Nancy Storace

Anna (or Ann) Selina Storace, known as Nancy Storace (Italian: [stoˈratʃe]; sto-RA-chay; 27 October 1765 – 24 August 1817), was an English operatic soprano. The role of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro was written for and first performed by her.

Born in London, her singing career as a child prodigy began in England by the age of 12. This led to further study in Italy and to a successful singing career there during the late 1770s. While in Venice in 1783, she was recruited to form part of Emperor Joseph II's new Italian opera company in Vienna, where the assembled singers who joined her "created in the two years leading up to the premiere of The Marriage of Figaro, were welded into the finest buffa ensemble anywhere."

In Vienna, she befriended both Mozart and Joseph Haydn. A sudden failure of her voice in 1785 caused her to withdraw from the stage for five months; though her career continued to be successful, she never fully recovered her former vocal prowess. After marrying in 1784, she left Vienna in 1787 and returned to London where she continued her career, notably singing in her brother Stephen Storace's operas. She remained in London, and by 1808, had retired from the stage. She died in 1817.

Nancy Storace's mother was Elizabeth Trusler, the daughter of the proprietor of Marylebone Gardens. Her father was Stefano Storace, an Italian who had emigrated to Ireland in 1750 and worked there as a double bass player until 1756. By 1759 he was performing in London; a reviewer called him "the first performer of his time on the double-bass". Storace also translated opera libretti from Italian into English, and arranged music for performance. Their older child Stephen Storace, who also achieved fame as a musician, was born in 1762.

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