Garrick, Arne and the Masque of Alfred a Case Study in National, Theatrical and Musical Politics

Author: 
Year:
Pages:172
ISBN:0-7734-9132-5
978-0-7734-9132-8
Price:$159.95 + shipping
(Click the PayPal button to buy)
This is the first full-length study of an 18th-century masque. It examines the masque of Alfred, from 1740 to 1773, as literary form, as vehicle for allegory, and as a genre. It contributes also to theatrical history, noting the revisions that were carried out by the two different schools of thought -- one favoring the music, the other the text, illustrating their different needs and preoccupations. Earlier versions have both texts and a series of correspondence from the critic Aaron Hill to draw on, while the survival of the annotated libretto for 1773 gives a unique insight into Garrick's view of the masque, the way he worked with both text and music, and the methods of theatrical production.

Reviews

"Burden clearly expounds his frequently amusing and convincing ideas about the complicated overlapping history of these multiple versions of visions of Alfred, including contemporary comments on the productions." - Eighteenth Century Current Bibliography

Other Theater Books