The politics of opera in Handel's Britain / Thomas McGeary.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGeary, Thomas, 1948- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Operas--Political aspects--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Operas.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 407 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Opera and political allegory : When is it an allegory? When is it political?

Politics in the Royal Academy of Music

The opera house, allegory, and the political opposition

Handel's second academy

Rival opera companies and Farinelli at the court of Madrid

Politics, theatre, and opera in the 1730s

The opera stage as political history.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-23461-1

1-139-62133-5

1-139-60861-4

1-139-61203-4

1-139-61575-0

0-511-84255-4

1-139-62505-5

OCLC:

841911066