My final recital at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis will take place on May 27th. As we're about eight weeks away from it, I'm required to submit a number of documents to the secretaries including some detailed program notes. My program is based around John Ernest Galliard, known best today for his bassoon sonatas. He was, however, an important figure in London's musical circles and his writings (or what we believe to be his writings) give us a great deal of information on the first years of opera in London.
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| The interior of the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket. This was probably not the theatre described in The Spectator, but you get a good idea of what the inside of an 18th century playhouse would look like. Engraving by Claude-René-Gabriel Poulleau from G.-P.-M. Dumont’s ‘Parallèle de plans de plus belles salles de spectacles d’Italie et de France’ (Paris, 1764). |
During my research, I came across an hilarious letter in The Spectator, a daily publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele which was in circulation in 1711 and 1712. I've copied the entire story below, which has been republished by Project Gutenberg.
If concert halls today had their own "Trunk-Maker", it might make for a much more interesting experience!
No. 235
Thursday, November 29, 1711
There is nothing which lies more within the Province of a Spectator than publick Shows and Diversions; and as among these there are none which can pretend to vie with those elegant Entertainments that are exhibited in our Theatres, I think it particularly incumbent on me to take Notice of every thing that is remarkable in such numerous and refined Assemblies.
