Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres Curtain Up: 1806-1899
Composers, Music, and Song Composers, Music, and Song: Introduction
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Composers, Music, and SongComposers, Music, and Song: IntroductionThe Adelphi, when born as the Sans Pareil, had a license by 1809 to perform musical entertainments, pantomimes and burlettas. The last of these was a form of drama no one was anxious to define. The word meant "a little joke" and had entered English as a term for Italian comic opera but, by the early Nineteenth Century, had become an umbrella term for a variety of productions with only one common element—music. Music accompanied action; songs were included, but, at first, there was no agreement on how many of them constituted a burletta. Numbers ranged from five per act to a total of six overall. Initially, there was no spoken dialogue (that was the province of the Patent Theatres, Drury Lane and Covent Garden), which suited the ambitious Jane Scott, who wanted a stage for her particular talents—singing and dancing. However, when Daniel Terry and Frederick Yates purchased the theatre in 1825, they promised "to place its entertainments on a higher footing than they have hitherto occupied." They intended to produce spoken dramas with less music. As the century progressed, there was a growing tendency to "front load" a piece with music and then graduate to the spoken word, presumably in the hope the censor would grow bored. Nevertheless, the Adelphi was never without music. In 1824, the orchestra consisted of some forty members. Melodramatic music might be advertised as "entirely new," but there isn't enough evidence to test the veracity of the claim. What is certain is that a great deal of "cobbling up" of appropriate music took place. Nevertheless, when Edward Fitzball joined the Adelphi Company in 1825, he teamed up with George Herbert Rodwell to form a partnership (almost half a century before the most famous, and quarrelsome, partnership of them all—Gilbert and Sullivan). Rodwell produced a great deal of music before his death in 1852. Many of his songs and some scores written for Adelphi productions survive, but it not a great deal considering his prominence and industry—he composed seventy-five pieces for the Adelphi and was author of seven farces and a melodrama. Songs were very popular until the 1877 season, after which their numbers dropped significantly. This falling away was due, in part, to the nature of the evening's performance. When the entertainment consisted of a single piece, there was little time or inclination to add songs or dances. And, of course, there had long been no need to add music to avoid the censor's reach. The Theatres Act of 1843 curbed the Lord Chamberlain's powers but did not remove them all. Songs were sometimes accompanied by their composer's names, but this was far from standard practice. Some are well known even today—"Home Sweet Home" by Henry Bishop and John Payne, "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" Michael W. Balfe, "Hot Codlins" composed by John Whitaker, lyrics by Charles Dibdin Jr., and "Cherry Ripe"—words by Robert Herrick and music by Charles Edward Horn. A few songs were by foreign composers, but native talent was up to the challenge. Terms for songs are usually self-explanatory: duet, finale, canzonet, Irish lilt, glee, chorus, comic song, ballad, patriotic song, wine song, and so forth. The user might be surprised to learn the author of Britain's national anthem is disputed. There was considerable interest in the Yankee and Irish cousins. In 1857, a "new Yankee song" called "Pesky Ike" was performed and the following season "Yankee Fixins." Even more popular was Thomas D. Rice's "Jump, Jim Crow." Rice appeared in blackface and tattered clothes dancing and singing the song said to have been inspired by a crippled enslaved man called either Jim Cuff or Jim Crow. Although Rice did not invent the minstrel show, he helped popularize it, perhaps without realizing the harm it would cause. The dance and performance pandered to the current belief in the racial superiority of the white race, portraying African Americans as happy-go-lucky buffoons—superstitious and lazy but devoted to music and dancing. Henry Mayhew, in London Labour and London Poor, notes: "The grand hit of the evening is always when a song is sung to which the entire gallery can join in the chorus. Then a deep silence prevails through the stanzas. Should any burst in before his time, a shout of "orda-a-r is raised" (I, 19). Nineteenth-century theatre remained a shared experience—at least until the mid-seventies. What is, perhaps, most surprising about the music at the Adelphi, an "illegitimate" theatre with origins in song and dance, was the sheer amount of classical music included in performances. Solos on various instruments included the cornet, clarinet, harp, and piano-flageolet. A random selection from July 1831 reveals overtures by Romberg, Mozart, Rossini, Halévy, Winter, Mehul, Herold, Beethoven, and Handel. Musical selections in 1862 included Hayden's 5th Symphony, valses from "Sylvester Träume" by Joseph Labitsky, the "Artistic Quadrille" by Jules Rivière and "La Marseilles," arranged by Alfred Mellon. Johann Strauss, Jr. was immensely popular, as were Franz von Suppé and Arthur Sullivan (in the last decade of the century). There was certainly no lack of interest in classical music at the Adelphi as the Twentieth Century dawned. Composers, Music, and Song: IndexAA B C Polka, The (Music); See Heinsdorff, V. G. (Composer) à Beckett, Mrs. Gilbert A. (Composer)
Abend in Toledo, Ein (Music); See Schemeling, Martin (Composer) Abrams, Miss (Composer)
Accelerationen (Music); See Strauss, Johann, Jr. (Composer) Acclamations (Music); See Waldteufel, Emile (Composer) Adam, Adolphe C. (Composer)
Adams, Stephen (Composer)
Addison (Composer)
Adelphi My Beloved (to The Pilgrim of Love ) (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Adelphi polka (Music); See Mellon, Alfred (Composer) Admired ballad (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Admired song (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Admired Welsh air (Music); See Unlisted (Composer) Advice to Young Persons about to Marry (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Affecting ditty (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ah! Balmy Peace (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ah! Can I E'er Forget (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ah Me, I Scarce Can Mention It (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ah Me, We Dare Not (Song); See Calcott, John F. (Composer) Ah! No, 'Twas No Enchanting Dream (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ah! Yes, As in the Play (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Aileen Mavourneen (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ainsworth, W. Harrison (Composer)
Alarm (Music); See Unlisted (Composer) Albion's Queen (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Alesandro Stradella (Music); See Flotow, Friedrich F. (Composer) Alexandra (Music); See Stenebrugen (Composer) All in the Downs the Fleet was Moored (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) All's Well (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) All Souls Day (Music); See Lassen, Eduard (Composer) Ambassadrice, L' (Music); See Auber, Daniel F. (Composer) Amelie (Music); See Lumbye, Hans C. (Composer) American (Music); See Sprake, Henry (Composer) Amor Perchè Mi Pizzichi (Song); See Fioravanti, Valentino (Composer) Amorous Justice (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Andrews, Miles P. (Composer)
Anna Bolena: Vivi Tu (Music); See Bellini, Vincenzo (Composer) Anna (Music); See Legendre, J. (Composer) Annen (Music); See Strauss, Johann, Jr. (Composer) Annie Laurie (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Antilope, Die (Music); See Gungl, Herr Joseph (Composer) Apollo (Music); See Gungl, Herr Joseph (Composer) Armagh Assizes (Song); See Mathews, Charles (Composer) Arne, Thomas Augustine (Composer)
Arrah-na-Pogue (Music); See Levey, William C. (Composer) Arrah's Song (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Art! Lov'd, Divine (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Artistic Quadrille (Music); See Riviere, Jules P. (Composer) Artists, The (Music); See Strauss, Johann, Jr. (Composer) Artists (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Artus, Mons. Amedee (Composer)
Artusklange (Music); See Gungl, Herr Joseph (Composer) As Burns the Charger (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ascher, Joseph (Composer)
Asgard: The Lyre (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Ask Me Not Why (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Astley's Amphitheatre (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) At Thy Shrine, Daughter of the Graces (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Atkins (Composer)
Attila (Music); See Godfrey, Daniel, Jr. (Composer) Au Bord du Mer (Music); See Dunkler, Mons. Emile (Composer) Au Clair de Lune (Music); See Fahrbach, Philipp (Composer) Au Jeu Mes Amis (Song); See Halévy, Mons. J. Fromental (Composer) Auber, Daniel F. (Composer)
Aubert, Jacques (Composer)
Auction Mart (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Audibert (Composer)
Audran, Edmond (Composer)
Auld Lang Syne (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Autumn (Music); See Unlisted (Composer) Auvray, George (Composer)
Aux Feux Scintillants des Etoiles (Song); See Halévy, Mons. J. Fromental (Composer) Away, Away, to the Mountain's Brow (Song); See Waylett, Mrs. Harriett (Composer) Away with all Water Wherever I Come (Song); See Unlisted (Composer) Directory: AdelphiTheatreCalendar AdelphiTheatreCalendar -> The Adelphi Theatre Project Sans Pareil Theatre, 1806-1819 AdelphiTheatreCalendar -> The Adelphi Theatre Project Sans Pareil Theatre, 1806-1819 AdelphiTheatreCalendar -> Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres Seasonal Digests: 1806-1899 AdelphiTheatreCalendar -> Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres Seasonal Digests: 1806-1899 AdelphiTheatreCalendar -> Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres Curtain Up: 1806-1899 Download 6.82 Mb. Share with your friends:
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