A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Mingotti, Regina
MINGOTTI, Regina, a very celebrated singer, whose family name was Valentini, was born at Naples, of German parents, in 1728. Her father, an officer in the Austrian service, being ordered to Grätz in Silesia in the same year, took his daughter with him. Here he died, leaving her to the care of an uncle, who placed her in the Ursuline Convent, where she received her first instruction in music. At the age of 14, however, she lost her uncle by death, and the pension which ensured her an asylum with the nuns ceased with his life. Compelled to return to her family, she spent some time very unhappily.
In order to escape from this miserable life, though still a mere child, she married Mingotti, an old Venetian musician, impresario of the Dresden opera. Perceiving all the advantage that might be derived from the great gifts of his young wife, Mingotti placed her at once under the tuition of Porpora, where she made rapid progress in her art. From a slender salary, she soon rose to receiving more considerable pay, while her growing popularity aroused the jealousy of a powerful and established rival, the celebrated Faustina, who actually vacated the field and left Dresden for Italy. Soon afterwards the younger singer went also to Italy, and obtained a lucrative engagement at Naples. There she appeared with great éclat (1748) in Galuppi's 'L'Olimpiade,' astonishing the Italians no less by the purity of her pronunciation than by the beauty of her voice and style. Engagements were immediately offered her for many of the great Italian operas, but she refused all in order to return to Dresden, where she was already engaged. Here she played again in 'L'Olimpiade' with enormous success. Faustina and her husband, Hasse the composer, were also now again in Dresden; and Burney tells an anecdote which, if true, shows that their jealous feeling towards Mingotti had not ceased. According to this story, which he had from the lips of Mingotti herself, Hasse composed a new air specially for the young singer, which she was to sing in his 'Demofoonte' (1748). In spite of her success in brilliant music, it was still supposed that she was incapable of singing a slow and pathetic air. Accordingly, Hasse had written for her an interesting Adagio, with which she was much taken, till she noticed that the accompaniment was for violins, pizzicati, probably with the intention of leading her to sing out of tune for want of proper support. By dint of study, however, she mastered the difficulty, and sang the song in such a way as to convert her detractors to admiration. From Dresden she went to Spain (1751), where she sang with Gizziello in the operas directed by Farinelli, who was so strict a disciplinarian that he would not allow her to sing anywhere but at the Opera, nor even to practise in a room that looked on the street! Burney illustrates this with another anecdote, too long to quote here.
After spending two years in Spain, Mingotti went to Paris, and thence to London for the first time. Her arrival here retrieved the fortunes of the opera in England, which were in a languishing condition. In November, 1755, Jommelli's 'Andromaca' was performed, but 'a damp was thrown on its success by the indisposition of Mingotti' (Burney). She told that writer, indeed, in 1772, 'that she was frequently hissed by the English for having a tooth-ache, a cold, or a fever, to which the good people of England will readily allow every human being is liable, except an actor or a singer.' She seems to have been a very accomplished singer and actress; her only fault, if she had one, being a little want of feminine grace and softness.
Her contentions with Vaneschi, the manager, occasioned as many private quarrels and feuds as the disputes about Handel and Buononcini, Gluck and Piccinni, or Mara and Todi. Mingotti addressed a letter 'to the town,' but in such cases 'not a word which either party says is believed' (Burney). As the story goes, on one occasion, Mrs. Fox Lane, afterwards Lady Bingley, a zealous friend and protectress of Mingotti, having asked the Hon. General Carey his decided opinion as to the disputes between her protégée and Vaneschi; the General, after listening patiently to her long statement of the casus belli, at length retorted 'And pray, ma'am, who is Madam Mingotti?' 'Get out of my house,' answered the incensed lady, 'you shall never hear her sing another note at my concerts, as long as you live.' Vaneschi gave way, and Mingotti (with Giardini) carried the same company through the next winter with great éclat,—but little profit, in spite of appearances; and, after this season, the new managers gave up the undertaking.
At the close of the season of 1763, Signora Mattei left England, and Giardini and Mingotti again resumed the reins of opera-government, and Mingotti sang in 'Cleonice' ('in the decline of her favour'—Burney), 'Siroe,' 'Enea e Lavinia,' and 'Leucippe e Zenocrita.' And here the reign of Giardini and Mingotti seems to have ended, after an inauspicious season (Burney). She afterwards sang with considerable success in the principal cities of Italy, but she always regarded Dresden as her home, during the life of the Elector Augustus. In 1772 she was settled at Munich, living comfortably, well received at court, and esteemed by all such as were able to appreciate her understanding and conversation. It gave Dr. Burney 'great pleasure to hear her speak concerning practical music, which she did with as much intelligence as any maestro di Capella with whom he ever conversed. Her knowledge in singing, and powers of expression, in different styles, were still amazing. She spoke three languages, German, French, and Italian, so well that it was difficult to say which of them was her own. 'English she likewise spoke, and Spanish, well enough to converse in them, and understood Latin; but, in the three languages first mentioned, she was truly eloquent.' She afterwards played and sang to him 'for near four hours,' when he thought her voice better than when she was in England.
In 1787 Mingotti retired to Neuborg on the Danube, where she died in 1807, at the age of 79. Her portrait in crayons, by Mengs, is in the Dresden Gallery. It represents her, when young, with a piece of music in her hand; and, if faithful, it makes her more nearly beautiful than it was easy for those who knew her later in life to believe her ever to have been. 'She is painted in youth, plumpness, and with a very expressive countenance.' The dog in Hogarth's 'Lady's last stake' is said to be a portrait of Mingotti's dog. [J. M.]