A Brief Survey of English Comic Opera 1750-1800

Abstract

BROADLY SPEAKING, the eighteenth century in the history of the English musical stage can be arbitrarily divided into two: the first half producing the ballad opera, the second half creating the comic opera. Again, broadly speaking, the basic difference between these two categories can be outlined as follows: Ballad opera, on the whole, was a compilation of familiar tunes set to new words with only the occasional original composition. Comic opera, in its better productions, was in some part at least new composed, with the usual supplement of wellknown tunes and songs. In addition, with reference to the actual performance of these works in the evolution of the English theatre, the ballad opera was produced by actors who could sing only tolerably well. The comic opera was performed by singers whose acting ability was, as a rule, questionable. Despite these differences, basically the two categories embrace the same structure, consisting of light, pleasing themes, usually based on some aspect of every-day life, with a number of gay tunes, strung on a thread of scintillating dialogue. The frequent performance of musical pieces and their overwhelming success with audiences necessitated the creation of the post of theatre composer. Part of the duties of such a position was to select, compile and arrange tunes, as well as provide original compositions, for the libretti chosen by the managers. Thomas Arne was the first official theatre composer in the period under consideration. Others were Thomas Linley, Sr., Samuel Arnold, William Shield and Stephen Storace. I have come across the names of approximately two-score English theatrical composers, as well as about 2000 musical works, ranging from a piece with just a song or two to the through-composed score including accompanied recitative. Generally, the latter eighteenth century must be described as a pasticcio age-a hodge-podge of both music and plot. A piece was rarely the product of any one composer. Even less frequently was all the music written specifically for the occasion. An example of this habit of compilation and of borrowing from continental sources is The Maid of the Mill, Covent Garden, 1765. Samuel Arnold, the composer, who