Franziska Dorothea Lebrunaus classic

Francesca Dorothea Lebrun-Danzi (* 24 March 1756 in Mannheim; † 14 May 1791 in Berlin), was a German opera singer (soprano) and composer.

Life

Francesca was the first child of the court musician Innocenz Danzi (c. 1730-1798). Like her brother Franz Ignaz Danzi, she initially received singing lessons from her father and learned to compose from Georg Joseph Vogler. Later she probably received singing lessons from the prima donna of the court opera Dorothea Wendling (née Spurni), perhaps also from the tenor Pietro Sarselli, who was a friend of the family. She became a member of the Mannheim court orchestra at the age of 16 and made her debut as Rosina in “L’amore artigiano” by Florian Leopold Gassmann in Schwetzingen, the summer residence of the electoral couple Karl Theodor and Elisabeth Auguste. In May 1778 she married her colleague Ludwig August Lebrun in London. With the transfer of Karl Theodor’s residence after the demise of the Bavarian Elector Maximilian III, the young couple moved with him to Munich and Franziska Lebrun made guest appearances at various well-known opera houses in Europe.

The singer was enthusiastically celebrated in Milan, Paris, London, Vienna, Prague, Naples, Munich and Berlin. The Lebrun couple’s perfectly coordinated instrumental and vocal artistry was particularly praised, and numerous composers paid tribute to it through arias with obbligato oboe, such as Ignaz Holzbauer in Günther von Schwarzburg (1777), Antonio Salieri in L’Europa riconosciuta (1778) or Georg Joseph Vogler in Castore e Polluce (1787). Musicologist Charles Burney wrote of the pair’s performances:

“Francesca Danzi and the excellent oboist Lebrun usually travel together, and it seems as though she has listened to nothing else than his instrument, for when they perform together in thirds and sixths one cannot hear which is the upper or the lower voice!”
– Charles Burney

Francesca Lebrun was one of the few recognised female composers at a time when women were more likely to pursue musical careers as singers or instrumental virtuosos. However, only a few of her works have survived, including several sonatas for violin and piano, which have since been made accessible to the wider public through various editions and recordings.

After the death of her husband in December 1790, she had two daughters to support. In order to secure her livelihood, Karl Theodor continued to pay her celebrated prima donna of the court opera her salary of 1,500 gulden, contrary to the court music statutes. She was unable to take up the engagement she had received in 1790 at the Royal Opera in Berlin. Franziska Lebrun died in Berlin on 14 May 1791.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Lebrun