The history of opera in the English language commences in the 17th century. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar
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Earliest examples
In England, one of opera's antecedents in the 16th century was an afterpiece which came at the end of a play; often scandalous and consisting in the main of dialogue set to music arranged from popular tunes. An afterpiece is a short usually Humorous one-act playlet following the main attraction the full-length play and concluding the theatrical evening In this respect such afterpieces anticipate the ballad operas of the 18th century. The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century At the same time, the French masque was gaining a firm hold at the English Court, with lavish splendour and highly realistic scenery. The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe though it was developed earlier in Italy Inigo Jones became the leading designer of these productions, and this style was to dominate the English stage for three centuries. Iñigo Jones ( July 15, 1573 &ndash June 21, 1652) is regarded as the first significant British architect, and the first to bring These masques contained songs and dances. In Ben Jonson's Lovers Made Men (1617), "the whole masque was sung after the Italian manner, stilo recitativo". Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist
Purcell and his contemporaries
The approach of the English Commonwealth closed theatres and halted any developments that may have led to the establishment of English opera. Henry Purcell (ˈpɜrsəl 10 September 1659 (? – 21 November 1695 was an English Baroque Composer. The Commonwealth of England was the Republican government which ruled first England (including Wales) and then Ireland and Scotland However, in 1656, the dramatist Sir William Davenant produced The Siege of Rhodes. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet Since his theatre was not licensed to produce drama, he asked several of the leading composers (Henry Lawes, Cooke, Locke, Coleman and Hudson) to set sections of it to music. Henry Lawes ( 5 December 1595 - 21 October 1662) was an English Musician and Composer. This success was followed by The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru (1658) and The History of Sir Francis Drake (1659). These pieces were encouraged by Oliver Cromwell because they were critical of Spain. Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 Old Style &ndash 3 September 1658 Old Style) was an English military and political leader best known With the English Restoration, foreign (especially French) musicians were welcomed back. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored In 1673, Thomas Shadwell's Psyche, patterned on the 1671 'comédie-ballet' of the same name produced by Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully. Thomas Shadwell (c 1642 &ndash 19 November 1692) was an English Playwright and miscellaneous Writer who was appointed Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his Stage name, Molière, ( January 15, 1622 – February 17 1673) was a French Jean-Baptiste de Lully ( Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli in French (November 28 1632 &ndash March 22 1687 was a French Composer of Italian William Davenant produced The Tempest in the same year, which was the first Shakespeare play to be set to music (composed by Locke and Johnson). Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet William Shakespeare ( baptised
About 1683, John Blow composed Venus and Adonis, often thought of as the first true English-language opera. John Blow (baptised 23 February 1649 &ndash 1 October 1708 was an English Composer and Organist. Venus and Adonis is an Opera in three acts and a Prologue by the English Baroque Composer John Blow Blow's immediate successor was the better known Henry Purcell. Henry Purcell (ˈpɜrsəl 10 September 1659 (? – 21 November 1695 was an English Baroque Composer. Despite the success of his masterwork Dido and Aeneas (1689), in which the action is furthered by the use of Italian-style recitative, much of Purcell's best work was not involved in the composing of typical opera, but instead he usually worked within the constraints of the semi-opera format, where isolated scenes and masques are contained within the structure of a spoken play, such as Shakespeare in Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Prophetess (1690) and Bonduca (1696). Dido and Æneas is an Opera by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, from a libretto by Nahum Tate. Semi-opera is an early form of Opera, though the term 'dramatic opera' is more favoured amongst scholars William Shakespeare ( baptised The Fairy-Queen (Z629 is a Masque or Semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a Restoration spectacular It was first performed on 2 May 1692 Beaumont and Fletcher were the English Dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I The main characters of the play tend not to be involved in the musical scenes, which means that Purcell was rarely able to develop his characters through song. Despite these hindrances, his aim (and that of his collaborator John Dryden) was to establish serious opera in England, but these hopes ended with Purcell's early death at the age of 36. John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England
18th and 19th centuries
Following Purcell, for many years Great Britain was essentially an outpost of Italianate opera. The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a Comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and Libretto by W Handel's opera serias dominated the London operatic stages for decades, and even home-grown composers such as Thomas Arne and John Frederick Lampe wrote using Italian models. Thomas Augustine Arne (12 March 1710 &ndash 5 March 1778 was an English Composer, best known for the patriotic Rule Britannia!. John Frederick Lampe (1703 - 1751 was a musician He was born in Saxony, but came to England in 1724 and played the Bassoon in opera houses This situation continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, including in the work of Michael Balfe and William Vincent Wallace, and the operas of the great Italian composers, as well as those of Mozart, Beethoven and Meyerbeer, continued to dominate the musical stage in England. Michael William Balfe ( May 15, 1808 - October 20, 1870) was an Irish Composer, best known today for his Opera William Vincent Wallace - The Desert Flower - Though born in woods rude nature's child
The only exceptions during these centuries were ballad operas, such as John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728), musical burlesques, European operettas, and late Victorian era light operas, notably the Savoy Operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, all of which types of musical entertainments frequently spoofed operatic conventions. The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century John Gay ( 30 June, 1685 - 4 December, 1732) was an English Poet and Dramatist. The Beggar's Opera is a Ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay. Burlesque is a genre of entertainment also known as Travesty. Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature usually with a happy ending Savoy Operas denote a style of Comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century with W Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 &ndash 29 May 1911 was an English Dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO (13 May 1842 &ndash 22 November 1900 was an English composer of Irish and Italian descent best known for his operatic John Barnett made a serious attempt to follow in the footsteps of Carl Maria von Weber with his opera The Mountain Sylph (1834), the first through-composed (i. John Barnett ( July 15 1802 — 16 April 1890) was an English Composer and writer on Music. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London e. completely sung) English opera, which was a major success in its time (and was later parodied by Gilbert and Sullivan in Iolanthe). Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, is a Comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W
Sullivan wrote only one grand opera, Ivanhoe (following the efforts of a number of young English composers beginning about 1876), but he claimed that even his light operas were to be part of an "English" opera school, intended to supplant the French operettas (usually in bad translations) that had dominated the London stage throughout the 19th century into the 1870s. Ivanhoe is a romantic Opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Savoy Operas denote a style of Comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century with W London's Daily Telegraph agreed. For "The Daily Telegraph" in Australia see The Daily Telegraph (Australia. Sullivan produced a few light operas in the late 1880s and 1890s that were of a more serious nature than most of the G&S series, including The Yeomen of the Guard, Haddon Hall and The Beauty Stone, but Ivanhoe (which ran for 155 consecutive performances, using alternating casts -- a record then and now) survives as his only real grand opera. The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and his Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. The Beauty Stone is "an original romantic musical Opera " in three acts composed by Arthur Sullivan to a libretto by Arthur Wing Pinero Ivanhoe is a romantic Opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Grand Opera is a genre of 19th-century Opera generally in four or five acts characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras and (in their original productions lavish and
20th century - today
In the 20th century, English opera began to assert more independence, with works of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Rutland Boughton and later Benjamin Britten, who, in a series of fine works that remain in standard repertory today, revealed an excellent flair for the dramatic and superb musicality. Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Rutland Boughton ( Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire January 23 Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, Other British composers writing well-received operas in the late 20th century include Richard Rodney Bennett (e. Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE (born March 29, 1936 in Broadstairs, Kent) is an English Composer renowned for g. The Mines of Sulphur), Harrison Birtwhistle (Punch and Judy), Peter Maxwell Davies (Taverner) and Oliver Knussen (Where the Wild Things Are). Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH (born 15 July, 1934) is a British contemporary Composer. Punch and Judy is an Opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a Libretto by Stephen Pruslin based on the puppet figures of the same Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE (b 8 September 1934 is an English Composer and conductor. Taverner is an Opera with music and libretto by Peter Maxwell Davies. Oliver Knussen CBE (born June 12, 1952 in Glasgow Scotland) is a British Composer and conductor. Where the Wild Things Are is a 'fantasy' Opera in one act by Oliver Knussen, his Opus 20 to a Libretto by Maurice Sendak, based on Today composers such as Thomas Adès continue to export English opera abroad. Thomas Adès (born in London, 1 March 1971) is a British Composer, Pianist and conductor.
Also in the 20th century, American composers like Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Carlisle Floyd began to contribute English-language operas infused with touches of popular musical styles. George Gershwin (September 26 1898 &ndash July 11 1937 was an American Composer. Carlisle Floyd (born June 11, 1926, in Latta South Carolina) is an American Opera Composer. They were followed by modernists like Philip Glass, Mark Adamo, John Coolidge Adams, and Jake Heggie. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 Mark Adamo (born 1962 is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. Jake Heggie (born on March 31, 1961 in West Palm Beach Florida) is an American composer and pianist Moreover non-native-English speaking composers have occasionally set English libretti (e. g. Hans Werner Henze, We Come to the River). Hans Werner Henze (born July 1 1926 Gütersloh, Germany is a German composer well known for his left-wing political convictions We Come to the River is an Opera by Hans Werner Henze to an English Libretto by Edward Bond.
Audio link
Stay, Prince and hear
References
- The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an Encyclopedia of Opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- The Viking Opera Guide (1994), 1,328 pages, ISBN 0-670-81292-7
- The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, ed. Roger Parker (1994)
- "Purcell, Henry" in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, 1986. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc ISBN 0-85229-434-4.
- Orrey, Leslie and Rodney Milne. Opera: A Concise History, World of Art, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20217-6.
- Basil Walsh's extensive site on the life and work of Michael W. Balfe
- Ainger, Michael (2002). Gilbert and Sullivan, a Dual Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Donald Mitchell, "Britten, (Edward) Benjamin, Baron Britten (1913–1976)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Donald Mitchell (born 6 February 1925) is a British writer on music particularly known for his books on Gustav Mahler and Benjamin Britten and Accessed 18 October 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30853
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