Caterina Gabrielli

Caterina Gabrielli (12 November 1730 – 16 February or 16 April 1796), born Caterina Fatta, was an Italian coloratura singer. She was the most important soprano of her age. A woman of great personal charm and dynamism, Charles Burney referred to her as "the most intelligent and best-bred virtuosa" that he had ever encountered. The excellence of her vocal artistry is reflected in the fact that she was able to secure long-term engagements in three of the most prestigious operatic centers in her day outside of Italy (Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London).

Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome. With the support of the prince, she studied with García and Porpora and at the L'Ospedaletto conservatory in Venice, and as a sign of gratitude she decided to assume her patron's surname as her stage name. Her humble roots were remembered by audiences in her nickname La cochetta ("little cook"), which was actually recorded in the librettos published for her early appearances at the Teatro San Moisè in Venice during the 1754–55 operatic season.

In 1747 she sang at the theater of Lucca in Sofonisba by Baldassare Galuppi and in 1750 she appeared in Niccolò Jommelli's Didone. Her first distinguished season of singing was in Venice in 1754–55. She was then hired by the imperial court of Vienna and sang in a serious of dramatic works of various types written by Christoph Willibald von Gluck: La danza (1755), Le cinesi (1755), L'innocenza giustificata (1755), and Il re pastore (1756). She also appeared in two sacred works of Georg Christoph Wagenseil: Gioas re ti Giuda (1755) and Il roveto di Mosè (1756). She flourished in Italy for the remainder of the 1750s, notably appearing in the world premieres of Pasquale Errichelli's Siroe (1758, Emira) and Gaetano Latilla's Ezio (1758, Fulvia).

...
Wikipedia