mondo cattolico deve conoscermi; ma che quando ci0 non fosse, per conoscermi basta sentir parlar di me il re d'Inghilterra. Questo 2 quanto posso dirLe in questo proposito per hoggi . . .. The opera in question was Torri's L'amor d'amico vince ogni altro amore, which opened in Munich on 12 October 1721, the name-day of the elector and the electress. It was based on a libretto by Adriano THE CORRESPONDENCE OF AGOSTINO STEFFANI AND GIUSEPPE RIVA, 1720-1728 Morselli (Pirro e Demetrio), first set by Giuseppe Felice Tosi for Venice in 1690. Durastanti played the leading female role, that of Deidamia. The remainder of the letter is concerned with the unre- solved Troisio affair. Steffani reminds Riva of the roles played by Madame d70rlCans, the duke and duchess of Lorraine, the king of England, Baron Schack and Count Bothmer. When Abbot Sommier was in Rome, he had told Abbot Troisio, on behalf of the duke, that the post was a commission rather than an appointment, so he could not name him St Urbain's successor until 'la occasione si presentera' ('an opportunity presents itself). Since 'tutto questo si riduce a vera freddura' ('all this boils down to total triviality'), Steffani immediately reported Sommier's distasteful declaration to the king and Madame d70rlCans. Pallavicini, who had also been drawn into the attempt to learn about Durastanti's reception in Munich (see no. 19A, above), reacted to Steffani's most recent news in a letter of 22 November 1721 (I-Rscge Fondo Spiga, vol. 11): 'Attendero se i miei avisi con- front[ano] con quelli che Vostra Signoria Illustrissima ha ricevuti da Monaco; e poich6 di monasteri e questione, io Le confess0 che fui sul punto di suggerirLe di valersi delle monache per l'informazione desiderata, giacchC queste sogliono essere istrutte di quanto passa in una citta. La persona sa assai vivere per meritarsi le distinzioni della Serenissima Elettrice, e non e piu d'una eta da darle suggeri- menti; e Sua Altezza Elettorale l'avra probabilmente conosciuta a Venezia' ('I shall see whether my reports tally with those that your most illustrious lordship has received from Munich. As it is a question of monasteries, I confess that I was on the point of suggesting that you avail yourself of nuns for the desired information, since they are usually well informed of what is happening in a city. The woman [Durastanti] knows how to live if she merits the attention of the Most Serene Electress, and she is no longer of an age to be given suggestions. His Electoral Highness probably knew her in Venice'). 22. Steffani to Riva Hanover, 5 December 1721 [Friday, hand A] You last favoured me by writing on the 21st of the last [presumably 21 October, a letter not extant], which is, according to rules studied the other day, about sixty years ago. Thus my reply must begin: 'the question and answer should suit the case'. You gave me such happy news, lacking little, that I shall respond to nothing else. If the pill (as you perhaps justly baptize it) is more bitter than those of pure aloe, the sweetness that we, and I in particular, should taste in it is so great, that you must not take it amiss if I ardently desire that you be constrained to swallow it, since it must concern us greatly to see the king here, accompanied by so many good friends whom we desire to embrace. Rest assured, therefore, that if this fortune comes to pass next summer, as we have been led to hope, everything possible will be done so that you will not have to 'regrettare' (it's a new word) the delights of England . . .. All your friends, particularly Marquis Nomis and Abbot Mauro, appreciate the honour of your memory of them, and I, more than any other, am desirous of serving you, &c. [P. S. in Steffani's hand.] Durastanti won the hearts of the entire Bavarian court. They offered her 1,000 dollars a year if she would stay, but she wanted 2,000. Munich not being London, they then let her go, as I said, toward Rome. My compliments to Bononcini. He would do well to come [next summer?] and spend a month or two here with us; perhaps we would find a way to amuse him. [f. 231 Li Suoi ultimi favori sono delli 21. del passato: secondo le regole studiate l'altro giorno, ci& una 60."" [sessantina] d'anni fa, che interrogatio et responsio casu conveniant, la mia risposta deve incomin- ciar cosi. Ella mi da una cosi lieta nuova che poco manca che io non risponda ad altro; e quando la pillola (come Ella forse giustamente la battezza) fosse piu amara che quelle di puro aloe, 2 cos; grande il dolce che noi ne sentiressimo, ed io in particolare, ch'Ella non deve prendersi in mala parte se ardentemente si 77
78 LOWELL LINDGREN AND COLIN TIMMS desidera, ch'Ella sia costretta d'inghiottirla, essendo che troppo ci deve premere di veder qui il re, accompagnato da tanti buoni amici che desideriamo d'abbracciare. Conti Ella per0 che se questa fortuna ci arriva, come ci viene fatto sperare, in tempo d'estate, si fara tutto il possibile, perch'Ella non habbia a regrettare (L! parola nuova) le delizie d'Inghilterra . . .. [f. 241 Tutti li amici, e particolarmente li Signori Marchese Nomis ed Abbate Mauro, sono sensibili all'honore della di Lei memoria, ed io piu d'ogn'altro son desideroso di ubbidirla, &c. [P. S. in Steffani's hand, written upside down at the top off. 24:] La Durastanti ha incontrato il genio di tutta la corte di Baviera. Gli hanno offerti mille talleri I'anno se voleva fermarsi, ma ne voleva 2,000. Indi Monaco non essendo Londra, l'han lasciata andare, come ho detto, verso [f. 23v, upside down:] Roma. Li miei complimenti a1 Signor Bononcino. Farebbe bene a venir passar qui con noi un mese o due: forse trovaressimo il mod0 di divertirlo. See Ill. 7. In the first omitted passage Steffani regrets that nothing has changed in the Troisio affair. Baron Schack, Madame d'orltans, the duke and duchess of Lorraine and Abbot Sommier continue to say the same things as before, and the only solution is a 'patente di sopravivenza' ('patent of succession') for Abbot Troisio. Steffani is anxious to keep Troisio 'in buon'humore' ('in a good mood'), because [thanks to Troisio] his difficulties with his provostship [of Seltz] appear to have taken a turn for the better. He adds that he has fought vigorously for Troisio, because he was certain that the latter would render good service to the duke of Lorraine. Hanoverians have received contradic- tory reports of John Law. Riva's few lines about him have led Steffani to decide that one story about him is fabricated. The imperial court in Vienna is in a heightened state of alert because of the alliance of two previously irreconcilable powers [Hanover and Prussia]. He opines that, if the Congress of Cambrai ever takes place, the ministers of the principal powers will sign, while the others will have to rely on common justice. 'Berlin is jumping through hoops' ('Si lavora in Berlino alla gaillarda') to reach an amicable accommodation with Vienna; also working assiduously are the kings of England and Poland [August 11, i.e., Friedrich August I, 'der Starke', elector of Saxony (167G1733)l and the landgrave [Karl(1654-1730)l of Kassel. Munich's offer of 1,000 dollars a year must have seemed insubstantial to Durastanti, who had been engaged at Dresden in February 1719 for the sum of 5,221 or 5,225 dollars (Prolss, Dresden, 127 and 12811). As Kapellmeister at Hanover in the 1690s Steffani had received a salary of 1,200 dollars per annum and an allowance amounting to 6,570 dollars p.a.; his salary as privy councillor and president of the Palatine Spiritual Council at Diisseldorf in 1703 was 1,500 dollars p.a. (Tirnms, Polymath, 51 and 86). Durastanti may have been offered as much as £500 to sing for the Royal Academy of Music during the spring of 1720, and she received £1,100 for the season 1720-1, when her contract included a special benefit concert (discussed by Riva in no. 14, above), from which she presumably earned several hundred pounds more (Gibson, Royal Academy, 122 and 144-5, and Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume, 'Opera Salaries in Eighteenth-Century London', Journal of the American Musicological Society, 46 (1993), 324). It is hard to compare the fixed sums, since we do not have comprehensive information on exchange rates for 1720. In 1728, a German dollar was worth 4s 6d, according to Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia; or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1728), 247-51 and 569-71, S.V. 'Coin' and 'Money', respec- tively. If this exchange rate was valid in 1719-21, Durastanti received £1,176 at Dresden for the spring of 1719 and was promised £225 for a year at Munich in 1721-22. Steffani's statement that Durastanti was heading for Rome in December 1721 casts new light on her career, because nothing else is known of her whereabouts during the half-year between her departure from Munich and her journey in May 1722 from Bologna to Venice, when she was robbed of jewels worth £500 (Corrado Ricci, I teatri di Bologna nei secoli xvii e xviii, storia aneddotica (Bologna, 1888; repr. Bologna, 1965), 424n). THE CORRESPONDENCE OF AGOSTINO STEFFANI AND GIUSEPPE RIVA, 172G1728 79 23. Riva to Steffani London, 19 March 1722 [Thursday] I know that I truly deserve one of those bygone punishments given to schoolboys who have not done their homework, because my long silence means that I have failed in my duty. I can adduce several factors in my defence. For example, the forthcoming Congress of Cambrai occupies me inordinately; the arrival here of some Milanese cavaliers, whom I had to serve, has continually diverted my attention, and I know-but no, I don't want to use in my favour the advantage that I could enjoy from these excuses. I surrender, and declare myself guilty, hoping that this, my sincere confession, will more easily obtain a pardon for me from you and all my other patrons . . .. At the end of May, of this current year, the king will this time [i.e., this year] set forth [to Hanover]. With him will be the two secretaries of state, Mylord Townshend by right and Mylord Carteret out of friendship; also Mylord Sunderland, naturally, because a ship cannot move without its rudder. Will you see Riva? Monsignor, I do not know. It is more probable that I shall go to Cambrai, because Marquis Rangoni has made a great fuss at Modena about having me with him, and Baron Pentenrriedter, who harbours a generous affection for me, intimated, when he wrote to the duke [Rinaldo of Modena], that he will send me there. Since, however, it is probable that the congress will finish before it has hardly begun, or that it will never begin, I should be able to plan a different itinerary. In that case, I shall probably be able to make an excursion to Hanover, which I would do very willingly, for the honour that I should have of seeing you again and saluting, besides [you], monsignor, Marquis Nomis, Abbot Mauro and my other good patrons and friends, to all of whom I beg you to convey my respects and assure them on my behalf of the kind memory that I preserve of them. The Spanish build-up of arms at Cadiz, with its imbarcation of troops, engenders much concern, because we fear the beginning of a fire, now that the Bourbon union nullifies the terms of the [January 1720?] treaty of London. Italy will be the principal theater [i.e., battle- ground]. The emperor will certainly not try to prevent it, and will cover his [fire] with that of others. The election of these (speaking reverently) members for the new Parliament is going a bit cold for the court, but pensions will, shall we say, domesticate these English Catos. The page is full, and I will stop boring you. Bononcini sends you his respects, and I am your most humble servant. [f. 751 Conosco veramente di meritare uno di que' preteriti castighi che si danno a puti alla scuola che non ham0 fatto il loro dovere, perch6 io ho mancato a1 mio con un cosi lungo silenzio. Potrei addurre qualche ragione in mia difesa. v. g. [= verbi gratia] che questo prossimo Congresso Cameracense mi occupa straordinariamente, che l'arrivo qui d'alcuni cavalieri milanesi, quali ho dovuto senire, mi ha continua- mente divertito, e che so io, ma no, non mi voglio servire del vantaggio che potrei avere da queste scuse in mio pro. Do manus vivetas, e mi dichiaro reo, sperando che questa mia sincera confessione mi otterra da Lei, e da tutti gli altri padroni miei, piu facilmente il perdono . . .. [f. 75v] Alla fine di maggio di questa moneta il re [f. 761 s'incaminera a codesta volta. Seco verranno i due segretari di stato, Mylord Tounshend per diritto, e Mylord Carteret per amicizia. Mylord Sunderland gia vi s'intende, perch6 non va la nave senza il timone. E voi Riva verrete? Monsignor no1 so; L! piu probabile che io passi a Cambray, mentre il Marchese Rangoni ha fatte grand instanze a Modena per avermi seco, ed il Signor Baron di Pentenrideter, che ha per me una generos'amicizia, in occasione di scrivere a1 duca gli ha insinuato di mandarmi cold. Comecch6, per0, L! probabile che quel congress0 a pena cominciato finisca, o che non cominci mai, cosi, dovendosi dare mi diverso sistema agli affari, come probabilmente sucedera io potrei dare una scorsa a Annover, il che farei ben volentieri per l'onore che
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Timms Lindgren Steff..

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