|
Showing 1 - 3 of
3 matches in All Departments
Explores the political meanings that Italian opera - its composers,
agents and institutions - had for audiences in eighteenth-century
Britain. The reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) was pivotal for both
politics and opera in Britain. In this study, Thomas McGeary brings
together a wide range of sources to show how the worlds of politics
and opera were entwined. The associations that Italian singing and
singers acquired by the 1690s were used in partisan Whig-Tory
writings. Rather than a foreign invasion, McGeary shows how the
introduction of Italian-style opera was a native product that grew
out of plans for a new theatre in the Haymarket. A crucial event
for opera was Handel's arrival in London in 1710. While the
criticism of opera by Whig writers such as Richard Steele and
Joseph Addison is well known, McGeary uncovers how the early
promotion and sponsorship of opera was, in fact, largely a Whig
enterprise and cultural program. Indeed, major political figures
(mostly Whigs) participated in the support and patronage of opera.
Opera and Politics in Queen Anne's Britain will be required reading
for opera scholars and cultural and political historians of
eighteenth-century Britain, as well those interested in the vibrant
literature culture of the period.
The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain examines the involvement
of Italian opera in British partisan politics in the first half of
the eighteenth century, which saw Sir Robert Walpole's rise to
power and George Frideric Handel's greatest period of opera
production. McGeary argues that the conventional way of applying
Italian opera to contemporary political events and persons by means
of allegory and allusion in individual operas is mistaken; nor did
partisan politics intrude into the management of the Royal Academy
of Music and the Opera of the Nobility. This book shows instead how
Senesino, Faustina, Cuzzoni and events at the Haymarket Theatre
were used in political allegories in satirical essays directed
against the Walpole ministry. Since most operas were based on
ancient historical events, the librettos - like traditional
histories - could be sources of examples of vice, virtue, and
political precepts and wisdom that could be applied to contemporary
politics.
The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain examines the involvement
of Italian opera in British partisan politics in the first half of
the eighteenth century, which saw Sir Robert Walpole's rise to
power and George Frideric Handel's greatest period of opera
production. McGeary argues that the conventional way of applying
Italian opera to contemporary political events and persons by means
of allegory and allusion in individual operas is mistaken; nor did
partisan politics intrude into the management of the Royal Academy
of Music and the Opera of the Nobility. This book shows instead how
Senesino, Faustina, Cuzzoni and events at the Haymarket Theatre
were used in political allegories in satirical essays directed
against the Walpole ministry. Since most operas were based on
ancient historical events, the librettos - like traditional
histories - could be sources of examples of vice, virtue, and
political precepts and wisdom that could be applied to contemporary
politics.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|