| A large number of continental operas appeared on London's English-language stage in the early nineteenth-century. These were not presented in their original form, however, but in often drastically altered adaptations. Spoken, vernacular text replaced foreign dialogue or recitative, and both score and libretto experienced substantial alterations, additions, and cuts. This apparently cavalier attitude toward now-hallowed works has not pleased modern scholars, who have dubbed these adaptations "mutilations" and "perversions." Incentive to examine these works has been dulled further by the lack of enduring popularity of either English music or theater of the time. Yet, with the insight they provide into theatrical, musical, and societal expectations of the period and the challenge they pose to entrenched views of authenticity, these works reward attention.;My dissertation examines London adaptations during the window of their most intense popularity, from the 1810s to the 1830s. I focus on the adaptations of Sir Henry Bishop (1786--1855), the foremost British theater composer of the day, for Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Bishop's thirteen adaptations, of operas by Auber, Boieldieu, Meyerbeer, Mozart, Weber, Spohr, Bellini, and Rossini, formed the vanguard of the practice and spanned its most significant period (1814--33). My study of Bishop's adaptations divides into three sections. Section I, Chapters I--III, elucidates the context that produced and alternately embraced and vilified adaptations. Chapter I surveys theatrical repertoire, audiences, and critical rhetoric in early nineteenth-century London. Chapter II explains the form and function of music in English-language theaters and offers a case study of Bishop's career. Chapter III addresses contemporaries' complex, often conflicting attitudes toward the issue of fidelity to the original. Sections II and III elucidate how Bishop's adaptations both shaped and responded to this context. Section II, Chapters IV and V, examines the genesis, overall form, and reception of each adaptation. Finally, Section III, Chapters VI--VII, draws conclusions about English musical and theatrical taste from detailed analyses of specific changes. Chapter VI examines the alterations, whether practical, stylistic, or dramatic, that Bishop made to the score, while Chapter VII explores the political, societal, and dramatic agendas that informed textual alterations. |
