A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ferrarese del Bene

FERRARESE DEL BENE, the sobriquet of Francesca Gabrielli, an Italian singer, native of Ferrara. When Burney was in Venice, in Aug. 1770, he heard at the Ospedaletto an orphan girl la Ferrarese with an 'extraordinary compass' and a 'fair natural voice.' She sang in London from 1784 to 87 in Cherubim's 'Giulio Sabino' and other parts, but without much success. In 1789 she was prima donna in Vienna. Mozart wrote for her the Rondo 'Al desio,' introduced into the part of the Countess in Figaro on its revival Aug. 89, and she played Fiordiligi in 'Cosi fan tutte' at its production Jan. 26, 90. Mozart did not think much of her, for in speaking of Allegrandi he says, 'she is much better than the Ferrarese, though that is not saying a great deal.' She probably owed her good fortune to her pretty eyes and mouth, and to her intrigue with da Ponte, with whom she lived as his mistress for three years. In the end she quarrelled with the other singers, and was sent from Vienna by the Emperor.

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