Benjamin Lumley S Victorian Opera

Sensational, brilliant, disastrous. Solicitor turned impresario Benjamin Lumley counted Napoleon, Count d'Orsay, Verdi, Mendelssohn, and 'Swedish Nightingale' soprano Jenny Lind amongst his friends. Once dubbed 'the mysterious man', and a reluctant successor to actor-manager Laporte, he survived two turbulent mid-19th century decades of directing the Italian opera and ballet at London's Her Majesty's Theatre. Lumley's Reminiscences of the Opera (1864) gives a rare insight, as well as providing interest for students of law, management, opera and theatre. Yet these are only part of his remarkable story. This is a new view of the 'Reminiscences', with added detail about Lumley's life and death, his dedication to Mrs Grote, his fascination with light and colour, his vision of another world and his creative writing under a pseudonym. This title is fully indexed and features contemporary illustrations.

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A memoir of the director of Her Majesty's Theatre, London.

This title presents a study of the rise and fall of the remarkable Colonel James Henry Mapleson, with revelations about his childhood and early musical career.

Benjamin Lumley (1812-1875) who wrote under the pen name Hermes was an opera manager and solicitor. In this capacity he gave legal advice to the financially troubled manager of His Majesty's Theatre, Laporte, who came to rely on him extensively. Soon Lumley was taking all the managerial decisions for the theatre, and when Laporte died he took his place. He wrote a standard handbook on Parliamentary Private Bills and was studying for the Bar. A great admirer of the stars of opera and ballet, a profligate giver of fetes and parties, management of the Royal Italian Opera was the vehicle of his dreams, which he duly repaid by bringing the best of Italian Opera to Victorian London. Lumley's reputation is probably well characterized by the words of one of his singers, who called him un faiseur habile et audacieux. In his later years he returned to the law and wrote two works of fantasy and a legal reference book. His previous successes were never to be repeated. Amongst his other works is Another World: Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah (1873).

The English humour magazine Punch, or the London Charivari, which first appeared in 1841, quickly became something of a national institution with a large and multi-layered readership. Though comic in tone, Punch was deeply serious about upholding high literary and artistic standards, about dealing with serious subject-matter, and about attempting to nurture its readers' appreciation of the national drama and of Shakespeare's plays in particular. The author's detailed examination of Punch's constant advocacy of Shakespeare reveals telling new evidence concerning the ubiquitous presence of Shakespeare within Victorian culture. New research in the Punch archives and elsewhere also reveals the identities of many of the Punch authors and artists. The author shows how those who worked for Punch often subsumed their collective identities within the single persona of Mr. Punch, a fictional creation who repeatedly presents himself in both texts and graphics as a close friend and admirer of Shakespeare, a man able to remind Victorian readers constantly of the supreme literary and moral values represented by Shakespeare's works.

Now a byword for beauty, Verdi’s operas were far from universally acclaimed when they reached London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Why did some critics react so harshly? Who were they and what biases and prejudices animated them? When did their antagonistic attitude change? And why did opera managers continue to produce Verdi’s operas, in spite of their alleged worthlessness? Massimo Zicari’s Verdi in Victorian London reconstructs the reception of Verdi’s operas in London from 1844, when a first critical account was published in the pages of The Athenaeum, to 1901, when Verdi’s death received extensive tribute in The Musical Times. In the 1840s, certain London journalists were positively hostile towards the most talked-about representative of Italian opera, only to change their tune in the years to come. The supercilious critic of The Athenaeum, Henry Fothergill Chorley, declared that Verdi’s melodies were worn, hackneyed and meaningless, his harmonies and progressions crude, his orchestration noisy. The scribes of The Times, The Musical World, The Illustrated London News, and The Musical Times all contributed to the critical hubbub. Yet by the 1850s, Victorian critics, however grudging, could neither deny nor ignore the popularity of Verdi’s operas. Over the final three decades of the nineteenth century, moreover, London’s musical milieu underwent changes of great magnitude, shifting the manner in which Verdi was conceptualized and making room for the powerful influence of Wagner. Nostalgic commentators began to lament the sad state of the Land of Song, referring to the now departed "palmy days of Italian opera." Zicari charts this entire cultural constellation. Verdi in Victorian London is required reading for both academics and opera aficionados. Music specialists will value a historical reconstruction that stems from a large body of first-hand source material, while Verdi lovers and Italian opera addicts will enjoy vivid analysis free from technical jargon. For students, scholars and plain readers alike, this book is an illuminating addition to the study of music reception.

This valuable book considers the reception of the composer, pianist, organist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn in nineteenth-century England, and his influence on English musical culture. Despite the composer's immense popularity in the nation during his lifetime and in the decades following his death, this is the first book to deal exclusively with the subject of Mendelssohn in England. Eatock reveals Mendelssohn as a catalyst for the expansion of English musical culture in the Victorian era. In taking this position, the author challenges much of the extant literature on the subject and provides an engaging story that brings Mendelssohn and his English experiences to life.