ITALIAN OPERA IN LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON: VOLUME 2: THE PANTHEON OPERA AND ITS AFTERMATH 1789-1795 by Judith Milhous, Gabriella Dideriksen, Robert D. Hume ( 9780198167167 )

Item Details

Title:

ITALIAN OPERA IN LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON: VOLUME 2: THE PANTHEON OPERA AND ITS AFTERMATH 1789-1795

By:

Judith Milhous, Gabriella Dideriksen, Robert D. Hume

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£417.50

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£365.31

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£52.19

ISBN 10:

0198167164

ISBN 13:

9780198167167

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

1 February, 2001

Series:

Italian Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London

Pages:

912

Description:

Following on from the volume on The King's Theatre, Haymarket, 1778-1791 (published by OUP in 1995), this interdisciplinary study of opera and ballet now turns to London's Pantheon Opera during the period 1789-95. The Pantheon Opera, founded in 1790, aimed to give London a kind of court opera that would feature opera seria and ballet d'action. It tried to hire Mozart to compete with Haydn, but its high aspirations led only to a quick bankruptcy. Arecent major archival discovery has permitted startlingly full analysis of the company's repertoire, costumes, staging practices, and finances.

Synopsis:

Following on from the volume on the King's Theatre, Haymarket (published by OUP in 1995), this interdisciplinary study of opera and ballet now turns to London's Pantheon Opera during the period 1789-98. The discovery of six cartons of previously unknown manuscripts in the possession of the Duke of Bedford makes possible the rewriting of a hitherto dark and little understood chapter in the history of opera in London. The King's Theatre, Haymarket, burnt down in 1789. To replace it, the fifth Duke of Bedford and the Marquis of Salisbury secretly backed a new opera company, to be housed in the Pantheon, an elegant exhibition hall hastily converted to house the venture. Part 1 of this book tells a tale of intrigue, blackmail, bankruptcy, arson, and high-society infighting against a background of exalted artistic aspirations and genuine love of opera. The Pantheon tried to engage Mozart to compete against Haydn, and hired some of the most notable singers and dancers in Europe. Mismanagement led to huge losses, and the theatre burnt in highly suspicious circumstances in 1792.The backers tried to impose an artistic vision and financial controls on the management of the rebuilt King's Theatre, Haymarket, when opera returned there in 1793, but by 1795 their failure was evident. The second part of the book is a detailed analysis of the opera and ballet repertoire, personnel, management, costumes, staging practices, and finances of the company, based on the Bedford archive and a wealth of hitherto unused sources. What emerges is the fullest operational analysis ever published of any pre-nineteenth-century English theatre or opera company.

Illustrations:

16 pp black and white plates, 15 music examples

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press

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Returnable

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