View source for Anna Maria Strada

{{Short description|Italian soprano}}
[[File:Anna Maria Strada (Johannes Verelst 1732).jpg|thumb|Anna Maria Strada by [[John Verelst]] (circa 1732)]]
[[Image:Anna Maria Strada.jpg|thumb|Caricature of Anna Strada by [[Antonio Maria Zanetti]]]]

'''Anna Maria Strada''', also known as '''Anna Maria Strada del Pò''', (* 1703 in [[Bergamo]]; † July 20, 1775 in [[Naples]]) was an Italian [[soprano]].  She is best remembered for her association with the composer [[George Frideric Handel]], in whose [[operas]] Strada sang.

==Career==
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After an initial career in [[Italy]] that included performances at [[Venice]] — in  [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]]'s opera ''[[La verità in cimento]]'' (1720) — [[Milan]], and [[Livorno]], Strada moved to [[London]] in 1729 to sing for Handel after the composer engaged her for his operas. She made her début as Adelaida in ''[[Lotario (Handel)|Lotario]]'' and was ''prima donna'' in all his operas and [[oratorio]]s until 1737.  She sang in a minimum of 24 of Handel's operas and the [[opera-ballet]] ''[[Terpsicore]]'', a new prologue to a revision of ''[[Il pastor fido]]''. Her roles included Angelica in ''[[Orlando (opera)|Orlando]]'', the title role in ''[[Partenope]]'', Elmira in ''[[Sosarme]]'', Thusnelda in ''[[Arminio]]'', and Ariadne in ''[[Giustino (Handel)|Giustino]]'', and the title role of [[Atalanta (opera)|Atalanta]]. 

Strada was the only singer of Handel's company who did not defect to the rival [[Opera of the Nobility]] in 1733, and in 1732 had turned down the opportunity to sing for [[Giovanni Bononcini]]. She left London, however, in 1738 and returned to Italy, where she sang at [[Naples]] and [[Turin]] before her 
retirement to Bergamo.<ref name="Grove">Grove</ref>

==Contemporary evaluations==
18th-century music historian [[Charles Burney]] described Strada thus:{{cquote|A singer formed by himself [Handel], and modelled on his own melodies.  She came hither a coarse and awkward singer with improvable talents, and he at last polished her into reputation and favour … Strada’s personal charms did not assist her much in conciliating parties, or disposing the eye to augment the pleasures of the ear; for she had so little of a Venus in her appearance, that she was usually called the Pig.  However, by degrees she subdued all their prejudices, and sung herself into favour.<ref name="Grove"/>}}

Further evidence of Strada's unusual ugliness is provided by Mrs Pendarves — formerly known as [[Mary Granville]] and later Mrs Delany — a close friend of Handel.{{cquote|La Strada is the first woman; her voice is without exception fine, her manner perfection, but her person ''very bad'', and she makes ''frightful mouths''.<ref>Hogwood p.92</ref>}}

Poet and librettist Paolo Rolli described her as "a copy of [[Faustina Bordoni|Faustina]] with a better voice and better intonation, but without her charm and brio".  Her Handel parts reveal her vocal range to have been two octaves during the first part of her career, and the dramatic range required by these roles is varied.  While in Naples during the first part of her career, Strada married theatre manager and [[libretto|librettist]] Aurelio del Pò, reputedly because he owed her a large sum of money and married her as a substitute for payment.<ref name="Grove"/>

==Notes==
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==References==
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*Winton Dean: "Strada, Anna Maria", ''[[Grove Music Online]]'' ed L. Macy (Accessed 19 March 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041031/http://www.grovemusic.com/ |date=2008-05-16 }}, subscription access.
*Hogwood, Christopher. ''Handel'' (1988), Thames and Hudson, {{ISBN|0-500-27498-3}}.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strada, Anna Maria}}
[[Category:1700s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Italian operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:Musicians from Bergamo]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian women opera singers]]