Author: GAY (John). BARNETT (John):
Title: The Beggar's Opera Arranged from a very Scarce Edition, the objectionable poetry altered and adapted to the Eye of the Most Fastidious, with New Symphonies and Accompaniments for the Paian Forte. By John Barnett, Composer to the Theatres Royal. National Library of Standard Music.
Description: London Printed & Published by Mahew, Isaac, & Co at the Office of the National Library of Standard Works, [no date] [1835] Folio, 347 x 248 mms., pp. 104, engraved throughout, later 20th century binding in half blue binder's cloth, marbled boards, title in gilt on spine and front cover; title-page soiled at edges and missing small portion of lower corner, last leaf slightly defective with upper corner cut (no loss of text), some other general wear, but an acceptable copy. The composer John Barnett (1802–1890) does not disclose the "very Scarce Edition" he used as copy-text, and I cannot tell exactly how he has carried out the sort of alterations that Dr. Bowdler would not doubt approved of. Barnett, however, took a serious interest in the light music popular in London theatres in the 1830s, as well as in singing techniques, as evidenced by his book, Elements of Singing (1829). Friedrich von Raumer, in his England in 1835: Being a Series of Letters written to Friends in Germany reports seeing a performance of The Beggar's Opera at the Haymarket in 1835, but it is not clear if this was Barnett's edition. Uncommon. Copies located in BL, Bodleian, Illinois Wesleyan University; and, curiously, Danish National Library and the Royal Library in Denmark.

Keywords: opera theatre


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