Music in Eighteenth-Century American Theater

Hoover, Cynthia Adams

doi:10.2307/3051560

Cited by 43 publications

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“…The evening's entertainmentwhich frequently lasted four or five hourswould conclude with diverse amusements such as singing, dancing, further works performed by the orchestra, or possibly a short epilogue; sometimes the choice of repertory was in response to requests from audience members. 6 Audience behaviour at such entertainments was not unlike that typical of twentieth-century sporting events: members of the audience would come and go, eat and drink, talk among themselves, applaud wildly, heckle the actors mercilessly, or sing along with the performers. The 'dramatic' evening just described is one that featured a drama; when the mainpiece consisted instead of a ballad opera or a comic opera (both, on the American stage, essentially plays with songs), the percentage of music performed was even greater.…”

Section: The Eighteenth Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cambridge companion to the musical

2003

Choice Reviews Online

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Most histories of American musical theatre give short shriftat bestto the 'origin of the species', to use Edith Borroff's apt phrase. Despite lofty ambitions (titles that claim coverage 'from the beginning to the present'), most authors are content to offer a brief essay about the antecedents of musical comedy, usually including definitive identification of 'the first American musical' (The Black Crook, Little Johnny Jones, Evangeline, Show Boat, The Beggar's Opera, The Wizard of the Nile or any number of other works), before turning, with an almost discernible sigh of relief, to musical theatre of the twentieth century. The reasons for the brevity and for the disagreement on the 'first' musical become readily apparent as soon as one attempts to sort out the myriad different types of musical theatrical forms that materialised, metamorphosed, became popular, disappeared, re-emerged and cross-fertilised prior to the twentieth century. To put it simply, for the scholar in search of a clear lineage to the forms of the twentieth century, musical theatre in the eighteenthand even more so in the nineteenthcentury was a tangled, chaotic mess. This was not the impression at the time, of course. To the contrary, a nineteenth-century American, especially the resident of a large city like New York, found musical theatrical life during the time to be gloriously rich, varied and ever-changing; it was a world that was entertaining, interesting, exciting and innovative to an extent that should elicit a twinge of envy from the modern reader. But the job of the historian is to clarify and attempt to put into some kind of order the messiness of a bygone era. And the richness of that period makes the job both difficult and important.What follows, then, is a carefully guided and succinct tour of the American musical-theatrical world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To some readersespecially those anxious to reach the more familiar terrain of the twentieth centurythe description of musical life of the earlier eras will be a little puzzling, primarily because this essay will describe genres that have since been removed from the general category of 'musical theatre'. But the varied musical forms that Americans enjoyed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (including opera, [21]

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Section: The Eighteenth Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cambridge companion to the musical

2003

Choice Reviews Online

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“…In general, theater played an important role in the city's public life in the 17th and 18th centuries Atlantic world, but New England Puritan had a thought the theater violated the Puritan doctrine, could cause people despise of religion, also could increase the tendency of people immoral and not religious, banned any professional theatrical performances in the colonies (Hoover, 1984). That is to say, in the New England colonies, give play to the role of public space must be to other institutions or facilities.…”

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A Growth of the Urban Public Space in the British New England

Wang¹

2016

JMC

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Colonial New England urban economy was growing prosperity from 17th century to 18th century, all kinds of urban public space was increasing in number, the increasingly rich on the function, which became important place for colonial population aggregation and consumption. What people from different place come into the big and small cafes, taverns, shops, and the most important Town House took sharing information, emotional communication, business negotiation and other matters, which reflecting the colonial town's economic and social progress.

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The Cambridge Companion to the Musical

2017

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The expanded and updated third edition of this acclaimed Companion provides an accessible, broadly based survey of one of the liveliest and most popular forms of musical performance. It ranges from the American musical of the nineteenth century to the most recent productions on Broadway, in London's West End, and many other venues, and includes key information on singers, audiences, critical reception, and traditions. Contributors approach the subject from a wide variety of perspectives, including historical concerns, artistic aspects, important trends, attention to various genres, the importance of stars, the influence of race, the various disciplines of theatrical production, the musical in varied media, and changes in technology. Chapters related to the contemporary musical have been updated, and two new chapters cover the television musical and the British musical since 1970. Carefully organised and highly readable, it will be welcomed by enthusiasts, students, and scholars alike.

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Music in Eighteenth-Century American Theater

Cited by 43 publications

References 0 publications

The Cambridge companion to the musical

The Cambridge companion to the musical

A Growth of the Urban Public Space in the British New England

The Cambridge Companion to the Musical

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