Music and the benefit performance in eighteenth-century Britain / edited by Matthew Gardner, Alison Clark DeSimone.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gardner, Matthew, 1981- editor.

DeSimone, Alison Clark, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music--Great Britain--18th century--History and criticism.

Music.

Theater--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Theater.

Benefit performances--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Benefit performances.

Great Britain--Social life and customs--18th century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 286 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 01 Nov 2019).

ISBN:

9781108751285

1108751288

9781108757713

1108757715

9781108631808

1108631800