Continental Opera Englished, English Opera Continentalized: Der Freischütz in London, 1824

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Fuhrmann
Keyword(s):  
Sheet Music ◽  
Opera House ◽  
House Production ◽  
English Opera ◽  
German Opera

22 July 1824. Many Londoners had waited years for this night. They thronged to the English Opera House, filling the boxes and cramming the benches in the pit and gallery. It was worth the heat, the expense, the danger from pickpockets. After hearing of its success for three years, after glimpsing snatches of it in concert and sheet music excerpts, and after enduring weeks of advertising for the English Opera House production, they would finally be the first in London to witness the most celebrated German opera of the time: Weber's Der Freischütz.

Covent Garden—A New Venture

Tempo ◽  
1944 ◽  
pp. 145-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie A. Boosey
Keyword(s):  
New Venture ◽  
Policy Management ◽  
Opera House ◽  
English Opera

The news that Boosey & Hawkes, Ltd. had acquired the lease of Govent Garden doubtless caused some surprise in musical circles; and those who asked (a little contemptuously, perhaps) what experience the firm possessed of running opera, were quite justified in so doing. The answer to that question is—to speak quite frankly—“All too little.” But since the firm has no intention of attempting to run the Opera House by its own unaided efforts and, on the contrary, is anxious to secure the collaboration of those with the requisite experience of operatic policy, management and production, the anxiety rightly felt on this account will I hope, be somewhat alleviated. It is well understood that the foundation of a permanent English Opera of the highest standard is a matter of paramount concern to every genuine music-lover in this country; and the project will be approached with the seriousness and determination which it demands.

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE FIRST ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE

1921 ◽  
Vol VII (1) ◽  
pp. 104-117
Author(s):  
W. J. LAWRENCE
Keyword(s):  
Early Years ◽  
Opera House ◽  
English Opera

The Hideous Progenies of Richard Brinsley Peake:Frankensteinon the Stage, 1823 to 1826

1986 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Earl Forry
Keyword(s):  
Mary Shelley ◽  
William Godwin ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Opera House ◽  
English Opera

On 22 July 1823 William Godwin addressed the following in a letter to Mary Shelley, who was returning to London after five years on the Continent:It is a curious circumstance that a play is just announced, to be performed at the English Opera House in the Strand next Monday, entitled, Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein. I know not whether it will succeed. If it does, it will be some sort of feather in the cap of the author of the novel, a recommendation in your future negociations with booksellers.

The English Opera-House: Two performnces in one evening

1907 ◽  
Vol s10-VIII (195) ◽  
pp. 228-228
Author(s):  
Robert Pierpoint
Keyword(s):  
Opera House ◽  
English Opera

New Opera Houses

Tempo ◽  
1956 ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Horst Koegler ◽  
Christopher Raeburn
Keyword(s):  
Actual Performance ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
Technical Facility ◽  
Opera House ◽  
Opera Houses ◽  
German Opera

Within six weeks of each other two rebuilt German opera-houses opened their doors: on September 4th the East-Berlin Deutsche Staatsoper, Unter den Linden; on October 15th the Hamburgische Staatsoper. Two more contrasting examples of differing architectural approaches are hardly imaginable. These are the facts:The Berlin Staatsoper, erected in 1743 by Frederick the Great through his architect Knobelsdorff and several times unsatisfyingly renovated until it was heavily bombed for the second time in February, 1945, has been rebuilt according to the original plans, except for some alteration of the interior. This means: early classical facades (definitely Prussian in character) with rooms inspired by sober Prussian rococo-elements originating in the Potsdam palaces. The house has plenty of room for halls, staircases, foyers, passages, cloakrooms; the auditorium seats about 1,500 persons, distributed over stalls and three galleries. The impression is one of festive intimacy. Every technical facility for pit and stage has been installed. The stage measures 85 by 75 feet (plus backstage space 38 by 73 feet). Comfortable backstage dressing-rooms have been gained through the removal of all accommodation not directly connected with the actual performance to a separate nearby building. The costs of the rebuilding of the opera-house alone amount to £3 million.

„A work so truly English in its story and its music“. Arthur Sullivans Ivanhoe und die Suche nach einer englischen Nationaloper

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 457-484
Author(s):  
Arne Stollberg
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Musical Characteristics ◽  
National Opera ◽  
Opera House ◽  
Musical Renaissance ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
English Opera ◽  
Made In

In order to overcome the persistent cliché of a “land without music,” considerable efforts were made in Great Britain at the end of the 19th century to establish what is now labelled the English Musical Renaissance. One of the movement’s main concerns was to establish both institutionally and artistically a National Opera for the production of English works. In this context, the opening of a newly built opera house, the Royal English Opera, by the impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1891 created a great stir. The Royal English Opera was inaugurated with Arthur Sullivan’s “Romantic Opera” Ivanhoe. Sullivan tried to give his score an especially English flavour without using folksongs or other overtly national musical characteristics. His composition can be seen as a synthesis of German, French and Italian influences, which intentionally mirrors the fusion of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman elements to form the English nation under King Richard the Lionheart as presented in the opera’s plot. Unfortunately the story of D’Oyly Carte’s enterprise was a short one and Sullivan’s opera quickly passed into oblivion.

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