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The Empress of Pleasure : The Life and Adventures of Teresa Cornelys - Queen of Masquerades and Casanova's Lover
The Empress of Pleasure (Signed.)
1 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Judith Summers
29 books14 followersJudith Summers was born and brought up in London, England.
A journalist, novelist and historian,she has published five novels and five non-fiction titles.
Her memoir, My Life with George, and its sequel, The Badness of King George, both became international bestsellers, and her definitive history of Soho won the London Tourist Board Book of the Year award in 1990.
Judith has recently re-published her early novels - Dear Sister, Crime and Ravishment, and Frogs and Lovers - as ebooks.
A journalist, novelist and historian,she has published five novels and five non-fiction titles.
Her memoir, My Life with George, and its sequel, The Badness of King George, both became international bestsellers, and her definitive history of Soho won the London Tourist Board Book of the Year award in 1990.
Judith has recently re-published her early novels - Dear Sister, Crime and Ravishment, and Frogs and Lovers - as ebooks.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2018
A biography of a spendthrift, a bankrupt, an Italian opera-singer, a mistress of Casanova and a mother of one of his daughters, an "impresario" of musicians, an "entertainment director", the proprietress of the first exclusive-to-the-beau-monde-by-subscription-only nightclub in London (before Almacks and Crockfords establishments and the Pantheon) where one listened to first class concerts, danced, drank, gambled, flirted and (perhaps but it wasn't acknowledged) enjoyed more intimate conversation upstairs.
Signora Teresa Conelys of Venice and later of Carlisle House, Soho was known in her time as "The Empress of Taste and Pleasure". She certainly had an up and down life, and a way with men. She is not known now; but this book does bring her front and center. Anyone interested in London's West End in the eighteenth century, or about the history of London's "entertainment industry" at that time should read this book. It's enjoyable and enlightening.
Signora Teresa Conelys of Venice and later of Carlisle House, Soho was known in her time as "The Empress of Taste and Pleasure". She certainly had an up and down life, and a way with men. She is not known now; but this book does bring her front and center. Anyone interested in London's West End in the eighteenth century, or about the history of London's "entertainment industry" at that time should read this book. It's enjoyable and enlightening.
March 6, 2023
The Empress of Pleasures and Sovereign of the Vast Regions of Taste - this is how another 18th-century Venetian, contemporary and close to another legendary Venetian, Casanova, was honored and celebrated in those picaresque and extrordinary times.
We first meet Teresa Imer thanks to the famous adventurer who, as a 15-year-old youth, was in the service of the rich senator Malipiero. As an old man sharing the story of his life, with melancholy frankness, Casanova describes with amused -yet slightly malicious- compassion, how the venerable septuagenarian pines for a not yet 17 year-old girl, smart, extremely charming and very calculatedly provocative, who visited him regularly in the company of her mother.
Born exactly 300 years ago, in 1723, in Venice, that young woman is Anna Maria Teresa Imer, the daughter of a former actress, Paolina, and a very energetic impresario, Giuseppe Imer. With artistic talent and a pleasant voice, Teresa was destined for the stage. The purpose of the visits was to convince the old senator to finance Teresa's artistic studies at a prestigious music school.
Teresa did not become Mrs. Malipiero, but successively Pompeati - de Trenti - Cornelys - Smith. Her career was equally adventurous and took her all over Europe. Opera singer and impresario, she had charm, a lot of talent, excellent taste, but was also a spendthrift with zero financial talent.
And one more ingredient, which she owed to her birthplace - Venice. In the 18th century, the city of lagoons was an enchanted land where pleasures, luxury, dispendiousness and licentiousness went hand in hand. With the fall of Constantinople, Venice went into decline as an economic and political power, so she decided that if she was still going down, she would go down in style and with pomp, spectacularly and tumultuously!
Hedonism, creativity, sophistication, gumption, big spending and financial ignorance - this is the baggage with which Teresa arrived in London, in 1759, with two children to raise (son Giuseppe and daughter Sophie, whose father was Casanova), many debts she blissfully ignored, and ready to try her luck. And she would will succeed with flying colours. A London society thirsty for pleasure, entertainment and luxury seemed to be waiting exactly for the creative, charming and ambitious Venetian widow and will lead her to a success that, like a quality wine, is consumed, finished, but has a lastung and fragrant aftertaste.
Because Teresa's impact, even if the person has vanished in the mists of time, is felt even today. Soho is London's vibrant district of merry nights, restaurants, and revellers... This spirit was born, built and finished in years of elegant, inventive and sumptuous evenings as only Teresa's genius knew how to conceive, organize and animate, with great taste and no expenses shunned, 3 centuries ago in the imposing Carlisle House mansion in Soho.
This extraordinary woman has a place of her own in public recognition and deserves to be known. The charm that served her so faithfully so often in life, had its effect even after almost 300 years on the author Judith Summers who wrote the splendid volume "The Empress of Pleasure", telling of the life and end, joys and sorrows of this very special Venetian.
And thus Teresa manages to shine by herself, outgrowing her status as a member in the numerous female cast of the Casanova saga.
We first meet Teresa Imer thanks to the famous adventurer who, as a 15-year-old youth, was in the service of the rich senator Malipiero. As an old man sharing the story of his life, with melancholy frankness, Casanova describes with amused -yet slightly malicious- compassion, how the venerable septuagenarian pines for a not yet 17 year-old girl, smart, extremely charming and very calculatedly provocative, who visited him regularly in the company of her mother.
Born exactly 300 years ago, in 1723, in Venice, that young woman is Anna Maria Teresa Imer, the daughter of a former actress, Paolina, and a very energetic impresario, Giuseppe Imer. With artistic talent and a pleasant voice, Teresa was destined for the stage. The purpose of the visits was to convince the old senator to finance Teresa's artistic studies at a prestigious music school.
Teresa did not become Mrs. Malipiero, but successively Pompeati - de Trenti - Cornelys - Smith. Her career was equally adventurous and took her all over Europe. Opera singer and impresario, she had charm, a lot of talent, excellent taste, but was also a spendthrift with zero financial talent.
And one more ingredient, which she owed to her birthplace - Venice. In the 18th century, the city of lagoons was an enchanted land where pleasures, luxury, dispendiousness and licentiousness went hand in hand. With the fall of Constantinople, Venice went into decline as an economic and political power, so she decided that if she was still going down, she would go down in style and with pomp, spectacularly and tumultuously!
Hedonism, creativity, sophistication, gumption, big spending and financial ignorance - this is the baggage with which Teresa arrived in London, in 1759, with two children to raise (son Giuseppe and daughter Sophie, whose father was Casanova), many debts she blissfully ignored, and ready to try her luck. And she would will succeed with flying colours. A London society thirsty for pleasure, entertainment and luxury seemed to be waiting exactly for the creative, charming and ambitious Venetian widow and will lead her to a success that, like a quality wine, is consumed, finished, but has a lastung and fragrant aftertaste.
Because Teresa's impact, even if the person has vanished in the mists of time, is felt even today. Soho is London's vibrant district of merry nights, restaurants, and revellers... This spirit was born, built and finished in years of elegant, inventive and sumptuous evenings as only Teresa's genius knew how to conceive, organize and animate, with great taste and no expenses shunned, 3 centuries ago in the imposing Carlisle House mansion in Soho.
This extraordinary woman has a place of her own in public recognition and deserves to be known. The charm that served her so faithfully so often in life, had its effect even after almost 300 years on the author Judith Summers who wrote the splendid volume "The Empress of Pleasure", telling of the life and end, joys and sorrows of this very special Venetian.
And thus Teresa manages to shine by herself, outgrowing her status as a member in the numerous female cast of the Casanova saga.
March 21, 2026
A great read, I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Teresa Cornelys life and again life during the 1700's - the differences betweeen what was seen as normal then and is so taboo now and somethings that were taboo and are now celebrated! Incredible.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews