Anna Selina Storace, known professionally as Nancy Storace, was an English operatic soprano. The role of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro was written for and first performed by her.
Portrait of Nancy Storace, circa 1788 by Pietro Bettelini. Retouched version; click for original.
Nancy Storace, c. 1790, by Benjamin van der Gucht (1753–1794)
The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, is a commedia per musica in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity.
Early 19th-century engraving depicting Count Almaviva and Susanna in act 3
Act 1: Cherubino hides behind Susanna's chair as the Count arrives.
Libretto 1786