THE Royal Academy of Music's final years were and are notorious for the rivalry between the two greatest sopranos of the age and the scandal it provoked. Faustina Bordoni's engagement for London had been projected as early as 30 March 1723, ‘as soon as Cuzzoni's Time is up’ in the words of The London Journal, only a few weeks after Cuzzoni's arrival. Competition was not then in view. The two nightingales held sway together without apparent casualty in C. F. Pollarolo's Ariodante in Venice in 1718, since when Faustina had won increasing fame in Italy. She had strong support from Owen Swiney, the Academy's agent there, through whom she was contracted in June 1725. According to Hawkins, Handel had had enough of Cuzzoni's ‘rebellious spirit’ and wanted to get rid of her. However, Riva's letter to Muratori of 7 September 1725, quoted below, implies that both singers were engaged for three seasons. The London Journal stated on 4 September that Faustina was ‘to rival Signiora Cuzzoni’ for a salary of ￡2,500. It is not clear whether this was supposed to cover one, two or three seasons. In any case it was probably a guess. Different figures have been quoted, but it seems likely that Cuzzoni, Faustina and Senesino were each paid something in the region of 1,500 guineas for a season; and they may have received as much again from benefits. The equivalent today would be astronomical.

Faustina arrived in March 1726 after an engagement in Vienna and made her debut on 5 May in Handel's Alessandro, the last opera of the season. Odious comparisons were soon afoot. Antonio Cocchi heard Faustina for the first time on 12 May and considered her ‘far inferior to Cuzzoni’, an impression he confirmed on a second visit. On 20 May the directors banned the practice of allowing privileged persons on the stage during performances (it had been forbidden before but had crept back), a wise precaution in view of what was to follow.