Italian Opera in Late Eighteenth-century London: The King's Theatre, Haymarket, 1778-1791

Italian Opera in Late Eighteenth-century London: The King's Theatre, Haymarket, 1778-1791 PDF Author: Curtis Alexander Price
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
This interdisciplinary study attempts to make sense of what has long been regarded as a chaotic period in the history of opera in London. In 1778, R.B. Sheridan acquired the King's Theatre and its resident opera company in what we would now call a leveraged buy-out, plunging the opera into escalating debts that were to haunt it into the 1840s. The 1780s and early 1790s were a stormy but exciting era: the company hired some of the foremost singers and dancers in Europe; ballet d'action came to London, with Noverre himself as ballet master; the company employed such composers as Sacchini, Anfossi, Cherubini and ultimately Haydn; it went bankrupt and carried on through years of wrangling in chancery; the King's Theatre burned down in 1789 and was rebuilt and re-opened in defiance of the Lord Chamberlain's refusal to license the new building. Drawing on libretti and scores, ballet scenarios, pamphlets, scattered manuscripts, legal records, architectural drawings, newspapers, and other sources, the authors reconstruct the history of the company and its shifting artistic policies, analyzing opera and ballet repertory, performers, production circumstances, finances, and managerial infighting.

English Opera in Late Eighteenth-century London

English Opera in Late Eighteenth-century London PDF Author: Jane Girdham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Stephen Storace (1762-96) was a prominent opera composer in London. His works exemplify the best in English opera, with music closely integrated with the drama, and including attractive tunes the audience could sing and play at home. This book provides unique insights into the musical world of the period, examining theatrical life and music publishing from the perspective of Storace's works.

Women Writing Music in Late Eighteenth-Century England

Women Writing Music in Late Eighteenth-Century England PDF Author: Leslie Ritchie
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351536613
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Combining new musicology trends, formal musical analysis, and literary feminist recovery work, Leslie Ritchie examines rare poetic, didactic, fictional, and musical texts written by women in late eighteenth-century Britain. She finds instances of and resistance to contemporary perceptions of music as a form of social control in works by Maria Barth?mon, Harriett Abrams, Mary Worgan, Susanna Rowson, Hannah Cowley, and Amelia Opie, among others. Relating women's musical compositions and writings about music to theories of music's function in the formation of female subjectivities during the latter half of the eighteenth century, Ritchie draws on the work of cultural theorists and cultural historians, as well as feminist scholars who have explored the connection between femininity and performance. Whether crafting works consonant with societal ideals of charitable, natural, and national order, or re-imagining their participation in these musical aids to social harmony, women contributed significantly to the formation of British cultural identity. Ritchie's interdisciplinary book will interest scholars working in a range of fields, including gender studies, musicology, eighteenth-century British literature, and cultural studies.

The Careers of British Musicians, 1750–1850

The Careers of British Musicians, 1750–1850 PDF Author: Deborah Rohr
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139429302
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The study of the social context of music must consider the day-to-day experiences of its practitioners; their economic, social, professional and artistic goals; and the material and cultural conditions under which these goals were pursued. This book traces the daily working life and aspirations of British musicians during the sweeping social and economic transformation of Britain from 1750 to 1850. It features working musicians of all types and at all levels - organists, singers, instrumentalists, teachers, composers and entrepreneurs - and explores their educational background, their conditions of employment, their wages, the systems of patronage that supported them, and their individual perceptions. Deborah Rohr focuses not only on social and economic pressures but also on a range of negative cultural beliefs faced by the musicians. Also considered are the implications of such conditions for their social and professional status, and for their musical aspirations.

London Opera Observed 1711-1844, Volume I

London Opera Observed 1711-1844, Volume I PDF Author: Michael Burden
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040245080
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The thrust of these five volumes is contained in their title, London Opera Observ’d. It takes its cue from the numerous texts and volumes which — during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — used the concept of ‘spying’ or ‘observing’ by a narrator, or rambler, as a means of establishing a discourse on aspects of London life. The material in this five-volume reset edition examines opera not simply as a genre of performance, but as a wider topic of comment and debate. The stories that surrounded the Italian opera singers illuminate contemporary British attitudes towards performance, sexuality and national identity. The collection includes only complete, published material organised chronologically so as to accurately retain the contexts in which the original readers encountered them — placing an emphasis on rare texts that have not been reproduced in modern editions. The aim of this collection is not to provide a history of opera in England but to facilitate the writing of them or to assist those wishing to study topics within the field. Headnotes and footnotes establish the publication information and provide an introduction to the piece, its author, and the events surrounding it or which caused its publication. The notes concentrate on attempting to identify those figures mentioned within the texts. The approach is one of presentation, not interpretation, ensuring that the collection occupies a position that is neutral rather than polemical.

Operatic Pasticcios in 18th-Century Europe

Operatic Pasticcios in 18th-Century Europe PDF Author: Berthold Over
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839448859
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 799

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Book Description
In Early Modern times, techniques of assembling, compiling and arranging pre-existing material were part of the established working methods in many arts. In the world of 18th-century opera, such practices ensured that operas could become a commercial success because the substitution or compilation of arias fitting the singer's abilities proved the best recipe for fulfilling the expectations of audiences. Known as »pasticcios« since the 18th-century, these operas have long been considered inferior patchwork. The volume collects essays that reconsider the pasticcio, contextualize it, define its preconditions, look at its material aspects and uncover its aesthetical principles.

London Opera Observed 1711-1844

London Opera Observed 1711-1844 PDF Author: Michael Burden
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040156118
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1819

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Book Description
The thrust of these five volumes is contained in their title, London Opera Observ’d. It takes its cue from the numerous texts and volumes which — during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — used the concept of ‘spying’ or ‘observing’ by a narrator, or rambler, as a means of establishing a discourse on aspects of London life. The material in this five-volume reset edition examines opera not simply as a genre of performance, but as a wider topic of comment and debate. The stories that surrounded the Italian opera singers illuminate contemporary British attitudes towards performance, sexuality and national identity. The collection includes only complete, published material organised chronologically so as to accurately retain the contexts in which the original readers encountered them — placing an emphasis on rare texts that have not been reproduced in modern editions. The aim of this collection is not to provide a history of opera in England but to facilitate the writing of them or to assist those wishing to study topics within the field. Headnotes and footnotes establish the publication information and provide an introduction to the piece, its author, and the events surrounding it or which caused its publication. The notes concentrate on attempting to identify those figures mentioned within the texts. The approach is one of presentation, not interpretation, ensuring that the collection occupies a position that is neutral rather than polemical.

Incle and Yarico

Incle and Yarico PDF Author: John Thelwall
Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press
ISBN: 9780838641019
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
This book presents two unpublished plays by John Thelwall (1764-1834), a friend of Coleridge, a radical lecturer for the London Corresponding Society acquitted of treason in 1794, and a prolific man of letters who produced novels, poetry, journalism, literary criticism, scientific and political essays, autobiography, and sociological analysis, in addition to drama. Both plays, libretti for the London theater, are especially relevant today as they use popular literary forms to discuss critically issues of race, empire, revolution, and sexuality. Incle and Yarico (1792) comically treats the important eighteenth-century intertextual fable of the English merchant, Inkle, who betrays the Indian maid, Yarico, an innocent and noble savage. The play is forthrightly abolitionist in its depiction of slavery. The Incas (1792) allegorizes the French Revolution and the English suppression of political dissent in depicting a confrontation between the Europeans and the New World. Drawing upon and extending the radical Enlightenment, Thelwall undermines the justifications for European empire. Frank Felsenstein is Reed D. University. Michael Scrivener is a Professor of English at Wayne State University.

Operas in English

Operas in English PDF Author: Margaret Ross Griffel
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810883252
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 1015

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Book Description
Although many opera dictionaries and encyclopedias are available, very few are devoted exclusively to operas in a single language. In this revised and expanded edition of Operas in English: A Dictionary, Margaret Ross Griffel brings up to date her original work on operas written specifically to an English text (including works both originally prepared in English, as well as English translations). Since its original publication in 1999, Griffel has added nearly 800 entries to the 4,300 from the original volume, covering the world of opera in the English language from 1634 through 2011. Listed alphabetically by letter, each opera entry includes alternative titles, if any; a full, descriptive title; the number of acts; the composer’s name; the librettist’s name, the original language of the libretto, and the original source of the text, with the source title; the date, place, and cast of the first performance; the date of composition, if it occurred substantially earlier than the premiere date; similar information for the first U.S. (including colonial) and British (i.e., in England, Scotland, or Wales) performances, where applicable; a brief plot summary; the main characters (names and vocal ranges, where known); some of the especially noteworthy numbers cited by name; comments on special musical problems, techniques, or other significant aspects; and other settings of the text, including non-English ones, and/or other operas involving the same story or characters (cross references are indicated by asterisks). Entries also include such information as first and critical editions of the score and libretto; a bibliography, ranging from scholarly studies to more informal journal articles and reviews; a discography; and information on video recordings. Griffel also includes four appendixes, a selective bibliography, and two indexes. The first appendix lists composers, their places and years of birth and death, and their operas included in the text as entries; the second does the same for librettists; the third records authors whose works inspired or were adapted for the librettos; and the fourth comprises a chronological listing of the A–Z entries, including as well as the date of first performance, the city of the premiere, the short title of the opera, and the composer. Griffel also include a main character index and an index of singers, conductors, producers, and other key figures.

Vienna Nocturne

Vienna Nocturne PDF Author: Vivien Shotwell
Publisher: Anchor Canada
ISBN: 0385678053
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
"Shotwell lyrically navigates her protagonist through love affairs, heartache and dazzling high-stakes performances. This is an exquisite read for history fans, classical-music lovers and romance aficionados alike." --Chatelaine Vienna Nocturne recounts the turbulent life and brilliantly successful career of young British opera singer Anna Storace, a child prodigy who is taken by her parents to Italy at age thirteen to advance her career. In love with life and wildly ambitious, Anna wants everything--to be famous, to be loved--and this leads her to make some fatal choices. We watch her turn from a carefree young girl to a passionate young woman, and it is during this transformation that her affair with Mozart blossoms. The story of their love, no less powerful for being forbidden, is reminiscent of the passionate thwarted romances described in Loving Frank and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Written in melodious prose by a young author studying opera at Yale, Vienna Nocturne is dramatic story of a woman's battle to find love and fame in an 18th-century world that controls and limits her at every turn.

The Music Trade in Georgian England

The Music Trade in Georgian England PDF Author: Michael Kassler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351542176
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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Book Description
In contrast to today's music industry, whose principal products are recorded songs sold to customers round the world, the music trade in Georgian England was based upon London firms that published and sold printed music and manufactured and sold instruments on which this music could be played. The destruction of business records and other primary sources has hampered investigation of this trade, but recent research into legal proceedings, apprenticeship registers, surviving correspondence and other archived documentation has enabled aspects of its workings to be reconstructed. The first part of the book deals with Longman & Broderip, arguably the foremost English music seller in the late eighteenth century, and the firm's two successors - Broderip & Wilkinson and Muzio Clementi's variously styled partnerships - who carried on after Longman & Broderip's assets were divided in 1798. The next part shows how a rival music seller, John Bland, and his successors, used textual and thematic catalogues to advertise their publications. This is followed by a comprehensive review of the development of musical copyright in this period, a report of efforts by a leading inventor, Charles 3rd Earl Stanhope, to transform the ways in which music was printed and recorded, and a study of Georg Jacob Vollweiler's endeavour to introduce music lithography into England. The book should appeal not only to music historians but also to readers interested in English business history, publishing history and legal history between 1714 and 1830.