Anastasia Robinson

Anastasia Robinson (c. 1692–Bath, April 1755) was one of the best-known English singers of the first half of the eighteenth century. The eldest daughter of Thomas Robinson, a portrait painter from Leicestershire who travelled and studied in Italy, her birthplace is probably considered to be Italy, though this is not known for certain. She is of interest both for her stage career alongside Handel and for the personal profile her contemporaries left of her.

Her musical training was partly domestic. She studied with Croft and took singing lessons from Sandoni and from the Baroness Lindelheim. At first she sang in private, accompanying herself, at the weekly evenings her father held at his home in Golden Square, which were much frequented by high society. When her father's eyesight deteriorated, she became a professional in order to support the family, and began giving concerts at York Buildings and elsewhere. The soprano solo part in the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne was written for her and, it is presumed, she performed it in February 1714.

In 1714 she joined the opera company, making her debut in the pasticcio Creso on 27 January. That same year she sang in Arminio and Ernelinda, and in the following season she took part in the revival of Rinaldo, performing Almirena, and in the pasticcio Lucio Vero. She created the role of Oriana in Handel's Amadigi, although she had to withdraw after a single performance due to illness. Until 1717 she worked on pieces by Alessandro Scarlatti, on pasticci and on new revivals, and her benefit performances at the theatre were frequent. After the close of the 1717 season, her voice dropped from soprano to contralto, probably because of an illness. After performing at Drury Lane between 1719 and 1720, she returned to the Royal Academy of Music company in 1720, where she created the role of Zenobia in Handel's Radamisto. After a brief absence, she came back in 1721 and remained on stage until 1724, with a very broad repertoire that included Giulio Cesare, Flavio and numerous operas by Giovanni Bononcini and Ariosti.

In June 1724 she retired from the stage. Two years earlier she had secretly married the elderly Earl of Peterborough, who did not acknowledge her publicly until shortly before his death in 1735. Withdrawn to Parson's Green, she organised a kind of musical academy and maintained a good relationship with Bononcini, whom she helped to obtain a pension.

Her legacy combines artistic recognition and personal judgement. Contemporaries emphasised her charm and expressiveness more than her virtuosity, and it has been suggested that Handel wrote roles of intense pathos for her. She was a cultivated woman of notable social gifts, unusual among singers of the eighteenth century. By way of counterpoint, the destruction of Peterborough's memoirs after his death is the episode that most overshadows her memory.