The American musical stage before 1800 / Julian Mates.
| Author/creator | Mates, Julian |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, ©1962. |
| Description | 331 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Entertainments related to the musical stage -- Theatres and audiences -- Theatre orchestras -- Companies -- Repertory -- Librettists and composers -- Performance and criticism. |
| Abstract | "Here is a book which discloses and recaptures a lively segment of American cultural history. There was a musical stage and theatre in America two thirds of a century before the performance, in 1866, of the famous The Black Crook, and Julian Mates has brought back before the curtain the productions and performers. They may not have enjoyed the long runs and wide publicity of later, if often inferior productions like The Black Crook, but they developed and established a long tradition of musical drama. The American Musical Stage presents that hitherto neglected tradition in all its colorful detail, from the adaptations of European musical and theatrical conventions and the first truly American innovations seen in the Colonies in the early 1700's to the elaborate production at the John Street Theatre on April 18, 1796, of William Dunlap and Benjamin Carr's The Archers, the first extant musical performed in America and written by Americans. Julian Mates reconstructs that performances as it was reported by critics in 1796. He gives the background of the authors, the members of the orchestra and the Old American Company which performed the work, tells what they did to make a living in addition to their duties at the John Street Theatre. The theatre itself and the audience which occupied it on opening night are described with great care, and the reader finishes the book with the feeling that he knows as near as is possible what it was like to be present at this notable musical and theatrical event on an evening in 1796. Julian Mates further establishes that in America no earlier dramatic forms existed, that the musical was our basic American theatre tradition. He shows that today's American musicals, far from being recent phenomena, are a heritage from eighteenth-century America."--Dust jacket. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliography and index. |
| Biographical note | "The author is an assistant professor of English at C. W. Post College of Long Island University. He is currently at work on a companion volume tracing the development of the American musical stage between 1800 and 1866."--Dust jacket. |
| LCCN | 61012409 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML1711.M4 A5 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |