Mingotti, Regina (née Valentini)
Mingotti, Regina (née Valentini)
Mingotti, Regina (née Valentini), Italian soprano; b. Naples, Feb. 16, 1722; d. Neuburg an der Donau, Oct. 1, 1808. She may have been the sister of the Italian composer Michelangelo Valentini. After training at a convent in Grätz in Silesia, she was a member of Pietro Mingotti’s opera troupe by 1746. Her first known appearance with the troupe was in II tempio di Melpomene in Hamburg on Jan. 31, 1747. She married Mingotti, but they soon parted company. In 1747 she so impressed the Saxon court in Dresden that she became a member of the court musical establishment and received training from Porpora. Her rivalry with Bordoni became celebrated. After singing in Naples, Prague, and Madrid (1751–53), she appeared in Paris and London (1754–55). With Giardini, she was co-manager of the King’s Theatre in London (1756–57; 1763–64). Her feuds with Vaneschi there were also notorious. Mingotti had her greatest success in breeches roles, where her gifts as an actress were put to particularly good use.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire