very appropriately singing Statira to the Roxana of Cuzzoni.  Faustina’s amiable and unobtrusive character seems to have made her an unwilling participant in the quarrels into which circumstances forced her, and to have always deserved the eulogium pronounced by Apostolo Zeno on her departure from Vienna:  “But whatever good fortune she meets with, she merits it all by her courteous and polite manners, as well as talents, with which she has enchanted and gained the esteem and affection of the whole court.”  Throughout life a sweet temper and unspotted purity of character made her the idol of her friends as well as of the general public.  Faustina seems to have left London gladly, though her short career of two years there was a brilliant artistic success.  The scandalous bickerings and feuds through which she passed made her departure more of a pleasure to herself than to the lovers of music in turbulent London.

She returned to Venice in 1728, where she met Adolph Hasse, who was leader of the orchestra at the theatre in which she was engaged.  Faustina, in the full bloom of her loveliness, was more than ever the object of popular adulation; and many of the wealthy young nobles of Venice laid their names and fortunes at her feet.  But the charming singer had found her fate.  She and Hasse had fallen in love with each other at first sight, and Faustina was proof against the blandishments of the gilded youth of Italy.  Hasse was the most popular dramatic composer of the age, and had so endeared himself to the Italian public that he was known as “il caro Sassone,” a title which had also been previously given to Handel.  Hasse had commenced life as a tenor singer, but his talent for composition soon lifted him into a higher field of effort.  His first opera was produced at Brunswick, but its reception showed that he must yet master more of the heights and depths of musical science before attaining any deserved success.  So he proceeded to Italy, and studied under Porpora and Alessandro Scarlatti.  In a few years he became a celebrity, and the opera-houses of Italy eagerly vied with each other in procuring new works from his fecund talent.  Faustina, then at the zenith of her powers and charms, and Hasse, the most admired composer of the day, were congenial mates, and their marriage was not long delayed.

Of this composer a few passing words of summary may be interesting.  His career was one long success, and he wrote more than a hundred operas, besides a host of other compositions.  Few composers have had during their lifetime such world-wide celebrity, and of these few none are so completely forgotten now.  The facile powers of Hasse seem to have reflected the most genial though not the deepest influences of his time.  He had nothing in common with the grand German school then rising into notice, or with the simple majesty of the early Italian writers.  Himself originally a singer, and living in an age of brilliant singers, he was one of the first representatives