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Masque and Opera in England, 1656-1688 presents a comprehensive study of the development of court masque and through-composed opera in England from the mid-1650s to the Revolution of 1688-89. In seeking to address the problem of generic categorization within a highly fragmentary corpus for which a limited amount of documentation survives, Walkling argues that our understanding of the distinctions between masque and opera must be premised upon a thorough knowledge of theatrical context and performance circumstances. Using extensive archival and literary evidence, detailed textual readings, rigorous tabular analysis, and meticulous collation of bibliographical and musical sources, this interdisciplinary study offers a host of new insights into a body of work that has long been of interest to musicologists, theatre historians, literary scholars and historians of Restoration court and political culture, but which has hitherto been imperfectly understood.
A companion volume will explore the phenomenon of "dramatick opera" and its precursors on London's public stages between the early 1660s and the first decade of the eighteenth century.
List of contents
List of Figures, Diagrams and Examples List of Tables Acknowledgements Notes to the Reader Introduction: Comparing Apples and Tomatoes: The Problematics of Restoration Masque and Opera 1 PART I: "Their greatest gallantry imaginable": Masques, Balls, and "Recreational" Acting at Court 1 Balls and the Growth of Shrovetide Entertainments 2 Youthful "Recreational" Theatrics, 1668–75 3 Masques and Plays at Court after 1675 PART II: "For such uses as the King shall direct": Through-Composed Opera, Foreign Musicians, and the Royall Academy of Musick 4 Operatic Experiments of the 1650s 5 Foreign Musicians at the Restoration Court, 1660–73 6 The Royall Academy of Musick, 1673–75 7 French Musicians at Court, 1675–89 8 Through-Composed Drama in the 1680s Appendix A: Transcription of National Archives, London, AO1/2053/28, ff. 4v–5r(Costumes for 1667 Court Ball) Appendix B: Letters Relating to Lord Sunderland’s Court Ballet, 1686 Appendix C: Instrumental Music Associated with Early Operas and Masques Found in Contemporary Printed Collections, 1662–c.1725 Selected Bibliography Index
About the author
Andrew R. Walkling is Associate Professor of Art History, English, and Theatre at Binghamton University (State University of New York, USA). He received his Ph.D. in British History from Cornell University, and has published widely on court culture and cultural production in Restoration England, and on the music of Henry Purcell.
