The Welsh Opera

Last updated

Titlepage to The Welsh Opera: or, the Grey Mare the better Horse WelshOperaFielding.png
Titlepage to The Welsh Opera: or, the Grey Mare the better Horse

The Welsh Opera is a play by Henry Fielding. First performed on 22 April 1731 in Haymarket, the play replaced The Letter Writers and became the companion piece to The Tragedy of Tragedies . It was also later expanded into The Grub-Street Opera . The play's purported author is Scriblerus Secundus who is also a character in the play. This play is about Secundus' role in writing two (Fielding) plays: The Tragedy of Tragedies and The Welsh Opera.

Contents

The play served as a tribute to Scriblerians (satirists and members of the informal Scriblerus Club), as such it allowed Fielding to satirise politics. As a political allegory that satirised the government of the time, the play was subject to attacks and a ban. Critics agree that the play was bold in both its writing and its message.

Background

The first mention of The Welsh Opera in production comes from a Daily Post announcement on 6 April 1731 that the play would be postponed. It first ran on 22 April 1731 with three shows following in April and another in May. [1] These performances were in the position of companion piece to The Tragedy of Tragedies as a replacement for The Letter Writers in that position. It later ran five times with The Fall of Mortimer during the summer and four times on its own before it was expanded into The Grub-Street Opera. [2] The expansion was put in place to capitalise on the concept that was deemed popular by the public. [3]

The expanded version of the play, The Grub-Street Opera, was not put on for an audience, which provoked E. Rayner to print The Welsh Opera without Fielding's consent. [2] On 26 June 1731, the Daily Journal announced that E. Rayner and H. Cook published an edition of The Welsh Opera, which was followed by an announcement in the 28 June 1731 Daily Post:

Wheras one Rayner hath publish'd a strange Medley of Nonsense, under the Title of the Welch Opera, said to be written by the Author of the Tragedy of Tragedies; and also hath impudently affirm'd that this was a great Part of the Grub-Street Opera, which he attempts to insinuate was stopt by the Authority: This is to assure the Town, that what he hath publish'd is a very incorrect and spurious Edition of the Welch Opera, a very small Part of which was originally written by the said Author; and that it contains scarce any thing of the Grub-street Opera, excepting the Names of some of the Characters and a few of the Songs: This later Piece hath in it above fifty entire new Songs; and is so far from having been stopt by Authority (for which there could be no manner of Reason) that it is only postponed to a proper Time, when it is not doubted but the Town will be convinced how little that Performance agrees with the intolerable and scandalous Nonsense of this notorious Paper Pyrate. [4]

Cast

Plot

The play introduces Scriblerus Secundus as a character and no longer simply a commentary to the print editions of Fielding's plays. In a speech, he mentions his role in working on The Tragedy of Tragedies and mentions that he would serve as an editor and commentary to The Welsh Opera within the play itself. However, Scriblerus storms off stage after he is informed that one of his actresses requires a drink before performing in The Welsh Opera that evening. [5] The story of the play revolves around a country household and various disputes between the members of the family and the staff. [6]

Themes

The Welsh Opera was a tribute to the Scriblerians, especially to John Gay and to his most famous work The Beggar's Opera . This served as a means to put forth a general political view and deal with politics in a more critical way unlike any of Fielding's previous plays. The play is a political allegory that satirises Robert Walpole's government and the British monarchy. [7] Fielding also used Gay's technique of swapping London for a pastoral environment. Within the play, a country household represents England and the people represent various leaders and political figures. Fielding also adds many praises of the pastoral life along with favourably portraying roast beef and tobacco while mocking anything foreign. [6]

The play was attacked for its political implications, which later resulted in a ban on the play and its sequel from being performed. [8] However, Fielding does not favour any political party; instead, he attacks both parties while recognising their importance to the nation as a whole. His attacks are personal, especially in alluding to rumours that the Prince of Wales was impotent. [9] The play did run with The Fall of Mortimer, which made fun of Walpole. The revisions to the play form The Grub-Street Opera. [10]

Sources

Part of satire originates from the events surrounding the feud between Walpole and William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath that gained intensity during the creation of the Treaty of Seville and during the Civil List debate. Later in January 1731, Sir William Yonge, 4th Baronet produced Sedition and Defamation Display'd, a pamphlet that mocked Pulteney and defended Yonge's friend, Walpole. Pulteney, in return, dueled with John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, another Walpole friend, after mistaking that it was Hervey who wrote Sedition and Defamation Display'd. Although no one was hurt, the fighting continued in the form of pamphlet attacks until 1 July 1731 when King George II removed Pulteney from the Privy Council. Many works began to satirise elements of the battle between Pulteney and Walpole, including the poems The Devil Knows What and The Compromise (March 1731); these poems depict both Pulteney and Walpole as equivalent complicit in the unfolding events, which is later picked up by Fielding. [11]

Response

The contemporary view of The Welsh Opera was split: the common people enjoyed the show, but the members of the government did not. However, there was no prohibition of the play by the government. This, according to F. Homes Dudden, encouraged Fielding to expand the play into The Grub-Street Opera. [12] John Loftis focuses on the blatant politics of Fielding's piece and declared, "If the political meaning of The Tragedy of Tragedies is mild and ambiguous, that of Fielding's The Welsh Opera [...] is audacious and absolutely clear". [9] Thomas Cleary wrote that the revised version "is a much better play". [13]

Robert Hume believes that, in The Welsh Opera, "Fielding daringly vented his penchant for burlesque. Its politicality has often been overestimated, but its audacity is beyond question." [14] Likewise, the Battestins point out that "the play cannot have been acceptable to the authorities; it is too impudent in making a public spectacle of the foibles of the Royal Family". [10] Harold Pagliaro characterised the play as "often droll and always merry." [15] Thomas Lockwood declares that the plays The Welsh Opera and The Grub-Street Opera are characterised by a "spirit of fun" but are complicated by the 18th-century politics that gave them birth. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ Battestin and Battestin 1993 pp. 112–113
  2. 1 2 Rivero 1989 p. 88
  3. ↑ Battestin and Battestin 1993 p. 113
  4. ↑ Hume 1988 qtd. p. 97
  5. ↑ Rivero 1989 pp. 94–95
  6. 1 2 Paulson 2000 p. 52
  7. ↑ Rivero 1989 pp. 91–92
  8. ↑ Cleary 1984 p. 46
  9. 1 2 Loftis 1963 p. 105
  10. 1 2 Battestin and Battestin 1993 p. 117
  11. ↑ Fielding 2004 II pp. 1–4
  12. ↑ Dudden 1966 pp. 89–90
  13. ↑ Cleary 1984 p. 51
  14. ↑ Hume 1988 p. 93
  15. ↑ Pagliaro 1998 p. 79
  16. ↑ Fielding 2004 II p. 1

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Fielding</span> English novelist and dramatist (1707–1754)

Henry Fielding was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling was a seminal work in the genre. Along with Samuel Richardson, Fielding is seen as the founder of the traditional English novel. He also played an important role in the history of law enforcement in the United Kingdom, using his authority as a magistrate to found the Bow Street Runners, London's first professional police force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath</span> English politician and peer (1684–1764)

William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, was an English Whig politician and peer who sat in the British House of Commons from 1707 to 1742 when he was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Bath by George II of Great Britain. He is sometimes represented as having served as First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of Great Britain as part of the short-lived ministry in 1746, although most modern sources do not consider him to have held the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey</span> English courtier and political writer

John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, was an English courtier and political writer. Heir to the Earl of Bristol, he obtained the key patronage of Walpole, and was involved in many court intrigues and literary quarrels, being apparently caricatured by Pope and Fielding. His memoirs of the early reign of George II were too revealing to be published in his time and did not appear for more than a century.

The early plays of Henry Fielding mark the beginning of Fielding's literary career. His early plays span the time period from his first production in 1728 to the beginning of the Actor's Rebellion of 1733, a strife within the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane that divided the theatrical community and threatened to disrupt London stage performances. These plays introduce Fielding's take on politics, gender, and morality and serve as an early basis for how Fielding develops his ideas on these matters throughout his career.

<i>Love in Several Masques</i> Play written by Henry Fielding

Love in Several Masques is a play by Henry Fielding that was first performed on 16 February 1728 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The moderately received play comically depicts three lovers trying to pursue their individual beloveds. The beloveds require their lovers to meet their various demands, which serves as a means for Fielding to introduce his personal feelings on morality and virtue. In addition, Fielding introduces criticism of women and society in general.

<i>The Temple Beau</i>

The Temple Beau is a play by Henry Fielding. It was first performed on 26 January 1730, at Goodman's Fields after it was rejected by the Theatre Royal. The play, well received at Goodman's Fields, depicts a young law student forsaking his studies for pleasure. By portraying hypocrisy in a comedic manner, Fielding shifts his focus from a discussion of love and lovers.

<i>The Authors Farce</i> 1730 play by Henry Fielding

The Author's Farce and the Pleasures of the Town is a play by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding, first performed on 30 March 1730 at the Little Theatre, Haymarket. Written in response to the Theatre Royal's rejection of his earlier plays, The Author's Farce was Fielding's first theatrical success. The Little Theatre allowed Fielding the freedom to experiment, and to alter the traditional comedy genre. The play ran during the early 1730s and was altered for its run starting 21 April 1730 and again in response to the Actor Rebellion of 1733. Throughout its life, the play was coupled with several different plays, including The Cheats of Scapin and Fielding's Tom Thumb.

<i>Tom Thumb</i> (play)

Tom Thumb is a play written by Henry Fielding as an addition to The Author's Farce. It was added on 24 April 1730 at Haymarket. It is a low tragedy about a character who is small in both size and status who is granted the hand of a princess in marriage. This infuriates the queen and a member of the court and the play chronicles their attempts to ruin the marriage.

<i>Rape upon Rape</i>

Rape upon Rape; or, The Justice Caught in his own Trap, also known as The Coffee-House Politician, is a play by Henry Fielding. It was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 23 June 1730. The play is a love comedy that depicts the corruption rampant in politics and in the justice system. When two characters are accused of rape, they deal with the corrupt judge in separate manners. Though the play was influenced by the rape case of Colonel Francis Charteris, it used "rape" as an allegory to describe all abuses of freedom, as well as the corruption of power, though it was meant in a comedic, farcical manner.

<i>The Tragedy of Tragedies</i>

The Tragedy of Tragedies, also known as The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, is a play by Henry Fielding. It is an expanded and reworked version of one of his earlier plays, Tom Thumb, and tells the story of a character who is small in stature and status, yet is granted the hand of a princess in marriage; the infuriated queen and another member of the court subsequently attempt to destroy the marriage.

The Letter Writers Or, a New Way to Keep a Wife at Home is a play by Henry Fielding and was first performed on 24 March 1731 at Haymarket with its companion piece The Tragedy of Tragedies. It is about two merchants who strive to keep their wives faithful. Their efforts are unsuccessful, however, until they catch the man who their wives are cheating with.

The Grub Street Opera is a play by Henry Fielding that originated as an expanded version of his play The Welsh Opera. It was never put on for an audience and is Fielding's single print-only play. As in The Welsh Opera, the author of the play is identified as Scriblerus Secundus. Secundus also appears in the play and speaks of his role in composing the plays. In The Grub Street Opera the main storyline involves two men and their rival pursuit of women.

<i>The Lottery</i> (play)

The Lottery is a play by Henry Fielding and was a companion piece to Joseph Addison's Cato. As a ballad opera, it contained 19 songs and was a collaboration with Mr Seedo, a musician. It first ran on 1 January 1732 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The play tells the story of a man in love with a girl. She claims she has won a lottery, however, making another man pursue her for the fortune and forcing her original suitor to pay off the other for her hand in marriage, though she does not win.

<i>The Modern Husband</i>

The Modern Husband is a play by Henry Fielding. It first ran on 14 February 1732 at the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane. The plot focuses on a man who sells his wife for money, but then sues for damages by adultery when the money is insufficient. The play also covers the stories of other couples and affairs and romantic pursuits.

<i>The Old Debauchees</i>

The Old Debauchees, originally titled The Despairing Debauchee, was a play written by Henry Fielding. It originally appeared with The Covent-Garden Tragedy on 1 June 1732 at the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane and was later revived as The Debauchees; or, The Jesuit Caught. The play tells the story of Catholic priest's attempt to manipulate a man to seduce the man's daughter, ultimately unsuccessfully.

<i>The Covent-Garden Tragedy</i>

The Covent-Garden Tragedy is a play by Henry Fielding that first appeared on 1 June 1732 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane alongside The Old Debauchees. It is about a love triangle in a brothel involving two prostitutes. While they are portrayed satirically, they are imbued with sympathy as their relationship develops.

The Mock Doctor: or The Dumb Lady Cur'd is a play by Henry Fielding and first ran on 23 June 1732 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It served as a replacement for The Covent-Garden Tragedy and became the companion play to The Old Debauchees. It tells the exploits of a man who pretends to be a doctor at his wife's requests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actor Rebellion of 1733</span> Event that took place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London in 1733

The Actor Rebellion of 1733 was an event that took place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, England, when the actors who worked there, disapproving of the changes in the management, attempted to seize control. Before the rebellion, the theatre was controlled by the managers Theophilus Cibber, John Ellys, and John Highmore. When Theophilus lost his share and was denied a bid to run the theatre, he, along with other actors, attempted to take over the theatre by controlling the lease. When the shareholders found out, they refused to admit the actors to the building and the theatre was closed for several months. The fight spilled over to the contemporary newspapers, which generally sided with the managers.

<i>The Covent-Garden Journal</i> 1752 English literary periodical

The Covent-Garden Journal was an English literary periodical published twice a week for most of 1752. It was edited and almost entirely funded by novelist, playwright, and essayist Henry Fielding, under the pseudonym, "Sir Alexander Drawcansir, Knt. Censor of Great Britain". It was Fielding's fourth and final periodical, and one of his last written works.

The Golden Rump is a farcical play of unknown authorship said to have been written in 1737. It acted as the chief trigger for the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737. The play has never been performed on stage or published in print. No manuscript of the play survives, casting some doubt over whether it ever existed in full at all. The authorship of the play has often been ascribed to Henry Fielding, at that time a popular and prolific playwright who often turned his incisive satire against the monarch, George II, and particularly the "prime minister", Sir Robert Walpole. Modern literary historians, however, increasingly embrace the opinion that The Golden Rump may have been secretly commissioned by Walpole himself in a successful bid to get his Bill for theatrical licensing passed before the legislature.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.