The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain
eBook - PDF

The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain

About this book

The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain examines the involvement of Italian opera in British partisan politics in the first half of the eighteenth century, which saw Sir Robert Walpole's rise to power and George Frideric Handel's greatest period of opera production. McGeary argues that the conventional way of applying Italian opera to contemporary political events and persons by means of allegory and allusion in individual operas is mistaken; nor did partisan politics intrude into the management of the Royal Academy of Music and the Opera of the Nobility. This book shows instead how Senesino, Faustina, Cuzzoni and events at the Haymarket Theatre were used in political allegories in satirical essays directed against the Walpole ministry. Since most operas were based on ancient historical events, the librettos - like traditional histories - could be sources of examples of vice, virtue, and political precepts and wisdom that could be applied to contemporary politics.

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Yes, you can access The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain by Thomas McGeary in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Opera Music. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. The Politics of Opera in Handel’s Britain
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Figures
  7. Tables
  8. Preface
  9. Notes on sources
  10. 1 Introduction
  11. 2 Opera and political allegory
  12. 3 Politics in the Royal Academy of Music
  13. 4 The opera house, allegory, and the political opposition
  14. 5 Handel’s Second Academy
  15. 6 Rival opera companies and Farinelli in Madrid
  16. 7 Politics, theater, and opera in the 1730s
  17. 8 The opera stage as political history
  18. Epilogue
  19. Appendix 1: Political affiliation and principaloffices of shareholders of the Royal Academyof Music, c.1717–22
  20. Appendix 2: Operas premiered at the RoyalAcademy of Music
  21. Appendix 3: Directors of the Opera of theNobility with political allegiances in June 1733
  22. Appendix 4: Operas (and other works)premiered by the Opera of the Nobility
  23. Appendix 5: Hanoverian celebratory pieces
  24. Notes
  25. Select bibliography
  26. Index