Talk:Stephen Storace

Dates

Birthdate differs from Find-A-Grave. Lincher 03:09, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Expanded

I've expanded this article considerably, and made a number of corrections, as follows: - "Doktor und Apotheker" is a work by Dittersdorf, not by Storace. Storace was only the "arranger" for some performances of it in an "English" version. - Storace's most important work, "Dido, Queen Of Carthage" was missing from the article entirely - presumably because it wasn't known to the original author, as no copy has survived (it is known only from theatrebills of the period) - Storace didn't die during rehearsals for "The Iron Chest", as he completed the work - he was already working on "Mahmoud, Prince Of Persia" when he died (the latter work is also omitted from the article) - I've added a lot of biographical detail, mined from Kelly's "Musical Reminiscences" years ago - I no longer have a copy of that book, nor do I have the time to be able to track-down all the info a second time. Reiner Torheit 11:48, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Can I ask if that is all your own work- if it is can you say what are the sources for the information? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 17:53, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Almost all the information is taken from Michael Kelly's "Musical Reminscisences", which is the main primary source material about the Storace operas (Kelly himself was the leading tenor in all of Storace's works). I have left all of the original material from Encyclopaedia Brittanica, which made-up the entire article before my editReiner Torheit 08:12, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I deleted the incorrect information about Nancy Storace having been pregnant at the premiere of "I sposi malcontenti" and giving birth to a still-born child. This is wrong and has been corrected in the recent literature.--Suessmayr 05:44, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

I corrected information regarding Stephen's arrival in Vienna. He did not travel there with his sister in 1784, (Nancy arrived with her mother in Vienna in January of 1783), as he was in England settling his father's affairs. Stephen arrived in Vienna in late 1784 after being commissioned to compose an Italian opera for the Burgtheater stage.--Wanze9 22:24, 16 October 2009 (CST)

I inserted information regarding Nancy's arranged marriage to the English violinist/composer John Fisher, who was later banished by Emperor Joseph II for beating Nancy. I also reinserted information about Nancy's pregnancy which a previous user deleted, and I corrected the information. Nancy was indeed pregnant at the premiere of "I sposi malcontenti" and gave birth to a baby girl a few weeks later. The child was not stillborn, but was given to a Viennese foundling home by Elizabeth Storace, where the child died a month later. Wanze9 22:31, 16 October 2009 (CST)

I removed information regarding rumors of Nancy's being Emperor Joseph II's mistress, as these claims are completely unsubstantiated and there is no evidence for this whatsoever. It is more likely that Nancy and her brother left Vienna at the height of their success under intense pressure from Elizabeth Storace, who was homesick for England, and wanted to return. I also removed information stating that she had fallen into "disfavor" with the Emperor, for that is completely false given the fact that at the time of her departure she was already in negotiations with Rosenberg-Orsini, (the Burgtheater director), to return to Vienna for the 1788/89 season. --Wanze9 23:03, 16 October 2009 (CST)

Glaring errors

I just corrected several glaring errors in just one paragraph and added two references from reliable sources. The article had stated:

1795 saw Storace produce the boldest of his operatic projects, Dido, Queen Of Carthage - modelled on the play by Christopher Marlowe. This was the only all-sung opera Storace produced in English - all his other works had spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. His sister - who may have been biased, since the piece was written to display her vocal talents in the title role - regarded it as Stephen's finest work. However, for whatever reason, the piece proved unpopular with the public, and was withdrawn after a short run. The music was not thought worth printing commercially, with the result that not a note of this opera now survives, nor were any solo numbers from it printed separately.

Please see Dido, Queen of Carthage (opera) which I have recently created:

1. The opera premiered in 1792 not 1795
2. It is not based on a play by Christopher Marlowe, but on Metastasio's Didone abbandonata
3. Nancy Storace did not sing the title role. It was sung by Gertrud Elisabeth Mara

This article has virtually no references and appears to be written like an essay with a considerable amount of personal conjecture masquerading as "fact". I wonder how many other serious errors it contains. Voceditenore (talk) 23:09, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

pronunciation of Storace

Italian Surname, with an Italian born father, but born in England of an English mother. How was the surname pronounced in England? Yes, in Italian it would be <store 'A che> --- I know, not proper academic phonetic symbols--- but I am guesssing that in England the name would be pronounced in English as <'store uhs> . His parents didn't give him (or his sister, Nancy) an Italian first name. If they wanted Storace to be pronounced in something resembling Italian, I am guessing that they would have altered the spelling to something like Storachay or Storache. I know of examples of that type of respelling within my own lifetime. 68.71.8.54 (talk) 10:36, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

I've replied to this remark on the talk page for Nancy Storace. Opus33 (talk) 21:08, 10 March 2013 (UTC)