Cornelys, T(h)eresa (née Imer)

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Cornelys, T(h)eresa (née Imer)

Cornelys, T(h)eresa (née Imer) , colorful Italian singer; b. Venice, 1723; d. London, Aug. 19, 1797. After making her debut in Venice (c. 1741), she pursued her career in Vienna, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and the Low Countries; while in the latter, she married the dancer Pompeati but generally used the professional name of Cornelys. In 1746 she made her London debut in Gluck’s Caduta de’ giganti. In 1759 she settled in London, where she received the support of Casanova, with whom she was intimate. In 1760 she began giving concerts at Carlisle House in Soho Square, but these came to an inglorious end when she was indicted in 1771 for running an establishment of ill repute. She was convicted and spent her remaining years in the Fleet Street prison, being survived by a daughter born out of wedlock to Casanova. Although her contemporaries considered her a gifted singer, her reputation suffered as a result of the vagaries of her private life.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Cornelys, T(h)eresa (née Imer)

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