Aguiari or Agujari, Lucrezia

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Aguiari or Agujari, Lucrezia

Aguiari or Agujari, Lucrezia, brilliant Italian soprano, known as La Bastardina and La Bastardella on account of her being the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman; b. Ferrara, 1743; d. Parma, May 18, 1783. She received vocal training from the Abbot Lambertini. In 1764 she made her debut with notable success in Florence. In 1768 she was made a court singer in Parma, where Mozart heard her in 1770 and was greatly impressed by the beauty of her voice and its phenomenal compass, which embraced 3 octaves (C1- C4). In 1775–76 she sang at the Pantheon in London. She created leading roles in several operas by the Italian composer Giuseppe Colla, whom she married in 1780.

Bibliography

G. Vetro, L. A., la “Bastardella” (Parma, 1993).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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