Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Published on 23. June 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-108-73015-0 (ISBN)
Description
In the early eighteenth century, the benefit performance became an essential component of commercial music-making in Britain. Benefits, adapted from the spoken theatre, provided a new model from which instrumentalists, singers, and composers could reap financial and professional rewards. Benefits could be given as theatre pieces, concerts, or opera performances for the benefit of individual performers; or in aid of specific organizations. The benefit changed Britain's musico-theatrical landscape during this time and these special performances became a prototype for similar types of events in other European and American cities. Indeed, the charity benefit became a musical phenomenon in its own right, leading, for example, to the lasting success of Handel's Messiah. By examining benefits from a musical perspective - including performers, audiences, and institutions - the twelve chapters in this collection present the first study of the various ways in which music became associated with the benefit system in eighteenth-century Britain.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 6 Printed music items; 6 Tables, black and white; 2 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
528 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-73015-0 (9781108730150)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Matthew Gardner | Alison DeSimone
Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Book
10/2019
Cambridge University Press
€129.40
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Content
Introduction Alison DeSimone and Matthew Gardner; Part I. Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories: 1. Risks and rewards: benefits and their financial impact on actors, authors, singers, and other musicians in London, c. 1690-1730 Kathryn Lowerre; 2. With several entertainments of singing and dancing: London Theatre benefits, 1700-1725 Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson; 3. Concertos 'upon the stage' in early Hanoverian London: the instrumental counterpart to opera Seria Robert G. Rawson; 4. Cobblers, country fairs, and cross-dressing: benefits and the development of ballad opera Vanessa Rogers; Part II. Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?: 5. Benefit concerts in the North of England: more than just musical entertainment Roz Southey; 6. Amateur music-making, professional musicians, and benefit concerts in Edinburgh Stefanie Acquavella-Rauch; 7. English music in benefit concerts: Henry Purcell and the next generation Amanda Eubanks Winkler; 8. Strategies of performance: benefits, professional singers, and Italian opera in the early eighteenth century Alison DeSimone; Part IV. Charity Benefits: 9. The Mercer's Hospital Charity Services: music charity in eighteenth-century Dublin Triona O'Hanlon; 10. English Oratorio and charity benefits in mid-eighteenth-century London Matthew Gardner; Part V. The Role of the Audience: 11. Encountering 'the most extraordinary prodigy': meeting Master Mozart in Georgian London John Irving; 12. Benefits: Cui Bono? David Hunter.