ABSTRACTS part 2:
Richard Semmens (University of Western Ontario): 'John Rich: Face to Face with Faust; Or, the Nights Lun didn't dance'
John Rich's enormously popular production of The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus, in which he danced what some have described as his signature role as the title character, first played on the evening of 20 December 1723, some three and a half weeks following the premier of John Thurmond's Harlequin Doctor Faustus at Drury Lane. Justifiably well-known among scholars of post-restoration theatre, the two Harlequin Doctor Faustus afterpieces that were staged near the end of 1723 at the two patent theatres have frequently been regarded as important landmarks in the development of the fad for pantomimes, and in the stabilization of the basic design of this kind of entertainment. Viola Papetti's 1977 study on Harlequin in London, for example, makes such an argument, one that is reinforced in Antoni Sadlak's 1999 dissertation. More recently, John O'Brien has offered a fascinating study of eighteenth-century pantomime in England-including the two Doctor Faustus productions-that, through a very thoughtful consideration of selected criticism of the time, attempts to confront the thorny question of pantomime as 'literary' genre.
But, in many ways the Doctor Faustus pieces have suffered from scholarly neglect, and many preconceptions about their place in eighteenth-century European theatre history are in need of considerable reassessment. In design, for example, they are rather anomalous compared to the customary layout and content of more fully developed pantomimes, such as Perseus and Andromeda; or the Spaniard Outwitted of 1730, mounted by John Rich and Lewis Theobald at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Moreover, the two Doctor Faustus pieces were rather less stable in their conduct during their initial runs than is almost always made out: there were changes to casts; music was added, altered, or removed altogether; and scenes were revised, sometimes in substantial ways. The creators of neither afterpiece, interestingly, referred to it as a 'pantomime.' Thurmond called his piece 'a New Grotesque Entertainment,' while Rich termed his 'a New Dramatick Entertainment in Grotesque Characters.' With the exception of Roger Fiske's important investigation into English theatre music of the eighteenth century, very little attention has been paid to the musical materials of the two productions, and virtually nothing has been said about the dance. I am currently engaged in a large project that will attempt to address these issues (as well as others).
I propose in this presentation to address Rich's creation, drawing on, among other documents, a remarkable little imprint with the title: An exact description of the two fam'd entertainments of Harlequin Doctor Faustus; with the grand masque of the heathen deities: and the Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus. As now perform'd, in grotesque characters, at both theatres. Containing the particular tricks, incidents, songs, dances, alterations, and additions, throughout both performances. Regularly adjusted into distinct scenes. With the names of the persons of both dramas. The work was printed for T. Payne, publisher of the weekly, The Universal Journal, the inaugural issue of which (11 December 1723) had contained a notice on Thurmond's production. The imprint, however, is undated, although it very likely was issued in the first half of 1724, when the two Doctor Faustus afterpieces were at the height of their popularity. The 'exact description' was referenced in Papetti's study, as well as in Sadlak's (if only via Papetti), but has otherwise not received the careful attention from scholars it certainly deserves. My goal in the presentation will be to show the integration of action, dance, and music in Rich's Necromancer more fully than has been attempted to date.
Anne MacNeil (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill): 'Opera and the Commedia dell'Arte: The Emperor Nero Tale-Type'
'The Emperor Nero Tale-Type' is part of a larger, in-depth investigation of the points of interaction between the two seemingly disparate fields of opera and the commedia dell'arte. As Nino Pirrotta wrote in 1955, 'Nobody has ever undertaken a comparison between the scenarios of the commedia and the subjects of operatic libretti, because the specialists in each of these fields are usually scarcely interested in the other'. As true today as it was then, this statement inspires my study. My research in both opera and the commedia dell'arte, over time, has unearthed notices of commedia dell'arte actresses and actors who performed opera, documentation of shared theatrical spaces, and a centuries-long tradition of shared character-types (the old nurse, the barber, the enchantress), scene-types (hunts, lament-soliloquies, mad scenes) and tale-types (stories of the Emperor Nero, Queen Dido, Don Juan).
'The Emperor Nero Tale-Type' marks the beginning of my study. Here, I conduct comparative research into three central examples of the tale-type: 'The Emperor Nero' scenario from the compilation of 176 commedia dell'arte manuscript sketches housed in the Casamarciano collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples; Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'incoronazione di Poppea; and George Frideric Handel's opera Agrippina. My goal in these comparisons is twofold: to identify structural elements of the tale-type that transcend variations in presentation of the story; and to identify stereotypical elements that may not be structural but which seem to be components of the type as well as of individual iterations of the story. The analytical methods I employ are eclectic, although all pertain to the functions of narrative and dramatic representation. Analysis of the narrative and representational functions of music and of musical styles is essential, in that music often relays non-verbal information that is significant to issues such as character portrayal or scenography. Conceptions of veracity, authorship, and faithfulness to historical events are not at issue, in that tale-types are essentially the skeletal remains of stories. Individual iterations of these stories often represent the contributions of multiple authors, sometimes over time, and they often contain significant amounts of material that are entirely fictitious. Within prominent tale-types such as that of the Emperor Nero, I seek to discern elemental structures from spaces where human imagination is let out to play.
Jeremy Barlow (The Broadside Band): 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Harmonizing Ballad Opera Tunes in the Eighteenth Century'
Pepusch's basses for the songs in The Beggar's Opera may today appear simple, sometimes even crude. Yet they remained the standard accompaniment for much of the 18th century. Charles Burney, while deriding Pepusch's compositions generally, wrote in 1789 that the latter 'furnished the wild , rude, and often vulgar melodies with bases so excellent that no sound contrapuntist will ever attempt to alter them'. In examining the criteria for effective accompaniments, the paper, with live musical examples, draws on eighteenth-century settings of songs from Polly, The Devil to Pay and The Jovial Crew, and also compares versions of The
Beggar's Opera from the eighteenth century and later.
Naomi Matsumoto (Goldsmith's College, University of London): 'A Rich Vein of Success: The English Mad Song and Early Eighteenth-Century Burlesque Theatre'
John Rich's success lay in the shrewd manner in which he presented entertainments both 'high' and 'low' in his theatres. On the 'lower' side of his endeavours, he exploited the public's rekindled interest in 'things English', and during the 1720s and 30s that interest included a renewed focus upon the 'the English mad song', famously established by Henry Purcell and others in the previous century. This paper will demonstrate the profound role that the 'mad song' played in the early 18th -century burlesque theatre and explore the genre's contribution to the successes of pantomimes and ballad operas.
First, a definition of the 'English mad song' will be attempted by looking at examples ranging from Purcell's "From silent shades (Mad Bess)" through to 'new' mad songs written during the early 18th century including George Hayden's "New Mad Tom" (c. 1720), Henry Carey's "I go to the Elysian Shade" (1724) and "Gods I can never this endure" (1732). It will be suggested that the characteristics of these 'new' mad songs exemplified the core of the early-18th-century signification of the 'burlesque' - in the same vein, but on a smaller scale than overtly theatrical works such as Carey/Lampe's The Dragon of Wantley (1734), which Rich assiduously 'headhunted' for his own Covent Garden.
Second, the 18th-century performance records of the aforementioned mad songs in the theatres of John Rich and others will be traced. It will become clear that what we rather abstractly call the 'vogue for the mad song' was the result of some very specific preferences of certain theatre entrepreneurs (including Rich), which was then driven forward by the cutthroat rivalry between the theatres. Furthermore, we shall see the close relation that existed between the 'mad' repertoire and particular singers of that time, who ranged from 'elite' ones such as John Beard, to populist performers such as Bart Platt. It also becomes explicit that, for those vocalists, such songs and, in particular, 'performing them in character' helped them prepare for singing and acting roles in burlesque theatre in their later careers. This will be discussed with a particular focus upon Beard who, in parallel to his Handelian career, appeared in various pantomimes and made his name as the most successful Macheath in The Beggar's Opera.
Finally, this paper will challenge the supposed division between 'high' and 'low' arts by examining18th-century burlesque theatre as a whole. Indeed, the variegated corpus of mad songs demonstrates that such styles could be fused to very great effect. When we come to understand the complexities of these issues we may begin to believe that a so-called vogue of 'mere fashion' in the theatre is a notion as delusional as the insane characters that the mad song is supposed to represent.
Keith McEwing (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand): '"And Harlequin Dances": Lun and the Chacoon for a Harlequin'
John Rich-under his stage name, 'Lun'-was well known for his portrayal of Harlequin, and for establishing the pantomime tradition in Britain.
Harlequin had originated in the Italian theatre form Commedia dell'arte, and became well known throughout Europe for his acrobatics, pranks and impersonations. He was also known for his skills in dance and music, as were many of the commedia characters.
Harlequin's character exemplifies the grotesque theatre style. Only a few grotesque Baroque dance notations are extant and yet four of them are for Harlequin. What is more, all four dances are chaconnes or to chaconne music. One of these dances, Chacoon for a Harlequin, by François Le Roussau, was published in London during the time of Lun and his pantomimes as Harlequin.
This paper will look at Chacoon for a Harlequin. It will discuss how a notation can help define the movement lexicon of Harlequin, and the significance of the dance being a chaconne. A comparison between this dance and the noble dances from London at this time will be made, particularly Chacone of Amadis, by Anthony L'Abbé.
John Rich endorsed dance in the theatre in many ways: through his own performances, by employing dancers, and by persuading musicians to create music for dancing. Examples of these will illustrate the important role Rich played in promoting dance in early eighteenth-century London.
Fiona Ritchie (McGill University): 'The Impact of the Shakespeare Ladies Club on John Rich's Repertory in the 1737-38 Theatrical Season'
The existence of the Shakespeare Ladies Club is a fascinating detail of eighteenth-century theatre history. This group of women formed towards the end of 1736 and campaigned actively for two theatrical seasons, persuading the London theatre managers to put more Shakespeare plays on the stage. Scholars such as Emmett L. Avery and Michael Dobson have examined contemporary references to the efforts of the Club in order to gauge their success. The other main body of evidence for the existence and influence of the Shakespeare Ladies Club is found in the playbills for the two seasons in which they were active. Although the details of these playbills are provided in the calendar of dramatic activity reproduced in The London Stage, this evidence has not previously been systematically analysed in order to draw conclusions about the impact of the female audience on the presentation of Shakespeare in the period. This paper will analyse the playbills from the two seasons in which the Club was active and will demonstrate that having started their campaign at Drury Lane in the 1736-37 season, the Shakespeare Ladies then successfully turned their attention to petitioning John Rich, manager of the Covent Garden theatre, in the 1737-38 season in an attempt to increase the amount of Shakespeare performed there. This is significant, since Rich was identified as the person responsible for the dominance of pantomime and spectacle on the London stage at this time to the detriment of traditional drama, a state of affairs much lamented by contemporary commentators on the theatre. This paper's analysis of the Shakespeare Ladies Club will shed new light on Rich's repertory, countering the common assumption that it was the rival Drury Lane theatre which staged the majority of Shakespeare performances in the eighteenth century and demonstrating that as a result of the efforts of the Shakespeare Ladies Club, Rich was able to rival Drury Lane in the elevation of Shakespeare's plays to a very large proportion of the repertory.
Kathryn R. King (University of Montevallo): 'John Rich and Eliza Haywood at Lincoln's Inn Fields'
Between 1717-1721 the professional lives of John Rich and Eliza Haywood (1692?-1756) intersected in a number of ways: they shared friends and acquaintance, moved through the same theatrical and print-world circles, and on at least one occasion collaborated on a playhouse venture. Known today as a popular novelist and periodical writer, Haywood was also an actress and playwright at different times during her long and remarkable career. Indeed, she began her professional life as an aspiring actress at the Smock Alley theatre in Dublin. There she made the professional contacts that may have provided her entree into Rich's London world. In spring 1717, 'lately arriv'd' in London, she played the role of Nottingham in The Unhappy Favourite at Lincoln's Inn Fields.
For the next four years, at least, Haywood and Rich were professional associates. Their shared acquaintance included the actor Theophilus Keene and the prompter William Rufus Chetwood, who was also Haywood's first bookseller. He published Haywood's first titles, including Letters from a Lady of Quality (1720), a high-end translation from the French that included among its subscribers John and his brother Christopher-Mosier, as well as another Rich, a Mr. Edward-Pickering Rich of Balliol, whose identity I will need to track down. The most fully documented instance of collaboration between Rich and Haywood dates to January 1721. At this time, as Haywood tells the story in an 'Advertisement to the Reader', Rich proposed that she undertake to 'new model' a play written several years earlier by Capt. Robert Hurst but found in rehearsals to be 'unfit for Representation'. She did so, reluctantly by her account, the result being The Fair Captive, staged at Lincoln's Inn March 1721 and revived November of that year. Her account of their collaboration in the little-studied 'Advertisement' sheds light on Haywood's sense of professional identity at this time as well as on Rich's managerial practices. Further research may turn up evidence of additional professional contact between Rich and Haywood over the next several decades when, as members of the fairly limited London print-and-playhouse world, their professional and possibly personal lives would have continued to cross. Haywood spoke respectfully of Rich in print through the 40s. He figures several times, for example, in discussions of theatre politics in her periodical The Female Spectator (1744-46). My talk will pursue implications of the Rich-Haywood professional relationship as I am able to reconstruct it. In addition, I hope to add to our understanding of Rich's contemporary reputation via analysis of Haywood's representations of him in her periodical and dramatic-historiographical writings in the 1730s and 1740s.
Felicity Nussbaum (UCLA): '"An Appendix to her Sex:" Peg Woffington and Nation'
Rich allegedly described Margaret (Peg) Woffington to Sir Joshua Reynolds as 'amalgamated Calypso, Circe and Armida' and 'as majestic as Juno, as lovely as Venus, and as fresh and charming as Hebe'. Woffington's quarrels with Rich suggest, however, the very real difficulties that the second generation of actresses faced in attempting to negotiate professional arrangements with their managers. This paper focuses on actress Woffington's disagreements with Rich regarding the assignment of roles, as well as her participation in the performance of nation on the London and Irish stages. I will discuss especially her crossdressed parts in George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer and in various epilogues to suggest the way that her ambivalent gender roles relate to the formation of national identities at midcentury.
Carol Marsh (University of North Carolina, Greensboro): 'Dance on the Eighteenth-Century London Stage: The Choreographic Evidence'
Theater historians have long recognized that dance played an important role in 18th-century London entertainments. Entries in The London Stage provide ample evidence not only of the amount of dancing that took place, but also of the variety of choreographic styles that were offered. Yet few of these scholars seem aware that choreographic notations from the period have survived; these notations enable us to reconstruct the dances, many of which had direct or indirect links to the theater. While the majority of these dances are in the serious or noble style, a few character dances and pantomimes are also preserved in notation.
My paper will take as its starting point a correlation of all the surviving choreographic notations with the theaters in which they were performed, as well as with the dancers who performed them. From this evidence I will draw conclusions about the changes in choreographic style that were taking place in the first few decades of the 18th century, not only in John Rich's theater but in other London venues as well.
Linda J. Tomko (University of California, Riverside): 'Harlequin Choreographies: Repetition, Difference, and Representation'
This paper scrutinizes 'harlequin' choreographies, surviving in notated dance scores from early 18th-century France and England, for means they marshaled to signal a distinctive theatrical character. It notes patterns of compositional repetition and difference among harlequin choreographies, and deployment of similar patterns in other dance types, to probe period modes or strategies for representation and cultural meaning-making.
Jim Fowler (V&A Theatre and Performance Collection): 'Harlequin Women'
Female Harlequins emerged in the 1690s and became fashionable in the 18th century. Known in Italy as Arlecchina and Harlequine in France, they were kindred spirits to Harlequin's racy girlfriend Columbine.
In England the female Harlequin soon found a supreme interpreter in Hester Booth (née Santlow). Following her debut in 1705, she captivated English audiences in the role, and went on to dance it in various forms including pantomime for over two decades.
Discussion will centre on the recently discovered painting of her performing in full Harlequin dress probably in the 1720s, and on questions such as what contribution did female Harlequins make to the development of English pantomime in the first quarter of the 18th century.
Al Coppola (Fordham University): 'Harlequin Newton: John Rich's Necromancer and the Public Science of the 1720s'
The 1720's saw the emergence of not one but two popular and influential genres of performance featuring of what we might call 'surprizing phenomena'. There were the pantomime spectacles featuring Harlequin most closely associated with John Rich at Lincoln's Inn Fields, but there were also the spectacular courses of experiments conducted by Newtonians such as John Theophilis Desaguliers, William Whiston, and Frances Hauksbee, which were designed as much to actually teach natural philosophy as to entertain, thereby cultivating social and financial support for a wide variety of 'projects' seeking to apply science for economic gain. These two emergent theatrical discourses are complexly interrelated, and my paper will suggest the entertainments that established the English pantomime form-the Harlequin Doctor Faustus craze of 1723-4, and particularly John Rich's Necromancer-offered a complex mediation of the radically new matrixes of power and knowledge promoted in the Newtonian lecturers.
Drawing on contemporary accounts of the marvels staged in Lincoln's Inn Fields my paper will suggest how John Rich's Necromancer was read as an ironic double of the heady (and, to some, suspect) 'conjuring' that contemporaries recognized in public promotion of post-Newtonian natural philosophy. Imagining a world suffused with an omnipresent power that only he can see and manipulate, Harlequin Faustus conjured up the single most important preoccupation of the Newtonians-gravity-and his anarchic misrule registered the widespread appropriation of Newtonian natural philosophy, and Newtonian authority, in political, economic and theological domains. A cunning superimposition of the Newtonian projector, the overmastering First Minister, and the juggling legerdemain artist, Rich's Harlequin Faustus held a mirror up to the new alignment of science, spectacle, and politics in the early eighteenth-century.
Deborah W. Rooke (King's College London): 'Samson down the Centuries: From Biblical Text to Handelian Oratorio'
This paper examines the libretto of the Handelian oratorio Samson, which was the first of Handel's Israelite oratorios to have its premiere at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, under the management of John Rich, on 18 February 1743. The fundamental source of the libretto is, of course, the biblical text of Judges 13-16, but the more proximate source is John Milton's epic poem Samson Agonistes, as stated by the librettist Newburgh Hamilton in the preface to the libretto. Although the libretto at first glance appears extremely similar to Milton's poem in its general scheme and plot, there are nevertheless significant differences between the two, and in addition both works differ significantly from the biblical text in their presentation of the Samson narrative. The paper will therefore examine the inter-relationship between these three versions of the Samson narrative, aiming to highlight in particular some of the ways in which the Handelian libretto would have reflected the concerns and attitudes of its eighteenth-century audience. Musical examples will be included.
Donald Burrows (Open University): 'Good for the Garden: The Composition of Handel's Ariodante'
In the summer of 1734 Handel had to cede the use of the King's Theatre, London's established opera house, to the Opera of the Nobility. The circumstances of the following season were some of the most difficult of Handel's career, under strong competition from the rival company. However, the transference of his performances to John Rich's recently-completed theatre at Covent Garden provided new stimulants and resources, though Handel also had to adapt to performing under a rather different theatrical regime from that at the opera house. With Ariodante, his major new opera score for the season, drafted in August-October 1734 and further revised before the first performance in January 1735; Handel took full advantage of the opportunities provided by his new situation, and also took particular care over the composition of the major arias. This paper will describe the circumstances of the opera's composition and performance, and will examine the composition process for one aria in detail.
Judith Milhous (CUNY Graduate Center): 'The Finances of an Eighteenth-Century Theatre Revisited: Tales of John Rich's Company in 1724-25'
In 1955, Emmett L. Avery published an article on this subject that was almost entirely confined to description of the contents of British Library Egerton MS 2265, the accounts for Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, 1724-25. As editor of Part 2 of The London Stage performance calendar, Avery ignored much of his own earlier work, and he never analyzed the material he had described. The writers of the Biographical Dictionary [of London Theatre Personnel], 1660-1800 preserved some of Avery's procedural mistakes and added a disastrous misreading of their own from this account book. The accounts have more to tell us about the operation of this company than has been set forth. This paper will make more considered use of the material, showing the cost to members of the company of a season which, despite three very successful new productions, ended in a loss.
Berta Joncus (St Anne's College, Oxford): '"The Power of Sound and Sing-Song:" The Production of Star Tenor John Beard'
John Beard was the first star tenor of the London stage. His singing voice was therefore also a medium for the construction of his persona, and came to signify specific qualities such as masculinity, patriotism, honesty, robustness and courage. While star production of the day knitted together Beard's skills, musical and dramatic repertory, iconography and off-stage conduct into a 'personality', it was his singing that was prized above, and grasped before, any other aspect of his self-representation.
This paper analyses the critical juncture in Beard's career from 1730 and 1745 during which his music, publicity and stage representation combined to fix him in the popular imagination, in part by equating him with Admiral Vernon, hero of the War of Jenkins' Ear. How these elements worked together to produce Beard's image is richly suggestive of the sophistication of eighteenth century London's entertainment industry. Rich's performance history also guided his choice of repertory as manager of Covent Garden from 1761; here he vigorously promoted musical theatre, the popularity of which, Thomas Davies reported, 'obliged Garrick and Shakespeare to quit the field.'
Joseph Drury (University of Pennsylvania): 'John Rich and the Mechanization of the Theatre'
I would like to give a paper entitled 'John Rich and the Mechanization of the Theatre', in which I would discuss both Rich's contribution as a major technical innovator on the eighteenth-century London stage and the ambivalent response of his audiences to the 'mechanization' of the theatre that took place during his tenure as manager at Lincoln's Inn Fields and, latterly, Covent Garden. I would want first to outline the basic nature of Rich's achievement as a 'machinist' by describing the mechanical effects -transformations, disappearances and flying objects - that were used to dazzle audiences at his pantomimes. I would then want to look at some of the audience reactions to these effects, recorded in contemporary periodicals, prologues and satirical drama, showing how they were often assumed to play differently to different parts of the audience, were hailed as engines of Enlightenment, but were also attacked as a form of modern barbarism that disgraced the ancient dignity of the stage. Finally, I want to make a more speculative argument about the changing relationship of actor and machine in eighteenth-century theatre, and to suggest that, while machinery had played an important role on the London stage since the Restoration, Rich's tenure as manager coincides with a realignment of that relationship, with two contradictory and conflicting effects: the relegation of the ordinary actor to minor roles supporting the machinery and a corresponding decline in their earnings and status; and the emergence and elevation of a few, highly individualized, immensely well-paid stars-the most famous of whom, David Garrick, symbolically refused to perform in pantomimes. I will finish by suggesting that the actors' revolts of the 1730s and 1740s can be explained in part as industrial disputes that responded to the new conditions of an increasingly mechanized theatre.
Gráinne McArdle (Independent scholar): 'John Rich and the Dublin Stage'
The paper seeks to explore the influence of Rich and the repertory performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, on the dance and pantomime repertory performed in Dublin during the seventeen twenties and early seventeen thirties. The study will focus primarily on the work of the Dublin based dancers, Anthony and Diane Moreau (the city's foremost dancers during this period). The couple had worked at Lincoln's Inn Fields between 1715 and 1719, as a dancer and choreographer, and as an actress and dancer respectively. Diane Moreau had played Columbine to Rich¹s Harlequin during the seasons 1717-18 and 1718-19, a role she resumed when visiting London during 1728-29. It is not surprising therefore that Rich's The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus, and not Thurmond Junior's Harlequin Doctor Faustus was that mounted in Dublin. Similarly The Island Princess, which had been chosen by the Moreaus for benefit nights in London, was favoured in Dublin, and later served as a weapon in the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley's arsenal, when faced with rival theatres and booths during the early seventeen thirties. The What d'ye call it, another Lincoln¹s Inn Fields staple is the first documented afterpiece on the Smock Alley Stage, and of course The Beggar¹s Opera enjoyed enormous success in Dublin. By 16 December 1728, Dickson¹s Dublin Intelligence announced the '40th Time' of acting it.
The paper will document the Moreaus' single season spent at the rival theatre booth, of Signora Violante in 1730-31. There they joined Violante and Charles Lalauze, along with three known Smock Alley dancers. This union of dancers and pantomime performers presented a season of pantomime entertainments to the Dublin public. Here again the Moreaus played their part, and programmes presented reflected recently performed Lincoln's Inn Fields repertory, most particularly, Dublin interpretations of Lewis Theobald's Apollo and Daphne; or, the Burgomaster Trick'd and The Rape of Proserpine with the Birth and Adventures of Harlequin.
By 1733, when the Moreaus returned to the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Anthony Moreau was a manager at that house, and as a decade of intense theatre rivalry unfolded in the city, his experience of theatre competition in London from 1715 to 1719 was to prove invaluable. There was furthermore a marked increase in the number of dancers and Harlequins visiting the city during the seventeen thirties, and the variety of pantomimes produced.
Ian Small (University of York): 'Rich's Influence on a Provincial Circuit: Pantomimes in Yorkshire'
In his Memoirs (1790), Tate Wilkinson wrote that he 'experienced many acts of kindness, good wishes, and cordiality' from John Rich, which had a profound influence on his life and work in the theatre. Rich was known as a manager who was loyal to his actors, and who set the highest standards for his productions. These two qualities, and Rich's dedication to the coaching of younger actors, set Wilkinson an example for his own managerial career. In these ways, Rich had a much greater effect on the success of the provincial theatre than has sometimes been recognised, for Wilkinson in his turn was seen as an exemplary manager - one who nurtured many future stars.
More obvious was Rich's influence on the expectations and repertoire of the provincial theatre. His highly popular pantomimes at Covent Garden set standards which provincial managers were obliged to emulate, to the best of their company's and their financial abilities. In his history of the Yorkshire circuit (The Wandering Patentee 1795), Wilkinson notes the conflict between the audiences' demands to see pantomimes, and the near-impossibility of providing them with the quality of production they were expecting: 'for if really got up as a pantomime should be, it will never repay the expence, and a second full house is not to be expected if their first proves considerable'. Yet, as the playbills show over many years, on the York Circuit and elsewhere, managers felt obliged to offer pantomimes to their audiences. (When his company played at the Merchant Taylors' Hall in the first half of the eighteenth century, Thomas Keregan sought permission to dig a pit beneath his stage, so that pantomime machinery could be installed there.) Provincial managers recognised that the successful pantomime would bring in the populace, even
when no reduction in price was allowed for half-time arrivals. Many playbills give great prominence to the pantomime and its spectacular effects, in much bigger type-face and with far greater detail than the more cursory notice of the main play.
Drury Lane's management felt it necessary to produce its own pantomimes, at similar cost. On the provincial circuits, the expensive scenery and effects had to be transported from theatre to theatre, so each audience could enjoy the same repertoire as its neighbours. Rich's influence on the provincial repertoire, as well as that of the London theatres, was therefore of considerable significance.
I would therefore like to offer a short position paper to the Conference, to show how Rich's influence extended far beyond London, both in his personal qualities as a manager, which affected the way in Wilkinson, and after him other managers, treated their actors, and in his ambition to present ever-more-spectacular pantomimes, which obliged provincial theatres to emulate Rich's offerings.
Mark Howell-Meri (Drama in Schools): 'Working the three-sided stage: John Rich's Playhouse through Surviving 18th-Century Theatres at Richmond (1788) and Bristol (1766)'
Abstract not available.
Terry Jenkins (English National Opera): 'John Rich's Family Life: An Investigation into Some Little-Known Details'
This paper focusses on Rich's marriages, children and family life. I shall not reiterate facts that can be readily established from existing sources - such as the Dictionary of National Biography (D.N.B.) and the Southern Illinois University's Biographical Dictionary of Actors etc. (B.D.A.) - but add to that knowledge by correcting erroneous information and adding other details that have hitherto been undiscovered. There are many gaps in the published details and my researches have added much hitherto unknown information.
The paper starts with a description of the Rich family tomb in Hillingdon churchyard. The grave still exists and its inscriptions are still perfectly legible. These inscriptions - which I have not seen published elsewhere - identify all the people buried there. Besides Rich himself, there are his two wives: Amy and Priscilla; two children who died in infancy; his daughter Henrietta Bencraft and grand-daughter Harriet Bencraft; his son-in-law James Morris; and daughter Sarah and son-inlaw George Voelcker.
I then examine his three marriages and the children they produced; concentrating on what I have learned about his second 'marriage' to Amy, the mother of his four daughters. No record of this marriage has yet been discovered, and I have been no more successful than other researchers!
I continue by looking at the marriages made by the four daughters, and the part their husbands played in the day-to-day running of the theatre: Henrietta married James Bencraft, one of Rich's actors; Charlotte firstly married Robert Lane, a tailor who did work for the theatre, and secondly John Beard, another of Rich's actors; Mary married the draper, James Morris; and Sarah married George Voelcker, valet and page of the back stairs to King George 2nd. Voelcker is particularly interesting, as he was born in Hanover and must have been the King's own personal appointment - there is no record of his appointment by the Lord Chamberlain, although he appears in the lists of the Royal Household.
I also report on the new information I have discovered about Catherine Benson, the 'natural daughter' referred to in Rich's Will, and her subsequent marriage to William Colville.
Interspersed with this genealogical information is a description of (some of) the properties occupied by Rich and his family - including the house in the passage outside the stage door of the Drury Lane theatre (where he could watch what his rivals were up to!), and the estate at Cowley Grove in Hillingdon on which he spent a large amount of money in improvements. I also include a brief consideration of the pictures owned by Rich at Cowley which were sold at auction
after his death - among them being an unidentified picture by Hogarth.
The paper will be illustrated with pictures and copies of original documents and concludes with the sad demise of Cowley Grove in 1967.
Martin V. Clarke (Durham University): 'Handel, Lampe, the Rich Family and the Wesleys: The Musical Interaction between Methodism and the Theatre'
Although commonly associated with the newly-emerging industrial communities, Methodism in the mid-eighteenth century also made its presence felt amongst London's theatrical community. In terms of the movement's musical life, it was to be a productive venture, attracting original compositions from prominent composers such as Handel and John Frederick Lampe. One of the most significant catalysts for these associations was Priscilla Rich, who had married John Rich in 1744. A Methodist convert, she was responsible for introducing John and Charles Wesley to Lampe and is also regarded as the most likely person to have commissioned Handel's three setting of hymns by Charles Wesley. Lampe's subsequent conversion to Methodism bore fruit in his 1746 collection Hymns on the Great Festivals and Other Occasions, in which he set 24 Methodist hymn texts in a revolutionary musical style, far closer to that of the theatre than the church, which was to have a profound influence on Methodist music throughout the eighteenth century. Although there is no record of direct contact between Handel and the Wesleys, his hymn settings are a clear indication of the esteem in which Charles Wesley's texts were held. Despite the friendship between Mrs Rich and Charles Wesley, tensions arose on both sides, principally concerning the uneasy relationship between religion and the theatre. John Rich seems not to have shared his wife's religious sympathies; after one visit, Charles Wesley recorded that 'Mr R. behaved very well. I forsee the storm my visit will bring upon him.' On the other side, both John and Charles Wesley were highly critical of the culture surrounding the theatre and advocated a disciplined, devotional lifestyle. Despite these differences, Methodism's musical repertoire, and consequently its ability to relate to a wider cross-section of society, was considerably enhanced by its relationship with members of the theatrical community, while for those musicians, Methodism can be seen to have exerted a considerable influence upon their lives.
This paper examines these relationships and tensions and seeks to highlight the crucial role of the theatrical community, and Priscilla Rich in particular, in the development of a distinctively Methodist style of hymn tune. Through comparison of hymn settings by Lampe and Handel with contemporary secular compositions, the impact of operatic and solo-song styles on their hymn tunes will be fully assessed. Discussion of the development of the music of Methodism will illustrate the considerable influence such settings exercised on the Wesleys and, through them, the movement at large. Against this, the arguments from both sides concerning religion and the theatre will be considered in order to fully understand the interaction between Methodism and this section of eighteenth-century society.
Neil Jenkins: 'Covent Garden After Rich: The John Beard Years'
Abstract not available.
Richard Semmens (University of Western Ontario): 'John Rich: Face to Face with Faust; Or, the Nights Lun didn't dance'
John Rich's enormously popular production of The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus, in which he danced what some have described as his signature role as the title character, first played on the evening of 20 December 1723, some three and a half weeks following the premier of John Thurmond's Harlequin Doctor Faustus at Drury Lane. Justifiably well-known among scholars of post-restoration theatre, the two Harlequin Doctor Faustus afterpieces that were staged near the end of 1723 at the two patent theatres have frequently been regarded as important landmarks in the development of the fad for pantomimes, and in the stabilization of the basic design of this kind of entertainment. Viola Papetti's 1977 study on Harlequin in London, for example, makes such an argument, one that is reinforced in Antoni Sadlak's 1999 dissertation. More recently, John O'Brien has offered a fascinating study of eighteenth-century pantomime in England-including the two Doctor Faustus productions-that, through a very thoughtful consideration of selected criticism of the time, attempts to confront the thorny question of pantomime as 'literary' genre.
But, in many ways the Doctor Faustus pieces have suffered from scholarly neglect, and many preconceptions about their place in eighteenth-century European theatre history are in need of considerable reassessment. In design, for example, they are rather anomalous compared to the customary layout and content of more fully developed pantomimes, such as Perseus and Andromeda; or the Spaniard Outwitted of 1730, mounted by John Rich and Lewis Theobald at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Moreover, the two Doctor Faustus pieces were rather less stable in their conduct during their initial runs than is almost always made out: there were changes to casts; music was added, altered, or removed altogether; and scenes were revised, sometimes in substantial ways. The creators of neither afterpiece, interestingly, referred to it as a 'pantomime.' Thurmond called his piece 'a New Grotesque Entertainment,' while Rich termed his 'a New Dramatick Entertainment in Grotesque Characters.' With the exception of Roger Fiske's important investigation into English theatre music of the eighteenth century, very little attention has been paid to the musical materials of the two productions, and virtually nothing has been said about the dance. I am currently engaged in a large project that will attempt to address these issues (as well as others).
I propose in this presentation to address Rich's creation, drawing on, among other documents, a remarkable little imprint with the title: An exact description of the two fam'd entertainments of Harlequin Doctor Faustus; with the grand masque of the heathen deities: and the Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus. As now perform'd, in grotesque characters, at both theatres. Containing the particular tricks, incidents, songs, dances, alterations, and additions, throughout both performances. Regularly adjusted into distinct scenes. With the names of the persons of both dramas. The work was printed for T. Payne, publisher of the weekly, The Universal Journal, the inaugural issue of which (11 December 1723) had contained a notice on Thurmond's production. The imprint, however, is undated, although it very likely was issued in the first half of 1724, when the two Doctor Faustus afterpieces were at the height of their popularity. The 'exact description' was referenced in Papetti's study, as well as in Sadlak's (if only via Papetti), but has otherwise not received the careful attention from scholars it certainly deserves. My goal in the presentation will be to show the integration of action, dance, and music in Rich's Necromancer more fully than has been attempted to date.
Anne MacNeil (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill): 'Opera and the Commedia dell'Arte: The Emperor Nero Tale-Type'
'The Emperor Nero Tale-Type' is part of a larger, in-depth investigation of the points of interaction between the two seemingly disparate fields of opera and the commedia dell'arte. As Nino Pirrotta wrote in 1955, 'Nobody has ever undertaken a comparison between the scenarios of the commedia and the subjects of operatic libretti, because the specialists in each of these fields are usually scarcely interested in the other'. As true today as it was then, this statement inspires my study. My research in both opera and the commedia dell'arte, over time, has unearthed notices of commedia dell'arte actresses and actors who performed opera, documentation of shared theatrical spaces, and a centuries-long tradition of shared character-types (the old nurse, the barber, the enchantress), scene-types (hunts, lament-soliloquies, mad scenes) and tale-types (stories of the Emperor Nero, Queen Dido, Don Juan).
'The Emperor Nero Tale-Type' marks the beginning of my study. Here, I conduct comparative research into three central examples of the tale-type: 'The Emperor Nero' scenario from the compilation of 176 commedia dell'arte manuscript sketches housed in the Casamarciano collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples; Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'incoronazione di Poppea; and George Frideric Handel's opera Agrippina. My goal in these comparisons is twofold: to identify structural elements of the tale-type that transcend variations in presentation of the story; and to identify stereotypical elements that may not be structural but which seem to be components of the type as well as of individual iterations of the story. The analytical methods I employ are eclectic, although all pertain to the functions of narrative and dramatic representation. Analysis of the narrative and representational functions of music and of musical styles is essential, in that music often relays non-verbal information that is significant to issues such as character portrayal or scenography. Conceptions of veracity, authorship, and faithfulness to historical events are not at issue, in that tale-types are essentially the skeletal remains of stories. Individual iterations of these stories often represent the contributions of multiple authors, sometimes over time, and they often contain significant amounts of material that are entirely fictitious. Within prominent tale-types such as that of the Emperor Nero, I seek to discern elemental structures from spaces where human imagination is let out to play.
Jeremy Barlow (The Broadside Band): 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Harmonizing Ballad Opera Tunes in the Eighteenth Century'
Pepusch's basses for the songs in The Beggar's Opera may today appear simple, sometimes even crude. Yet they remained the standard accompaniment for much of the 18th century. Charles Burney, while deriding Pepusch's compositions generally, wrote in 1789 that the latter 'furnished the wild , rude, and often vulgar melodies with bases so excellent that no sound contrapuntist will ever attempt to alter them'. In examining the criteria for effective accompaniments, the paper, with live musical examples, draws on eighteenth-century settings of songs from Polly, The Devil to Pay and The Jovial Crew, and also compares versions of The
Beggar's Opera from the eighteenth century and later.
Naomi Matsumoto (Goldsmith's College, University of London): 'A Rich Vein of Success: The English Mad Song and Early Eighteenth-Century Burlesque Theatre'
John Rich's success lay in the shrewd manner in which he presented entertainments both 'high' and 'low' in his theatres. On the 'lower' side of his endeavours, he exploited the public's rekindled interest in 'things English', and during the 1720s and 30s that interest included a renewed focus upon the 'the English mad song', famously established by Henry Purcell and others in the previous century. This paper will demonstrate the profound role that the 'mad song' played in the early 18th -century burlesque theatre and explore the genre's contribution to the successes of pantomimes and ballad operas.
First, a definition of the 'English mad song' will be attempted by looking at examples ranging from Purcell's "From silent shades (Mad Bess)" through to 'new' mad songs written during the early 18th century including George Hayden's "New Mad Tom" (c. 1720), Henry Carey's "I go to the Elysian Shade" (1724) and "Gods I can never this endure" (1732). It will be suggested that the characteristics of these 'new' mad songs exemplified the core of the early-18th-century signification of the 'burlesque' - in the same vein, but on a smaller scale than overtly theatrical works such as Carey/Lampe's The Dragon of Wantley (1734), which Rich assiduously 'headhunted' for his own Covent Garden.
Second, the 18th-century performance records of the aforementioned mad songs in the theatres of John Rich and others will be traced. It will become clear that what we rather abstractly call the 'vogue for the mad song' was the result of some very specific preferences of certain theatre entrepreneurs (including Rich), which was then driven forward by the cutthroat rivalry between the theatres. Furthermore, we shall see the close relation that existed between the 'mad' repertoire and particular singers of that time, who ranged from 'elite' ones such as John Beard, to populist performers such as Bart Platt. It also becomes explicit that, for those vocalists, such songs and, in particular, 'performing them in character' helped them prepare for singing and acting roles in burlesque theatre in their later careers. This will be discussed with a particular focus upon Beard who, in parallel to his Handelian career, appeared in various pantomimes and made his name as the most successful Macheath in The Beggar's Opera.
Finally, this paper will challenge the supposed division between 'high' and 'low' arts by examining18th-century burlesque theatre as a whole. Indeed, the variegated corpus of mad songs demonstrates that such styles could be fused to very great effect. When we come to understand the complexities of these issues we may begin to believe that a so-called vogue of 'mere fashion' in the theatre is a notion as delusional as the insane characters that the mad song is supposed to represent.
Keith McEwing (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand): '"And Harlequin Dances": Lun and the Chacoon for a Harlequin'
John Rich-under his stage name, 'Lun'-was well known for his portrayal of Harlequin, and for establishing the pantomime tradition in Britain.
Harlequin had originated in the Italian theatre form Commedia dell'arte, and became well known throughout Europe for his acrobatics, pranks and impersonations. He was also known for his skills in dance and music, as were many of the commedia characters.
Harlequin's character exemplifies the grotesque theatre style. Only a few grotesque Baroque dance notations are extant and yet four of them are for Harlequin. What is more, all four dances are chaconnes or to chaconne music. One of these dances, Chacoon for a Harlequin, by François Le Roussau, was published in London during the time of Lun and his pantomimes as Harlequin.
This paper will look at Chacoon for a Harlequin. It will discuss how a notation can help define the movement lexicon of Harlequin, and the significance of the dance being a chaconne. A comparison between this dance and the noble dances from London at this time will be made, particularly Chacone of Amadis, by Anthony L'Abbé.
John Rich endorsed dance in the theatre in many ways: through his own performances, by employing dancers, and by persuading musicians to create music for dancing. Examples of these will illustrate the important role Rich played in promoting dance in early eighteenth-century London.
Fiona Ritchie (McGill University): 'The Impact of the Shakespeare Ladies Club on John Rich's Repertory in the 1737-38 Theatrical Season'
The existence of the Shakespeare Ladies Club is a fascinating detail of eighteenth-century theatre history. This group of women formed towards the end of 1736 and campaigned actively for two theatrical seasons, persuading the London theatre managers to put more Shakespeare plays on the stage. Scholars such as Emmett L. Avery and Michael Dobson have examined contemporary references to the efforts of the Club in order to gauge their success. The other main body of evidence for the existence and influence of the Shakespeare Ladies Club is found in the playbills for the two seasons in which they were active. Although the details of these playbills are provided in the calendar of dramatic activity reproduced in The London Stage, this evidence has not previously been systematically analysed in order to draw conclusions about the impact of the female audience on the presentation of Shakespeare in the period. This paper will analyse the playbills from the two seasons in which the Club was active and will demonstrate that having started their campaign at Drury Lane in the 1736-37 season, the Shakespeare Ladies then successfully turned their attention to petitioning John Rich, manager of the Covent Garden theatre, in the 1737-38 season in an attempt to increase the amount of Shakespeare performed there. This is significant, since Rich was identified as the person responsible for the dominance of pantomime and spectacle on the London stage at this time to the detriment of traditional drama, a state of affairs much lamented by contemporary commentators on the theatre. This paper's analysis of the Shakespeare Ladies Club will shed new light on Rich's repertory, countering the common assumption that it was the rival Drury Lane theatre which staged the majority of Shakespeare performances in the eighteenth century and demonstrating that as a result of the efforts of the Shakespeare Ladies Club, Rich was able to rival Drury Lane in the elevation of Shakespeare's plays to a very large proportion of the repertory.
Kathryn R. King (University of Montevallo): 'John Rich and Eliza Haywood at Lincoln's Inn Fields'
Between 1717-1721 the professional lives of John Rich and Eliza Haywood (1692?-1756) intersected in a number of ways: they shared friends and acquaintance, moved through the same theatrical and print-world circles, and on at least one occasion collaborated on a playhouse venture. Known today as a popular novelist and periodical writer, Haywood was also an actress and playwright at different times during her long and remarkable career. Indeed, she began her professional life as an aspiring actress at the Smock Alley theatre in Dublin. There she made the professional contacts that may have provided her entree into Rich's London world. In spring 1717, 'lately arriv'd' in London, she played the role of Nottingham in The Unhappy Favourite at Lincoln's Inn Fields.
For the next four years, at least, Haywood and Rich were professional associates. Their shared acquaintance included the actor Theophilus Keene and the prompter William Rufus Chetwood, who was also Haywood's first bookseller. He published Haywood's first titles, including Letters from a Lady of Quality (1720), a high-end translation from the French that included among its subscribers John and his brother Christopher-Mosier, as well as another Rich, a Mr. Edward-Pickering Rich of Balliol, whose identity I will need to track down. The most fully documented instance of collaboration between Rich and Haywood dates to January 1721. At this time, as Haywood tells the story in an 'Advertisement to the Reader', Rich proposed that she undertake to 'new model' a play written several years earlier by Capt. Robert Hurst but found in rehearsals to be 'unfit for Representation'. She did so, reluctantly by her account, the result being The Fair Captive, staged at Lincoln's Inn March 1721 and revived November of that year. Her account of their collaboration in the little-studied 'Advertisement' sheds light on Haywood's sense of professional identity at this time as well as on Rich's managerial practices. Further research may turn up evidence of additional professional contact between Rich and Haywood over the next several decades when, as members of the fairly limited London print-and-playhouse world, their professional and possibly personal lives would have continued to cross. Haywood spoke respectfully of Rich in print through the 40s. He figures several times, for example, in discussions of theatre politics in her periodical The Female Spectator (1744-46). My talk will pursue implications of the Rich-Haywood professional relationship as I am able to reconstruct it. In addition, I hope to add to our understanding of Rich's contemporary reputation via analysis of Haywood's representations of him in her periodical and dramatic-historiographical writings in the 1730s and 1740s.
Felicity Nussbaum (UCLA): '"An Appendix to her Sex:" Peg Woffington and Nation'
Rich allegedly described Margaret (Peg) Woffington to Sir Joshua Reynolds as 'amalgamated Calypso, Circe and Armida' and 'as majestic as Juno, as lovely as Venus, and as fresh and charming as Hebe'. Woffington's quarrels with Rich suggest, however, the very real difficulties that the second generation of actresses faced in attempting to negotiate professional arrangements with their managers. This paper focuses on actress Woffington's disagreements with Rich regarding the assignment of roles, as well as her participation in the performance of nation on the London and Irish stages. I will discuss especially her crossdressed parts in George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer and in various epilogues to suggest the way that her ambivalent gender roles relate to the formation of national identities at midcentury.
Carol Marsh (University of North Carolina, Greensboro): 'Dance on the Eighteenth-Century London Stage: The Choreographic Evidence'
Theater historians have long recognized that dance played an important role in 18th-century London entertainments. Entries in The London Stage provide ample evidence not only of the amount of dancing that took place, but also of the variety of choreographic styles that were offered. Yet few of these scholars seem aware that choreographic notations from the period have survived; these notations enable us to reconstruct the dances, many of which had direct or indirect links to the theater. While the majority of these dances are in the serious or noble style, a few character dances and pantomimes are also preserved in notation.
My paper will take as its starting point a correlation of all the surviving choreographic notations with the theaters in which they were performed, as well as with the dancers who performed them. From this evidence I will draw conclusions about the changes in choreographic style that were taking place in the first few decades of the 18th century, not only in John Rich's theater but in other London venues as well.
Linda J. Tomko (University of California, Riverside): 'Harlequin Choreographies: Repetition, Difference, and Representation'
This paper scrutinizes 'harlequin' choreographies, surviving in notated dance scores from early 18th-century France and England, for means they marshaled to signal a distinctive theatrical character. It notes patterns of compositional repetition and difference among harlequin choreographies, and deployment of similar patterns in other dance types, to probe period modes or strategies for representation and cultural meaning-making.
Jim Fowler (V&A Theatre and Performance Collection): 'Harlequin Women'
Female Harlequins emerged in the 1690s and became fashionable in the 18th century. Known in Italy as Arlecchina and Harlequine in France, they were kindred spirits to Harlequin's racy girlfriend Columbine.
In England the female Harlequin soon found a supreme interpreter in Hester Booth (née Santlow). Following her debut in 1705, she captivated English audiences in the role, and went on to dance it in various forms including pantomime for over two decades.
Discussion will centre on the recently discovered painting of her performing in full Harlequin dress probably in the 1720s, and on questions such as what contribution did female Harlequins make to the development of English pantomime in the first quarter of the 18th century.
Al Coppola (Fordham University): 'Harlequin Newton: John Rich's Necromancer and the Public Science of the 1720s'
The 1720's saw the emergence of not one but two popular and influential genres of performance featuring of what we might call 'surprizing phenomena'. There were the pantomime spectacles featuring Harlequin most closely associated with John Rich at Lincoln's Inn Fields, but there were also the spectacular courses of experiments conducted by Newtonians such as John Theophilis Desaguliers, William Whiston, and Frances Hauksbee, which were designed as much to actually teach natural philosophy as to entertain, thereby cultivating social and financial support for a wide variety of 'projects' seeking to apply science for economic gain. These two emergent theatrical discourses are complexly interrelated, and my paper will suggest the entertainments that established the English pantomime form-the Harlequin Doctor Faustus craze of 1723-4, and particularly John Rich's Necromancer-offered a complex mediation of the radically new matrixes of power and knowledge promoted in the Newtonian lecturers.
Drawing on contemporary accounts of the marvels staged in Lincoln's Inn Fields my paper will suggest how John Rich's Necromancer was read as an ironic double of the heady (and, to some, suspect) 'conjuring' that contemporaries recognized in public promotion of post-Newtonian natural philosophy. Imagining a world suffused with an omnipresent power that only he can see and manipulate, Harlequin Faustus conjured up the single most important preoccupation of the Newtonians-gravity-and his anarchic misrule registered the widespread appropriation of Newtonian natural philosophy, and Newtonian authority, in political, economic and theological domains. A cunning superimposition of the Newtonian projector, the overmastering First Minister, and the juggling legerdemain artist, Rich's Harlequin Faustus held a mirror up to the new alignment of science, spectacle, and politics in the early eighteenth-century.
Deborah W. Rooke (King's College London): 'Samson down the Centuries: From Biblical Text to Handelian Oratorio'
This paper examines the libretto of the Handelian oratorio Samson, which was the first of Handel's Israelite oratorios to have its premiere at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, under the management of John Rich, on 18 February 1743. The fundamental source of the libretto is, of course, the biblical text of Judges 13-16, but the more proximate source is John Milton's epic poem Samson Agonistes, as stated by the librettist Newburgh Hamilton in the preface to the libretto. Although the libretto at first glance appears extremely similar to Milton's poem in its general scheme and plot, there are nevertheless significant differences between the two, and in addition both works differ significantly from the biblical text in their presentation of the Samson narrative. The paper will therefore examine the inter-relationship between these three versions of the Samson narrative, aiming to highlight in particular some of the ways in which the Handelian libretto would have reflected the concerns and attitudes of its eighteenth-century audience. Musical examples will be included.
Donald Burrows (Open University): 'Good for the Garden: The Composition of Handel's Ariodante'
In the summer of 1734 Handel had to cede the use of the King's Theatre, London's established opera house, to the Opera of the Nobility. The circumstances of the following season were some of the most difficult of Handel's career, under strong competition from the rival company. However, the transference of his performances to John Rich's recently-completed theatre at Covent Garden provided new stimulants and resources, though Handel also had to adapt to performing under a rather different theatrical regime from that at the opera house. With Ariodante, his major new opera score for the season, drafted in August-October 1734 and further revised before the first performance in January 1735; Handel took full advantage of the opportunities provided by his new situation, and also took particular care over the composition of the major arias. This paper will describe the circumstances of the opera's composition and performance, and will examine the composition process for one aria in detail.
Judith Milhous (CUNY Graduate Center): 'The Finances of an Eighteenth-Century Theatre Revisited: Tales of John Rich's Company in 1724-25'
In 1955, Emmett L. Avery published an article on this subject that was almost entirely confined to description of the contents of British Library Egerton MS 2265, the accounts for Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, 1724-25. As editor of Part 2 of The London Stage performance calendar, Avery ignored much of his own earlier work, and he never analyzed the material he had described. The writers of the Biographical Dictionary [of London Theatre Personnel], 1660-1800 preserved some of Avery's procedural mistakes and added a disastrous misreading of their own from this account book. The accounts have more to tell us about the operation of this company than has been set forth. This paper will make more considered use of the material, showing the cost to members of the company of a season which, despite three very successful new productions, ended in a loss.
Berta Joncus (St Anne's College, Oxford): '"The Power of Sound and Sing-Song:" The Production of Star Tenor John Beard'
John Beard was the first star tenor of the London stage. His singing voice was therefore also a medium for the construction of his persona, and came to signify specific qualities such as masculinity, patriotism, honesty, robustness and courage. While star production of the day knitted together Beard's skills, musical and dramatic repertory, iconography and off-stage conduct into a 'personality', it was his singing that was prized above, and grasped before, any other aspect of his self-representation.
This paper analyses the critical juncture in Beard's career from 1730 and 1745 during which his music, publicity and stage representation combined to fix him in the popular imagination, in part by equating him with Admiral Vernon, hero of the War of Jenkins' Ear. How these elements worked together to produce Beard's image is richly suggestive of the sophistication of eighteenth century London's entertainment industry. Rich's performance history also guided his choice of repertory as manager of Covent Garden from 1761; here he vigorously promoted musical theatre, the popularity of which, Thomas Davies reported, 'obliged Garrick and Shakespeare to quit the field.'
Joseph Drury (University of Pennsylvania): 'John Rich and the Mechanization of the Theatre'
I would like to give a paper entitled 'John Rich and the Mechanization of the Theatre', in which I would discuss both Rich's contribution as a major technical innovator on the eighteenth-century London stage and the ambivalent response of his audiences to the 'mechanization' of the theatre that took place during his tenure as manager at Lincoln's Inn Fields and, latterly, Covent Garden. I would want first to outline the basic nature of Rich's achievement as a 'machinist' by describing the mechanical effects -transformations, disappearances and flying objects - that were used to dazzle audiences at his pantomimes. I would then want to look at some of the audience reactions to these effects, recorded in contemporary periodicals, prologues and satirical drama, showing how they were often assumed to play differently to different parts of the audience, were hailed as engines of Enlightenment, but were also attacked as a form of modern barbarism that disgraced the ancient dignity of the stage. Finally, I want to make a more speculative argument about the changing relationship of actor and machine in eighteenth-century theatre, and to suggest that, while machinery had played an important role on the London stage since the Restoration, Rich's tenure as manager coincides with a realignment of that relationship, with two contradictory and conflicting effects: the relegation of the ordinary actor to minor roles supporting the machinery and a corresponding decline in their earnings and status; and the emergence and elevation of a few, highly individualized, immensely well-paid stars-the most famous of whom, David Garrick, symbolically refused to perform in pantomimes. I will finish by suggesting that the actors' revolts of the 1730s and 1740s can be explained in part as industrial disputes that responded to the new conditions of an increasingly mechanized theatre.
Gráinne McArdle (Independent scholar): 'John Rich and the Dublin Stage'
The paper seeks to explore the influence of Rich and the repertory performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, on the dance and pantomime repertory performed in Dublin during the seventeen twenties and early seventeen thirties. The study will focus primarily on the work of the Dublin based dancers, Anthony and Diane Moreau (the city's foremost dancers during this period). The couple had worked at Lincoln's Inn Fields between 1715 and 1719, as a dancer and choreographer, and as an actress and dancer respectively. Diane Moreau had played Columbine to Rich¹s Harlequin during the seasons 1717-18 and 1718-19, a role she resumed when visiting London during 1728-29. It is not surprising therefore that Rich's The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus, and not Thurmond Junior's Harlequin Doctor Faustus was that mounted in Dublin. Similarly The Island Princess, which had been chosen by the Moreaus for benefit nights in London, was favoured in Dublin, and later served as a weapon in the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley's arsenal, when faced with rival theatres and booths during the early seventeen thirties. The What d'ye call it, another Lincoln¹s Inn Fields staple is the first documented afterpiece on the Smock Alley Stage, and of course The Beggar¹s Opera enjoyed enormous success in Dublin. By 16 December 1728, Dickson¹s Dublin Intelligence announced the '40th Time' of acting it.
The paper will document the Moreaus' single season spent at the rival theatre booth, of Signora Violante in 1730-31. There they joined Violante and Charles Lalauze, along with three known Smock Alley dancers. This union of dancers and pantomime performers presented a season of pantomime entertainments to the Dublin public. Here again the Moreaus played their part, and programmes presented reflected recently performed Lincoln's Inn Fields repertory, most particularly, Dublin interpretations of Lewis Theobald's Apollo and Daphne; or, the Burgomaster Trick'd and The Rape of Proserpine with the Birth and Adventures of Harlequin.
By 1733, when the Moreaus returned to the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Anthony Moreau was a manager at that house, and as a decade of intense theatre rivalry unfolded in the city, his experience of theatre competition in London from 1715 to 1719 was to prove invaluable. There was furthermore a marked increase in the number of dancers and Harlequins visiting the city during the seventeen thirties, and the variety of pantomimes produced.
Ian Small (University of York): 'Rich's Influence on a Provincial Circuit: Pantomimes in Yorkshire'
In his Memoirs (1790), Tate Wilkinson wrote that he 'experienced many acts of kindness, good wishes, and cordiality' from John Rich, which had a profound influence on his life and work in the theatre. Rich was known as a manager who was loyal to his actors, and who set the highest standards for his productions. These two qualities, and Rich's dedication to the coaching of younger actors, set Wilkinson an example for his own managerial career. In these ways, Rich had a much greater effect on the success of the provincial theatre than has sometimes been recognised, for Wilkinson in his turn was seen as an exemplary manager - one who nurtured many future stars.
More obvious was Rich's influence on the expectations and repertoire of the provincial theatre. His highly popular pantomimes at Covent Garden set standards which provincial managers were obliged to emulate, to the best of their company's and their financial abilities. In his history of the Yorkshire circuit (The Wandering Patentee 1795), Wilkinson notes the conflict between the audiences' demands to see pantomimes, and the near-impossibility of providing them with the quality of production they were expecting: 'for if really got up as a pantomime should be, it will never repay the expence, and a second full house is not to be expected if their first proves considerable'. Yet, as the playbills show over many years, on the York Circuit and elsewhere, managers felt obliged to offer pantomimes to their audiences. (When his company played at the Merchant Taylors' Hall in the first half of the eighteenth century, Thomas Keregan sought permission to dig a pit beneath his stage, so that pantomime machinery could be installed there.) Provincial managers recognised that the successful pantomime would bring in the populace, even
when no reduction in price was allowed for half-time arrivals. Many playbills give great prominence to the pantomime and its spectacular effects, in much bigger type-face and with far greater detail than the more cursory notice of the main play.
Drury Lane's management felt it necessary to produce its own pantomimes, at similar cost. On the provincial circuits, the expensive scenery and effects had to be transported from theatre to theatre, so each audience could enjoy the same repertoire as its neighbours. Rich's influence on the provincial repertoire, as well as that of the London theatres, was therefore of considerable significance.
I would therefore like to offer a short position paper to the Conference, to show how Rich's influence extended far beyond London, both in his personal qualities as a manager, which affected the way in Wilkinson, and after him other managers, treated their actors, and in his ambition to present ever-more-spectacular pantomimes, which obliged provincial theatres to emulate Rich's offerings.
Mark Howell-Meri (Drama in Schools): 'Working the three-sided stage: John Rich's Playhouse through Surviving 18th-Century Theatres at Richmond (1788) and Bristol (1766)'
Abstract not available.
Terry Jenkins (English National Opera): 'John Rich's Family Life: An Investigation into Some Little-Known Details'
This paper focusses on Rich's marriages, children and family life. I shall not reiterate facts that can be readily established from existing sources - such as the Dictionary of National Biography (D.N.B.) and the Southern Illinois University's Biographical Dictionary of Actors etc. (B.D.A.) - but add to that knowledge by correcting erroneous information and adding other details that have hitherto been undiscovered. There are many gaps in the published details and my researches have added much hitherto unknown information.
The paper starts with a description of the Rich family tomb in Hillingdon churchyard. The grave still exists and its inscriptions are still perfectly legible. These inscriptions - which I have not seen published elsewhere - identify all the people buried there. Besides Rich himself, there are his two wives: Amy and Priscilla; two children who died in infancy; his daughter Henrietta Bencraft and grand-daughter Harriet Bencraft; his son-in-law James Morris; and daughter Sarah and son-inlaw George Voelcker.
I then examine his three marriages and the children they produced; concentrating on what I have learned about his second 'marriage' to Amy, the mother of his four daughters. No record of this marriage has yet been discovered, and I have been no more successful than other researchers!
I continue by looking at the marriages made by the four daughters, and the part their husbands played in the day-to-day running of the theatre: Henrietta married James Bencraft, one of Rich's actors; Charlotte firstly married Robert Lane, a tailor who did work for the theatre, and secondly John Beard, another of Rich's actors; Mary married the draper, James Morris; and Sarah married George Voelcker, valet and page of the back stairs to King George 2nd. Voelcker is particularly interesting, as he was born in Hanover and must have been the King's own personal appointment - there is no record of his appointment by the Lord Chamberlain, although he appears in the lists of the Royal Household.
I also report on the new information I have discovered about Catherine Benson, the 'natural daughter' referred to in Rich's Will, and her subsequent marriage to William Colville.
Interspersed with this genealogical information is a description of (some of) the properties occupied by Rich and his family - including the house in the passage outside the stage door of the Drury Lane theatre (where he could watch what his rivals were up to!), and the estate at Cowley Grove in Hillingdon on which he spent a large amount of money in improvements. I also include a brief consideration of the pictures owned by Rich at Cowley which were sold at auction
after his death - among them being an unidentified picture by Hogarth.
The paper will be illustrated with pictures and copies of original documents and concludes with the sad demise of Cowley Grove in 1967.
Martin V. Clarke (Durham University): 'Handel, Lampe, the Rich Family and the Wesleys: The Musical Interaction between Methodism and the Theatre'
Although commonly associated with the newly-emerging industrial communities, Methodism in the mid-eighteenth century also made its presence felt amongst London's theatrical community. In terms of the movement's musical life, it was to be a productive venture, attracting original compositions from prominent composers such as Handel and John Frederick Lampe. One of the most significant catalysts for these associations was Priscilla Rich, who had married John Rich in 1744. A Methodist convert, she was responsible for introducing John and Charles Wesley to Lampe and is also regarded as the most likely person to have commissioned Handel's three setting of hymns by Charles Wesley. Lampe's subsequent conversion to Methodism bore fruit in his 1746 collection Hymns on the Great Festivals and Other Occasions, in which he set 24 Methodist hymn texts in a revolutionary musical style, far closer to that of the theatre than the church, which was to have a profound influence on Methodist music throughout the eighteenth century. Although there is no record of direct contact between Handel and the Wesleys, his hymn settings are a clear indication of the esteem in which Charles Wesley's texts were held. Despite the friendship between Mrs Rich and Charles Wesley, tensions arose on both sides, principally concerning the uneasy relationship between religion and the theatre. John Rich seems not to have shared his wife's religious sympathies; after one visit, Charles Wesley recorded that 'Mr R. behaved very well. I forsee the storm my visit will bring upon him.' On the other side, both John and Charles Wesley were highly critical of the culture surrounding the theatre and advocated a disciplined, devotional lifestyle. Despite these differences, Methodism's musical repertoire, and consequently its ability to relate to a wider cross-section of society, was considerably enhanced by its relationship with members of the theatrical community, while for those musicians, Methodism can be seen to have exerted a considerable influence upon their lives.
This paper examines these relationships and tensions and seeks to highlight the crucial role of the theatrical community, and Priscilla Rich in particular, in the development of a distinctively Methodist style of hymn tune. Through comparison of hymn settings by Lampe and Handel with contemporary secular compositions, the impact of operatic and solo-song styles on their hymn tunes will be fully assessed. Discussion of the development of the music of Methodism will illustrate the considerable influence such settings exercised on the Wesleys and, through them, the movement at large. Against this, the arguments from both sides concerning religion and the theatre will be considered in order to fully understand the interaction between Methodism and this section of eighteenth-century society.
Neil Jenkins: 'Covent Garden After Rich: The John Beard Years'
Abstract not available.
Abstracts