Women's History Month - Ann "Nancy" Storace: A Woman Who Made Theater History

Although opera and musical theater were very popular forms of entertainment in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the women who took up the profession of acting were considered little more than common prostitutes. Many, if not most of them were pretty girls who came from lower class poor families and saw a way to get out of poverty by acting on the stage. If they were lucky, they'd capture the attention of some nobleman and become his mistress and he, in turn, would make her a star. Few had any formal education, and most were illiterate. If they landed a wealthy, noble patron, they could be the beneficiary of learning to read, and sometimes they would be sent to "finishing school" where they'd receive lessons in singing and perhaps playing the fortepiano, and sometimes acting.

When Nancy Storace arrived from London in Naples, Italy in 1778 at the age of 13, she already had the benefit of a formal education with studies in several languages, including Latin, Italian, and French as well as extensive training in singing and a formal musical education that included theory and composition, playing the fortepiano, harpsichord, and guitar, as well as study of the popular operatic literature of the time. Her father, Stepfano, was a musician and the director of the theater orchestra at the Marylebone Pleasure Gardens in London. Nancy's mother's family had been the proprietors of the gardens for years and had established themselves as one of the wealthiest and most successful educated working class families in London. When Leopold Mozart brought his wife and two young children, Nannerl and Wolfgang to London in 1764, they met Stefano Storace, who gave young Wolfgang lessons on the bass violin and pointers on composing for theatrical orchestras. Stefano was impressed with the Mozart children and the manner in which they were educated and he was determined to raise his children in the same way. His son, Stephen, was only two years old at the time and Nancy arrived in October of 1765. Like the Mozart children, both Stephen and Nancy displayed prodigious musical abilities.

After a successful performance tour of Italy, Nancy landed a prestigious position as the prima buffa of the newly-formed Italian Opera Company which was housed in the Burgtheater of the court of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna, Austria. Nancy was the highest-paid performer in all of Europe at the age of 17, and was celebrated for her intelligent and informed acting as well as her musical skill and education, which was
virtually unheard of for a woman of the theater in her time. It was there that she captured the attention of Wolfgang Mozart who was interested in composing an Italian comic opera that would showcase the popular singer. It was in 1786 that Nancy premiered the role of Susanna in Mozart's comic opera "Le Nozze di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro). Susanna has since been regarded as the quintessential Mozart soprano role. It is no secret that Mozart admired her for her intelligence and her professionalism, and when she returned to London in early 1787, he wanted to go with her.

After her return to London, she starred on the stages of Drury Lane and Covent Garden in her brother's operas, which were all composed especially for her. Her professional stage career ended when she retired in 1803, having been regarded as the first truly professional stage actress who won her acclaim and recognition through her own merits, skill, and efforts. She died a wealthy woman at her country estate in Dulwich on August 24, 1817 and was regarded as one of London's most beloved and respected singers and stage actresses of all time.

© K. Lynette Erwin, 2014

Irish tenor, Michael Kelly: Mozart's original Don Basilio and Don Curzio

Looming large in the Mozart and Storace stories is the Irish tenor, Michael Kelly. Born December 25th, 1762, Kelly first met Stephen and Nancy Storace when he was 18 years old at the harbor in Liverno, Italy. Kelly recounted in his Remininscences that Nancy, upon seeing his long, flowing locks of blond hair, mistook him for a girl and shouted out loud, "Look at that girl dressed in boy's clothes!" In typical flamboyant Michael Kelly fashion, he turned to her with a flourish and replied, "You are mistaken, Miss, for I am a very proper he animal and quite at your service!" He stated that the incident embarked them upon a friendship that lasted their entire lives. It was actually Kelly who first called Ann Storace,"Nancy" and it became the name that history remembered her by. Kelly later traveled with his friend, Nancy Storace, to Vienna in January of 1783 where they had been hired as premiere singers in Emperor Joseph II's brand new Italian Opera Company. It was during their time in Vienna that they met and befriended Wolfgang Mozart and later starred in his comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro. In February of 1787, the Storaces and Kelly returned together to London, where they finished out the rest of their careers together in London's theaters and opera houses in Covent Garden and Drury Lane.

In Mozart legend, Kelly was known as the creator of the part of the "stuttering judge" in The Marriage of Figaro, named Don Curzio. Kelly recounted that he and Mozart actually had words over his giving the judge a stutter. Mozart objected, fearing that it took away from the music. However, Kelly won the argument because of the audience's favorable response to the hilarious effect, and so it stayed. Consequently, the part of Don Curzio has always been played with a stutter.

Kelly played a double role in Figaro. In addition to the stuttering Don Curzio, he also played the lecherous music instructor, Don Basilio. The following is a performance of Basilio's rarely performed Act IV aria, "In quegl'anni, in cui val poco".

© K. Lynette Erwin, 2014

Indie Author News: Featured Indie Book: So Faithful a Heart (K. Lynet...

Indie Author News: Featured Indie Book: So Faithful a Heart (K. Lynet...: Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News : Historical Romance So Faithful a Heart (Special Edition) by K. Lynette Erwin. "So Fait...

The Research Behind the "So Faithful a Heart" Novel Series

My Anna Storace Website was created as a companion website for my Master's thesis/project on Anna "Nancy" Storace in 2000. This contains the results of the research I did on her at that time. This was the project that launched the 8 additional years of research that I put in to create my novel series entitled, So Faithful a Heart.

It was the view of the late Mozart historian, Alfred Einstein, that more existed between Mozart and Storace than what previous or current Mozart scholarship presented and I later learned that he based this belief on the transcripts of Nancy Storace's death inquest which brought up a visit to her estate in July of 1817 from "two German men" who were looking for some "letters from Vienna". Nancy was so upset by their visit that she suffered a stroke that same day and died as the result of complications several weeks later. It was later revealed that these two "German men" were sent by none other than Constanze Mozart's second husband, Georg Nissen. They were in the process of gathering and confiscating any and all information, letters, and artifacts that pertained to Mozart. This is most compelling because Constanze and Nissen were known to destroy any evidence that might show her or her late husband Wolfgang Mozart, in a bad or compromising light. Nancy's son (by the English tenor John Braham), later wrote to their good friend John Soane (famous English architect), that he may have inadvertently helped Nancy to destroy the letters, which he believed were from Mozart on that very same day that the "German men" came to their home, as she was going through some old papers and letters and burning them.

One of my major resources for my original research was a biography of Nancy (the only biography about her), entitled Anna Susanna: Mozart's Original Susanna, Her Life & Times, by an English musical layman by the name of Geoffrey Brace. Brace stated at the outset that he wasn't of the same opinion as Einstein about the Mozart/Storace relationship and that in his biography he wanted to separate her from Mozart and bring her to light on her own. It was a good basic resource and outline of her life, but in trying to prove his thesis, Brace intentionally left out the whole incident with the two German men as the major factor in the stroke that would lead to her death and he left out the inquest in which Nancy's maid testified to the incident, which was considered a major factor in her death. He also left out the letters between Nancy's son Spencer and Sir John Soane which discussed the incident. It was the current English conductor and Mozart historian, Jane Glover, whose research on the Storaces brought these things back to light. It was Glover who stated in her book Mozart's Women, that Mozart instructed Da Ponte to create the character of Susanna as a mirror image of Nancy Storace. She wouldn't go as far as to say that Mozart was in love with Nancy, as Alfred Einstein did, but she did say that Mozart was in love with Susanna and that Susanna was Mozart's "ideal woman".

© K. Lynette Erwin, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day From Cherubino

There's Nothing Like Mozart to Draw a Crowd

I live and work in a small community that is home to a major state university. While our university is large, and does have active and thriving arts and humanities departments, it is not known for them. It is primarily an agricultural university with a very large and popular sports program, especially when it comes to football and basketball. Right now we are in the middle of basketball season and I can tell you that on home game days, there is not a parking place to be found anywhere near or on campus. The town is almost literally shut down with the traffic. That's why it's so remarkable that while all of this is going on, one can still walk into the Seretean Center (which houses the music and theater departments), on a Friday night and find the large concert hall nearly packed out for an uncut student performance of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, sung in Italian, presented by the Oklahoma State University Music Department students and faculty.

I can also tell you that this production was one of the finest student productions of Figaro, that I have ever experienced, and believe me, I have seen many productions of Figaro, both professional and student. And in many respects, this student performance rivaled some of the professional productions that I have not only

seen, but in which I have performed. The orchestra was superb, the Italian diction was impeccable (and those Mozart recitatives are a bear), the singing and acting were magnificent. Although they were all outstanding, the standout performances for me were given by senior voice major, Bill Sheets as Count Almaviva, senior voice major, Lydia Bechtel, as Mozart's darling Susanna, and sophomore voice major, Brittany Wright, who charmed and delighted us all as the lovesick Cherubino. And special kudos to the principal bassoonist, Zac Bohanan, who carried off one of the most difficult and active bassoon parts in all of opera with professional finesse.

One other thing that this performance tells me: Opera is not dead. If you could have been in that concert hall last night and experienced the utter delight of that audience, heard the laughter, the cheering, the "Bravos" and "Bravas", the enthusiastic applause, and seen the energy, professionalism, and excitement of the

performers, there would be no doubt in your mind that as long as there are people who keep performing opera, there will be an audience. I have never known anything by Mozart that doesn't draw a crowd.

Bravo, OSU Music Department! You absolutely delighted this lover of Mozart!

P.S. For any locals who want to catch this performance, it is also being played tonight (Saturday, February 8th), with a second cast at the OSU Seretean Center concert hall. Curtain is at 7:30. General admission tickets are only $8.00 and $6.00 for senior citizens. Such a low price for such quality entertainment.

Photo Credit: S.K. Waller

UPDATE 2/9/14: We decided to attend the Saturday night performance so that we could see it with the second cast. Special recognition goes to Bernardo Medeiros for his outstanding performance in the title role of Figaro and to Renae Perry for her hilarious rendition of Marcellina. Well-done!

© K. Lynette Erwin, 2014