Book contents
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 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
- 2 With Several Entertainments of Singing and Dancing: London Theatre Benefits, 1700–1725
- 3 Concertos ‘upon the Stage’ in Early Hanoverian London: The Instrumental Counterpart to Opera Seria
- 4 Cobblers, Country Fairs, and Cross-Dressing: Benefits and the Development of Ballad Opera
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
3 - Concertos ‘upon the Stage’ in Early Hanoverian London: The Instrumental Counterpart to Opera Seria
from Part I - Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2019
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 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
- 2 With Several Entertainments of Singing and Dancing: London Theatre Benefits, 1700–1725
- 3 Concertos ‘upon the Stage’ in Early Hanoverian London: The Instrumental Counterpart to Opera Seria
- 4 Cobblers, Country Fairs, and Cross-Dressing: Benefits and the Development of Ballad Opera
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
Summary
The benefit concert in early eighteenth-century London is traditionally associated with professional singers and vocal music, but it has equal importance for instrumental music and the Italian concerto in particular – a genre whose success in Britain preceded that of opera seria. As with opera seria it was Continental composers and performers working in London who were the driving force behind the performances of concertos at benefit concerts. The new Italian concerto sought to rival the da capo aria in musical, physical, and aural experiences – a situation unique to Britain at the time. The rise in status of the concerto is also reflected in changes to the language of benefit advertisements. By the 1720s, rather than the earlier and more generic mention of ‘instrumental music’, readers now expected to know the composers and soloists of any concertos presented, just as they came to expect to know the names of singers, operas and arias – a distinction not always given to other instrumental genres.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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