Stephen Samuel Stratton

Nicolo Paganini Stephen Samuel Stratton

Dr. Burney, in his account of Italian Opera in London during the last half of the eighteenth century, names a Signor and Signora Paganini as engaged for the season of 1760-61. They came from Berlin, and the Doctor is ungallant enough to say that the lady, known as "The Paganini," was not young. She made her début on November 22, 1760, in Galuppi's "Il Mondo della Luna," in a buffa part, and was very captivating. At her benefit, when another opera by Galuppi was given-"Il Filosofo di Campagna,"-such a crowd assembled as had never been seen on any other occasion. Not one third of those who presented themselves at the Opera-house were able to obtain admission. "Caps were lost, and gowns torn to pieces, without number or mercy, in the struggle to get in.