Queen's Theatre, Haymarket, the 18th-century predecessor of
the theatre; watercolour by William Capon (V&A)
When my heroine, Miss Horatia Cavendish, attended
the theatre in London for the first time in A Baron in Her Bed, in1816, it was very different than it is today.
Opera goers gossiped with friends, peered at the audience through opera glasses
and hissed weak performances while appreciating a well-performed aria.
Today, opera is regarded as a ‘work’ based on the
composer’s intentions for that work. In the
18th and early 19th centuries opera and theatre was seen
as an event. And as an event, people were free to roam around during the
performance and converse, as the actors and singers performed. The event itself
was the focal point, even from the perspective of most composers, and the
spectators were important participants in the event, although talent onstage
was necessary to draw a full house. As The Times
acknowledged in 1789, for instance, “The total want of variety at this once
elegant Theatre, (the King’s Theatre) the wretched dancers, have driven away
those who used to make it a point to see and be seen.
The social aspects of opera going were not entirely distinct
from aesthetic concerns, Although many spectators attended for social reasons,
the interactive behavior of the Georgian opera audience was framed within the
context of the event orientation.
As mentioned in the letters of Lady Sarah Bunbury in
1764, members of the elite were more interested in the singers than the
composers, to the arias particularly, and were not centrally concerned with the
story. She wrote: “I hear the Opera is in
high fashion, & Manzoli is vastly liked; the woman is a good singer, &
I am told is excessively like me.” At the opera that Saturday: “I had a vile place & nobody to speak
to, so I attended to the Opera, & I assure you without affectation that I
was vastly amused, & liked the man vastly; so I did the woman, but she was
not fashionable, which mortified me, for she is really very like me, only she
squints a little.” It was the talent
of the singers which drew them. Many spectators, even those who were not
connoisseurs, were quite knowledgeable about music and opera, but the scope of
their knowledge was defined by Georgian tastes and standards, and thus it differed
from the ideal laid out by supporters of the work-concept.
Because of their focus on solo arias, Georgian
spectators were not required to give unrelenting attention in order to
understand and appreciate an opera. This freed them up to socialize.
By the 1820s, members of the elite usually knew the names
of the leading singers but focused on similar characteristics. Harriet
Arbuthnot was one of the many opera-goers who reflected on the rivalry between
Giuditta Pasta and Henriette Sontag in 1828: “We have got a new singer over who is, they say, to faire furor, Mlle
Sontag. She was cried up before she came as the greatest beauty that ever was
beheld but, however, in that respect she is not particularly admired. She sings
beautifully, not equal to Pasta but with a facility & execution that is
really enchanting.” Like Lady Bunbury, Harriet Arbuthnot focused on the
singer’s beauty and technique.
The introduction of Mozart’s operas, which dominated
the repertoire at the King’s Theatre from 1816 to 1820, began to change the
concept of opera as an event when audiences revered Mozart as a musical genius and
flocked to hear his 'work'. His operas
began to solicit silent, inwardly focused attention, while Rossini’s music could
be enjoyed while socializing with friends.
RESEARCH: FASHIONABLE
ACTS, Opera and Elite Culture in London, 1780-1880. Jennifer Hall-Witt,
University of New Hampshire Press.
Maggi Andersen is an author of Historical Romance
and Romantic Suspense novels. Her latest release is A Baron in Her Bed ~ The
Spies of Mayfair Series, Book One.
2 comments:
Thanks so much for this. Great information.
Glad you enjoyed it, Ella! Thanks for dropping by.
Post a Comment