Income and Ownership: The case of British opera singer, Anna Selina Storace (1765-1817)

While today, Anna Selina Storace (1765-1817) is best remembered has having premiered the role of Susannah in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, she was one of the most celebrated opera singers in Georgian England. She performed throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century in London and on the continent, particularly with her long-term romantic partner, John Braham (c.1774-1856). Like many opera singers, Storace’s income was frequently reported on in public newspapers, with the fee for her farewell concert in Vienna said to amount of 4000 gulden profit (Steptoe, 1987: 197). What exactly was Storace spending her money on? Detailed records written by Storace and held by the John Soane Museum, London provide an inventory of her possessions. Furthermore, she insured her personal belongings with Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance company, revealing the value she placed on her belongings. Such records are significant as Storace considered herself an unmarried ‘spinster’ who had the right to her own property, and possessions. In this paper, I will discuss the extravagant fees the media reported she earned, and what exactly Storace owned and how she valued it, with the aim of providing more insight into where exactly an opera singer’s earnings were spent. As such, the paper will provide insight into the cultural economy of eighteenth-century Britain, and how highly paid, such as Storace, opera singers contributed to it.