Hester and Gabriel Piozzi
Gabriel Mario Piozzi 1740-1809
Gabriel Mario Piozzi was an Italian singer and composer born and baptised on 8 June 1740. His parents were Domenico and Giancoma. His baptismal sponsor was Signor Giacomo Guadagni.
He was one of 14 children. They included brothers Giambattista and P. Luigi, and sisters Maria, Laura, Madalena Tamotti and Ippolita. The family were known to have lived in Bresica, Quinzano and Venice.
Hester Thrale had first met Gabriel Mario Piozzi 1740-1809 at a party hosted by Dr. Charles Burney in 1777. Mrs. Thrale had entered in her "Thraliana" under July, 1780, being then at Brighton …
“ I have picked up Piozzi here, the great Italian singer. He is amazingly like my father. He shall teach [Queeney] Hester”.
On 8 August 1780 Hester Thrale wrote about Piozzi in Thraliana…
"Piozzi is become a prodigious Favourite with me; he is so intelligent a Creature, so discerning, one can't help wishing for his good Opinion: his Singing surpasses every body's for Taste, Tenderness and true Elegance; his Hand on the Forte Piano too is so soft, so sweet, so delicate, every Tone goes to one's heart I think; and fills the Mind with Emotions one would not be without, though inconvenient enough sometimes-l made him sing yesterday, & tho' he says his Voice is gone, I cannot some how or other get it out of my Ears,-odd enough!
These were the Verses he sung to me.
Amor-non sò che sia,
I instantly translated them for him, and made him sing them in English thus all' Improviso.
Lady Shelley & I shall get him a pretty little Benefit, & he will have ten Guineas from me beside, for teaching Hester to sing: his Journey to Brighton will be a lucky one, he has lost some of his Voice by relaxation,-the Sea will restore it"
Hester Lynch Piozzi 1793 by George Dance
On 1 January 1782 Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana …
“My Life is every instant in Danger from the Apoplexy which has destroyed my whole Family, & now holds his Club over my Head. May it but strike the blow strong enough to procure my instant Dismission, not leave me stunned & stupefied: a Model of Misery & a Load upon my Successors! Disorders run in Blood I am convinced of it; My Grandfather, my Father—his three Brothers— my Son, all died in less than four Hours from their Seizure; and now my poor Self apparently of an Apoplectick Habit quite apparently; full, red, and Sanguineous. very odd! ay & very shocking! My Face is all over Pimples like a Drunkard,—twere better have a Hump-back.”
If nothing of all these Misfortunes however befall me, if for my Sins God should take from me my Monitor, my Friend, my Inmate, my Dear Mr Johnson; if neither I should marry, nor the Brewhouse People break; if the ruin of the Nation should not change the Situation of Affairs so that One could not receive regular Remittances from England: and if Piozzi should not pick him up a Wife, and fix his abode in this Country—If therefore & If, & If & If again— All should conspire to keep my present Resolution warm; I certainly would at the close of the four Years from the Sale of the Southwark Estate, set out for Italy with my two or three eldest Girls; and see what the World could shew me. I am now provided with an Italian Friend who would manage my Money Matters, facilitate my Continental amusements, & be faithful to my Interest: I would make it worth his while, & we should live happily together.”
Gabriel Piozzi 1793 by George Dance
Between 20 September 1782 (the day the monument to Henry Thrale was erected) and 1 October 1782, Hester Lynch Thrale wrote of her Dilemma as to whether she should marry Piozzi.
In October 1782 Hester - who was involved in a lawsuit with Lady Salusbury and straightened for money - left Streatham for her Brighton home. Johnson followed her. After a violent scene with Queeney, Hester returned to London and resolved to give up Piozzi. In January 1783, Hester told Piozzi that they must part. Hester retired to Bath and on 8 May 1783 Piozzi left for Italy. Her daughters on seeing that Hester's health was affected consented to the recall of Piozzi.
On 2 July 1784 Hester wrote in Thraliana…
“The happiest Day of my whole Life I think—Yes, quite the happiest; my Piozzi came home Yesterday & dined with me: but my Spirits were too much agitated, my Heart too much dilated, I was too painfully happy then, my Sensations are more quiet to day, & my Felicity less tumultuous. I have spent the Night as I ought in Prayer & Than[k]sgiving—Could I have slept I had not deserved such Blessings. May the Almighty but preserve them to me! He lodges at our old House on the South Parade: his Companion Mecci is a faithless treacherous Fellow—but no matter! Tis all over now.”
On 1 January 1782 Hester Thrale wrote in Thraliana…
“Travelling with Mr Johnson I cannot bear, & leaving him behind he could not bear; so his Life or Death must determine the Execution or laying aside my Schemes:—I wish it were within Reason to hope he could live four Years.”
Hester Lynch Piozzi 1785 by unknown artist
Johnson was not in love with Hester Thrale, although he had an intelligible feeling of jealousy towards anyone who threatened to distract her allegiance. This of course came to a head when Hester married Piozzi and during July 1784, Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale exchanged parting letters.
On the 25th of July 1784, being at Bath, her entry was…
“I am returned from church the happy wife of my lovely, my faithful Piozzi:— Subject of my Prayers, Object of my Wishes, my Sighs, my Reverence, my Esteem. His nerves have been horribly shaken; but he lives, he loves me and will be mine for ever. He has sworne it in the Face. of God & the whole Xstian Church: Catholicks, Protestants, all are Witnesses : may he who has preserved us thus long for each other give us a long Life together & so I hope & trust he will thro' the Merits of Jesus Christ Amen.”
On 23 July 1784, aged forty-four, Hester married Gabriel Piozzi in London by Padre Richard Smith the Catholic chaplain to the Spanish Ambassador. There is confusion as to whether the ceremony took place at the Spanish or French embassy chapel. Two days later they were married by a Protestant clergyman in Bath.
Following the wedding Hester was cut off by most friends and relations, except the late Henry's dearest friend Arthur Murphy. To marry a foreigner and a Roman Catholic was unacceptable in society at that time. On 4 September 1784, they left for Italy where they spent the winters in Milan and the summers in Florence where she made friends with Robert Merry (1755-1798) and contributed to the 'Florence Miscellany'.
There was no contact between Hester and Johnson from shortly before their marriage until Johnson’s death on 13 December 1784. On 28 November - shortly before his death - Fanny Burney asked Johnson if he every heard from Hester. Johnson replied…
“No, nor write to her. I drive her quite out of my mind. If I meet with one of her letters, I burn it instantly. I have burnt all I can find. I never speak of her and I desire never to hear of her anymore. I drive her, as I said, wholly from my mind.”
After Johnson's death the newspapers treated her harshly. They called her an amorous widow, and Piozzi - who was Queeney's music master - a fortune-hunter. Queeney refused to recognise the new father, and shut herself up in a house at Brighton with a nurse, Tib or Tibson. The two younger sisters, who were at school, lived afterwards with Queeney (aged just 20). Only the fourth daughter, the youngest, went with her mother and her mother's new husband to Italy. When many old friends remained aloof, Mrs. Hester Piozzi drew around her a new artistic circle, including the actress Sarah Siddons (1755-1831). Her pen remained active, and thousands of her entertaining, gossipy letters have survived. She retained to the end her unflagging vivacity and zest for life. Dr. Johnson openly disapproved, but had written afterwards most kindly. The resulting estrangement saddened his last months of life.
In August 1794 Hester became Godmother to Cecilia Siddons 1794-1868 - named after Cecilia Thrale - daughter of Sarah Siddons. In 1795 they took up residence at Brynbella - a house they built in North Wales on Hester’s Bach-y-Graig estate. They also renovated Bach-y-craig. Hester and Gabriel Piozzi seem to have spent most of their winters in Bath.
In January 1798 Hester and Gabriel Piozzi adopted the five year old son of Giovanne Battiste (Giambattista) - Gabriel's favourite brother who they renamed John Salusbury Piozzi.
On 22 April 1800, Gabriel was appointed Overseer of the Poor for Tremeirchion. However he tried to avoid the duties to the annoyance of the Dean of St. Asaph's.
Alike with all well to do people at that time, Hester had servants and on 15 May 1804 she wrote of them on her return to Brynbella from Streatham …
“Poor Hodgkins! He died hilst we were absent—so we bring back Three new Servts Chivers, Joseph & Julia the Cook—it lowers my Spirits tho’ to see all new Faces about us so.”
Aside from the terrible rheumatic pain suffered by Gabriel Piozzi, they both lived in happiness until Piozzi's death from gout at Brynbella on 26 March 1809. Piozzi was buried outside the north side of in the family vault in Tremeirchion church.
Piozzi left Hester £6,000. Hester and her adopted son, John, remained at Brynbella for five more years until he married Harriet Maria Pemberton of Ryton Grove Shropshire on 7 November 1814. Hester then left John the whole of her Welsh estate, and she retired to Bath, where she took temporary lodgings in New King Street, before taking permanent residence at 8 Gay Street, Bath.
In 1817 her adopted son was knighted.
