A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Baroness, The

BARONESS, THE, an artist of German origin, as is supposed, who sang in the operas abroad and in London, and was known by no other name. She sang the part of Lavinia, in the opera of 'Camilla,' by Buononcini (Drury Lane, 1706), and that of Eurilla in 'Love's Triumph,' at the Haymarket, some time afterwards. She was a perfect mistress of the grandest method of singing, an art which was even then becoming rare, and she shared that proud pre-eminence with but a few such singers, as Cornelio Galli, Tosi, and Siface. She took a great part, with Sandoni, in the teaching and cultivation of Anastasia Robinson, so far as that singer would submit to receive any instruction at all; being herself, at the same time, engaged at the Opera, and 'greatly caressed,' as Hawkins informs us. Her name must not be confounded with that of Hortensia, the mistress of Stradella, as was done by Humfrey Wanley, the compiler of the Harleian Catalogue, relying on the information of his friend Berenclow; for that unfortunate lady was, according to the best accounts, assassinated at the same time with her lover.

[ J. M. ]