A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ferlendis, Signora

FERLENDIS, Signora, daughter of an architect named Barberi, born at Rome about 1778. Her voice was a strong contralto, but somewhat hard and inflexible. Having studied with a teacher called Moscheri, she made her debut at Lisbon. Here she had the advantage of some lessons from Crescentini, and here also (1802) she married Alessandro Ferlendis, the oboist, member of a very distinguished Italian family of players on the oboe and English horn. She appeared at Madrid in the next year, at Milan in 1804, and in 1805 at Paris (Théâtre Louvois) in Fioravanti's 'Capricciosa pentita.' She achieved there, however, no success in any other rôle but that one. Soon after this, she made her first appearance in London with Catalani in Cimarosa's 'Orazzi e Curiazzi.' She was 'a pretty good actress, and at that time first buffa; she was less liked than she deserved, for she had a very good contralto voice, and was far from a bad buffa. She would have been thought, too, to have acted the part of Orazzia well, had it not been for the comparison with Grassini, and for Catalani's then eclipsing everybody.' (Lord Mount-Edgcumbe.) She accompanied her husband to Italy in 1810; her later career is not known.

[ J. M. ]