Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

704 STORAGE STORAGE
the Prince of Wales's Theatre—now the Scala),
'to enable her to pursue her studies, as she
intends to go to Italy in the course of the
ensuing summer. ' She accordingly repaired to
Venice, where she became a pupil of the Oonservatorio
dell' Ospedaletto, under Sacchini.
In 1780 she appeared at La Pergola, Florence,
with great success. [See Michael Kelly's Reminiscences
and the Diet, of Nat. Biog.] In 1781
she sang at Parma, and in 1782 at La Soala,
Milan. In 1784 she was engaged at the
Imperial Theatre, Vienna, at a salary equal to
£500 sterling for the season, a then unprecedented
sum. During her stay in the Austrian
capital two important events in her career
happened, (1) her appearance on May 1, 1786,
as the original Susanna in Mozart's Nozze di
'
Figaro,' and (2) her ill-starred marriage with
Fisher the violinist. [See Fishee, John
Abraham.] She returned to England in March
1787, and appeared at the King's Theatre,
March 24, as Gelinda, in Paisiello's 'Gli
Sohiavi per amore,' and afterwards in other
comic operas, but she soon abandoned the
Italian for the English stage, on which she
made her first appearance at Drury Lane,
Nov. 24, 1789, in her brother's opera, 'The
Haunted Tower,' and for several years afterwards
sustained, with the greatest success, a
variety of characters in comic opera. In 1791
she sang at the Handel Festival in Westminster
Abbey, and in 1792 at Hereford Festival. [She
fprmed an intimacy with Braham, and toured
with him on the Continent.] In 1801 she was
engaged at Covent Garden, where she continued
to perform till May 30, 1808, when she took
her leave of the public in the opera of 'The
Cabinet.' She lived at Dulwich until her
death, August 24, 1817, and was buried at St.
Mary's, Lambeth. She accumulated a considerable
fortune, and by her will, dated August 10,
1797 (twentyyears before herdeath), bequeathed
upwards of £1 1, 000 in pecuniary legacies alone,
including two munificent gifts of £1000 each
to the old Musical Fund (Royal Society of
Musicians) and New Musical Fund. This will
was proved Oct. 11, 1817, the personalty being
sworn under £50,000. It was said in 1820
that after payment of all the legacies, there
remained but little short of £40,000 for her
cousin. Miss Trusler, the residuary legatee.
Her studious concealment, after her return to
England, of her marriage, is evidenced by her
having made her will in her maiden name and
avoided any description in it of her quality
or condition, and also by the fact that her
executor, in proving the will, describes her as a
spinster. [A miniature of her is in the Soane
Museum.] w. h. h.
STORACE, Stephen, brother of the preceding,
was born in London, Jan. 4, 1763.
His early taste for music was cultivated by his
father, so that when ten years old he was able
to perform the most difificnlt violin music of
Tartini and Giardini—the Paganinis of the
day—with correctness and steadiness. When
twelve years old he was placed in the Conservatorio
of St. Onofrio at Naples, where he
studied the harpsichord, violin, and composition.
On his sister's arrival in Italy, a few
years later, he joined her and visited with her
the principal cities of that country, and eventually
went to Vienna, where he produced his
two operas, ' Gli Sposi malcontenti ' (June 1,
1785) and 'Gli Equivoci,' the subject taken
from Shakespeare's ' Comedy of Errors, 'Dec. 27,
1786. He gained great advantage whilst there
from his association with Mozart. [He wrote,
no doubt, during his Viennese period, two
quintets and a sestet. Many amusing stories
of Storace and his sister are told in Michael
Kelly's Jieminiscences,'\ In March 1787 he returned
to England and was engaged to superintend
the production of the opera in which his sister
appeared at the King's Theatre, but soon became
disgusted with the prevalent petty jealousies
and intrigues, and retired for a time to Bath,
where he devoted his attention to drawing, for
which he had considerable talent. He returned
to his musical pursuits in the ensuing year,
and on Oct. 25, 1788, produced at Drury Lane
the musical farce of 'The Doctor and the
Apothecary,' adapting some of the well-known
'Doctor und der Apotheker' of Dittersdorf.
On Nov. 24, 1789, he brought out his threeact
opera, 'The Haunted Tower,' the success
of which was unbounded ; it was performed
fifty nights in the first season and kept its
place upon the stage for nearly half a century.
On April 16, 1790, he produced his charming
little opera, No Song no Supper,' ' in which he
introduced some of the music of ' Gli Equivoci.'
[In the same year he wrote music for La
'
Cameriera Astuta.'] Jan. 1, 1791, witnessed
the production of the opera, The ' Siege of
Belgrade,' in which he introduced much of the
music of Martini's 'La Cosa rara.' This also
long continued an established favourite. On
May 3, in the same year, he produced the Cave
'
of 'Trophoniu.s,' an adaptation of Salieri's 'La
Grotta di Trofonio,' with some additional music
by himself, but with no success. He fared
better when, on Nov. 20, 1792, he brought
out 'The Pirates,' in which he incorporated
several pieces from 'Gli Equivoci.' The finale
to the first act is regarded as his masterpiece.
In the same year he produced his opera, ' Dido,
Queen of Carthage,' which met with but small
success, notwithstanding that the heroine was
undertaken by Mara. 'The Prize,' musical
entertainment, first performed on his sister's
benefit night, March 11, 1793; 'My Grandmother,'
musical farce, produced Dec. 16, 1793 ;
'
Lodoiska,' musical romance, the music partly
adapted from Cherubini and Kreutzer, and
partly composed by himself, performed June 9,