Rauzzini's First Season at the King's Theatre

After giving performances in Venice, Padua, and Turin in the spring and summer of 1774, Rauzzini arrived in London on September 19, 1774, well in advance of the beginning of the opera season. Rauzzini may have hoped that Britain would be the kind of “land of opportunity” that Haydn would describe to his biographer A. C. Dies some thirty years later. This proved to be the case, for Rauzzini made Britain his home until his death in 1810. Rauzzini did not arrive alone: the Public Advertiser records on September 22, 1774, that Caterina Schindlerin and the tenor Pasini had travelled with him. All three were scheduled to make their London debuts in the opere serie to be given at the King's Theatre. Schindlerin had been hired on Rauzzini's recommendation to replace the British-born soprano Cecilia Davies (ca. 1756–1836), the prima donna during the previous season. Davies was locked in a controversy over clauses in her proposed contract that would have prevented her from singing anywhere but at the King's Theatre. She declined to sing during the 1774–75 season, preferring to sue the management for compensation over lost income. As a result, Rauzzini was able to sing opposite his former student, someone whom he knew well and who would show him deference.

In addition to announcing the arrivals of Rauzzini, Schindlerin, and Pasini, the Public Advertiser published on September 22, 1774, the names of the entire company who had been engaged—ten singers in total—with three appearing in both comic and serious operas. From a modern perspective, presenting a full season of serious and comic operas with only ten soloists might seem foolhardy when there were few, if any, understudies. The distance from the Continent largely precluded emergency replacements if someone took ill, a situation that affected the beginning of the season. The list of singers was: (Serious Opera): First Man, Signor Rauzzini; First Woman, Signora Caterina Schindlerin; Tenor, Signor Pasini; Second Woman, Signora Farinella; Second Man, Signora Galli; Last Man, Signor Vincenzo Sestini. (Comic Opera): First Buffo, Signor Lovattini; Second Buffo, Signor Fochetti; First Buffa, Signora. Sestini; Second Buffa, Signora Giordani (La Spiletta); Serious Man, Signora Galli; Third Buffa, Signor Vincenzo Sestini; Serious Woman, Signora Farinella.