Angelica, vincitrice di Alcina: an opera for the Habsburgs

ON 1 August 1716 the newly appointed British ambassador at the Ottoman court, Sir Edward Wortley Montagu, and his wife, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, left London on their long journey to Constantinople. Travelling via Rotterdam, The Hague, Nijmwegen, Cologne, Frankfurt, Wurzburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg, they arrived in Vienna just over a month later, on 3 September. A particularly challenging aspect of Montagu's new position as ambassador was to act as a diplomatic conduit between the two long-standing adversaries, the Ottoman court in Constantinople and the Habsburg court in Vienna, and he remained in Vienna until mid-November to familiarize himself with the perspective of the Habsburgs. His wife, Lady Mary, was also enquiring and impressionable and had already written several letters back to England about their journey to Vienna, revealing herself as an acute and lively observer of places, customs and personalities. From the imperial capital she wrote seven, often lengthy, letters about the city and the court. Protocol meant that her husband was given highest possible status as the representative of the British King George I at the court of Emperor Karl VI, and Lady Mary was treated accordingly. Her correspondence was a private one and she was able to report on aspects of life at the imperial court that rarely found their way into the diplomatic bag. She was not especially musical, but a clear highlight of the ten-week visit during the autumn of 1716 was her attendance of a performance of a new opera by the court composer, Johann Joseph Fux, to celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, Archduke Leopold. She wrote to her friend, the poet Alexander Pope: