Rosamond is an opera by Thomas Arne with a libretto by Joseph Addison. It was first performed at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London on 1 March 1733. [1]
Rosamond is an opera by Thomas Arne with a libretto by Joseph Addison. It was first performed at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London on 1 March 1733. [1]
Rosamond was the twenty-three year old Arne’s first opera - indeed his first known composition. It was a re-setting of the libretto Addison had written for the 1707 opera Rosamond by Clayton and it made Arne’s reputation as a composer. [2] He taught his sister Susannah and his brother to sing, and they both made their debuts with this work, his sister playing the title role. [3] [4]
The 1733 cast was: Jane Barbier (King), Richard Leveridge (Sir Trusty), Richard Arne (page), Miss Jones (Queen), Susannah Arne (Rosamond), and Isabella Chambers (Grideline). [2] [5] The beauty of Arne’s setting and of Susannah’s voice made the opera a success, and it had a run of seven nights. It did not however make money and the vocal score was not published. [2] Its popular airs “Rise, Glory, Rise” and “Was ever nymph like Rosamond” were sung for many years afterwards. [4] [6]
The opera was revived on 8 March 1740 at the Drury Lane Theatre with Mr. Beard as the King, Mrs Arne as Queen Elinor and Kitty Clive as Rosamond. [7] [5]
Rosamund Clifford, often called "The Fair Rosamund" or the "Rose of the World", was famed for her beauty and was a mistress of King Henry II of England, famous in English folklore.
Thomas Augustine Arne was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go". Arne was a leading British theatre composer of the 18th century, working at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. He wrote many operatic entertainments for the London theatres and pleasure gardens, as well as concertos, sinfonias, and sonatas.
John Eccles was an English composer.
Susannah Maria Cibber was a celebrated English singer and actress. She was the sister of the composer Thomas Arne. Although she began her career as a soprano, her voice lowered in the early part of her career to that of a true contralto. She was universally admired for her ability to move her audiences emotionally both as an actress and vocalist. Possessing a sweet, expressive, and agile singing voice with a wide vocal range, Cibber was an immensely popular singer, even if at times her voice was criticized for a lack of polished technique. Charles Burney wrote of her singing that "by a natural pathos, and perfect conception of the words, she often penetrated the heart, when others, with infinitely greater voice and skill, could only reach the ear." Cibber was particularly admired by Handel, who wrote numerous parts especially for her including the contralto arias in his 1741 oratorio Messiah, the role of Micah in Samson, the role of Lichas in Hercules and the role of David in Saul among others. In the mid-1730s she began appearing in plays in addition to appearing in operas and oratorios. She became the greatest dramatic actress of the eighteenth-century London stage and at the time of her death was the highest-paid actress in England.
George Colman was an English dramatist and essayist, usually called "the Elder", and sometimes "George the First", to distinguish him from his son, George Colman the Younger. He was also a theatre owner.
John Dennis was an English critic and dramatist.
Isaac Bickerstaffe or Bickerstaff was an Irish playwright and Librettist.
Theophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.
Henry Carey was an English poet, dramatist and songwriter. He is remembered as an anti-Walpolean satirist and also as a patriot. Several of his melodies continue to be sung today, and he was widely praised in the generation after his death. Because he worked in anonymity, selling his own compositions to others to pass off as their own, contemporary scholarship can only be certain of some of his poetry, and a great deal of the music he composed was written for theatrical incidental music. However, under his own name and hand, he was a prolific songwriter and balladeer, and he wrote the lyrics for almost all of these songs. Further, he wrote numerous operas and plays. His life is illustrative of the professional author in the early 18th century. Without inheritance or title or governmental position, he wrote for all of the remunerative venues, and yet he also kept his own political point of view and was able to score significant points against the ministry of the day. Further, he was one of the leading lights of the new "Patriotic" movement in drama.
L'Olimpiade is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of The Histories of Herodotus, which had previously been the base for Apostolo Zeno's libretto Gli inganni felici (1695). The story, set in Ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic Games, is about amorous rivalry and characters' taking places to gain the loved one. The story ends with the announcement of two marriages.
Catherine Clive was a well-known English actress and occasional singer on London stages. She created the role of Dalila in Handel's 1743 oratorio Samson. She also did some writing. A definitive biography of Clive has been written by Berta Joncus.
Alfred is a sung stage work about Alfred the Great with music by Thomas Arne and libretto by David Mallet and James Thomson. The work was initially devised as a masque in 1740 and was first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 1 August 1740 to commemorate the accession of his grandfather George I and the birthday of the Princess Augusta. Arne later revised the work turning it into an all-sung oratorio in 1745 and then an opera in 1753. It is best known for its finale "Rule, Britannia!".
Cecilia Young was one of the greatest English sopranos of the eighteenth century, the wife of composer Thomas Arne, and the mother of composer Michael Arne. According to the music historian Charles Burney, she had "a good natural voice and a fine shake [and] had been so well taught, that her style of singing was infinitely superior to that of any other English woman of her time". She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists. Young enjoyed a large amount of success through her close association with George Frideric Handel. She appeared in several of his oratorios and operas including the premieres of Ariodante (1735), Alcina (1735), Alexander's Feast (1736) and Saul (1739).
Didone abbandonata was an opera in three acts composed by Tomaso Albinoni. Albinoni's music was set to Pietro Metastasio's libretto, Didone abbandonata, which was in turn based on the story of Dido and Aeneas from the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid. The opera premiered on 26 December 1724 at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice and was the first time that an opera based on a Metastasio libretto was performed in Venice.
Dido, Queen of Carthage was an opera in three acts by Stephen Storace. Its English libretto by Prince Hoare was adapted from Metastasio's 1724 libretto, Didone abbandonata, which had been set by many composers. Storace's opera premiered on 23 May 1792 at The King's Theatre in London combined with a performance of his masque, Neptune's Prophecy. The story is based on that of Dido and Aeneas in the fourth book of Virgil's Aeneid. The opera was not a success and was never revived after its original run of performances. The score has been lost.
Thomas Clayton (1673–1725) was an English violinist and composer, and a member of The King's Musick at the court of William III. His is said to be the first to acclimatise legitimate opera in England.
Thomas Walker (1698–1744) was an English actor and dramatist.
William Paget was an English actor and author in the 18th century who played alongside David Garrick and was a member of John Rich's company, playing in the first season of Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (1732). He was also an "eminent" Tobacconist on Fleet Street, London. Toward the end of his life he served time in Fleet Prison, writing the poem The Humours of the Fleet among others. He then agreed to participate in the establishment of Halifax, Nova Scotia, dying there in 1752.
Rosamond is an opera in three acts by Thomas Clayton with a libretto by Joseph Addison. It was first performed on 4 March 1707 at Drury Lane.
Olympic Theatre was the name of five former 19th and early 20th-century theatres on Broadway in Manhattan and in Brooklyn, New York.
On the 7th of March 1733 he produced his first work at Lincoln’s Inn Fields theatre, a setting of Addison’s Rosamond, the heroine’s part being performed by his sister, Susanna Maria, who ...