.
Any collection of vocal music from the turn of the 18th
century is going to include numbers from the most popular musical plays of the
time, and my big volume is no exception. Storace, Shield, Linley are names that
appear over and over again, and of their most durable works there is very
little new to say. I don’t think I could rate the biggest favourites amongst
the operas of the time from one to ten, but I think I would be safe in saying
that the granddaddy of them all must be R B Sheridan’s The Duenna, or the Double
Elopement, with songs by Thomas Linley, produced at the Theatre Royal,
Covent Garden, 21 November 1775. The press reported that the piece pulled 6,000
guineas in its first season, giving the theatre its most successful term in
history. And it went on from there. I have actually seen a version of this
delightful piece on the London stage (unfortunately, fiddled with and
remusicked) during my lifetime, so it has indeed proven durable.
I am not going to attempt to summarise Sheridan’s plot. It is dizzying
farrago of mistaken identity, strayed letters, plots, disguises and all the
other devices that can keep young lovers apart for two hours. We have two pairs
of juveniles (Clara and Ferdinand, Louisa and Antonio), a not really stern
father (Jerome), an ugly but warm-hearted and marriageable Portuguese Jew
(Isaac), an enabler (Carlos) and the unstarchy duenna of the title, all of whom
are intricately involved in the plot, and all of whom get more or less music to
sing.
My book includes no less than four numbers from the sizeable score of The Duenna. The showy ‘Adieu, thou dreary pile’ a favourite song
sung by Miss Stephens’, in the role of Clara, created by Mrs Cargill; ‘Ah! Sure
a Pair’ ‘a favourite song sung by Mr Incledon’ as Carlos and his other main song
‘Had I a Heart for Falsehood Fram’d’ (the original Carlos was, curiously, the
overtly Jewish ‘Michael Leoni’), plus ‘How oft Louisa hast thou said’, ‘a
favourite song sung by Mr Broadhurst at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden’ in
the role of Antonio, originated by Dubellamy.
These, we thus see,
are much later examples than the original publications, which hit the music
shelves within weeks of the show’s production, as rivals hurried to plagiarise,
‘parody’ and imitate the triumphant piece. I see the publisher Wilkie
advertising ‘the songs, duets trios in The
Duenna’ by new year’s day 1776 and The
Convivial Magazine featured the piece in its pictorial pages, alongside ‘a
beautiful etching of the Tarring and Feathering of Three American Ladies’.
Salisbury Theatre plagiarises the show months after its premiere |
We have a fair
idea of the dating of this volume by now, thanks to Princess Charlotte et al,
but Incledon and Miss Stephens (in what had become the principal roles, often with
added songs) are no help. Incledon was already playing Carlos in the 1790s,
Miss Stephens had succeeded Mrs Billington as Clara by the 1810s, and both played
those parts long and often. I see them actually featured together in the show
in 1813, with special mention for her bravura ‘Adieu thou dreary pile’ and for his
‘Had I a Heart’. Kitty Stephens was still singing Clara – to the Carlos of
Eliza Vestris – in 1830. William Broadhurst, however, slims the timespan more
than a little. I see him playing Antonio at Covent Garden in 1814, with Miss
Stephens and Sinclair, and again in – yes! 1822 – in a curiously cast edition
which featured the juvenile Clara Fisher as … Isaac the Jew!
So, it seems, Mr
Shade merely attached a famous and/or topical name to his publication of each
piece of music, rather than those of a current cast: Incledon was well past his
best when Broadhurst appeared on the scene. And Miss Stephens: well, ‘as sung
by Miss Stephens’ appears on so many Shade music sheets … why not? I’m sure she
sang all of the music credited at some stage, and there was no better reference
than her name for a budding boudoir young lady with soprano ambitions and two spare
shillings to spend.
And all those
amateur almost-tenors who strove to be Incledon …
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