Her pure soprano had a range of three
octaves, from A to A, with flute-like upper tones. She sang with
neatness, agility and precision, could detect the least false intonation
of instrument or voice, and was attractive in appearance. Haydn
eulogized her genius in his diary, and in the studio of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, who was painting her portrait as St. Cecilia, exclaimed: "You
have represented Mrs. Billington listening to the angels, you should
have made them listening to her." It was she who introduced Mozart's
operas into England. She only lived to be forty-eight, breaking down in
1818, from the effects of brutal treatment of her second husband, a
Frenchman, named Felissent.
Last of the eighteenth century queens of song was Angelica Catalani,
born some forty miles from Rome in 1779, destined by her father, a
local magistrate, for the cloister, and borne beyond its walls by her
magnificent voice, with its compass of three octaves, from G to G. She
is described as a tall, fair woman with a splendid presence, large blue
eyes, features of perfect symmetry and a winning smile.
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