Eliza; An English Opera, As perform'd at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane.

Bookseller Notes

Thomas Arne's early years were spent at Eton and under the tutelage and friendship of the composer Michael Festing who introduced him to Italian opera and the oratorios of Handel. Arne was notably prolific, writing approximately 90 stage works between 1733 and 1776. Though Eliza (Queen Elizabeth I), a celebration of English character set against the backdrop of the threat of the Spanish Armada, the libretto by Richard Rolt, was suppressed following its first performance in May 1754 at the Haymarket, by the Lord Chamberlain, it was successfully revived at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, 1755, before returning to London at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1756. The singers mentioned in the caption titles of this edition are those who performed in these revivals: Mr. Beard, Miss Eliza Young, Mrs Vernon, Signora Frasi, and not least, Miss Brent, Arne's pupil and mistress (following the separation from his wife in 1755). The edition itself was published without recitatives or choruses, the instrumentation is modern for its day, employing drums, horns, trumpets, oboes, bassoons and strings, and the influence of both Handel and Italian baroque opera are to the fore. (Parkinson, 'Eliza', Grove Online, 2007). 'Some of the music is very beautiful, and long remained popular.' (The Select Circulating Library, Vol 13, part I, 1839). From the library of Richard Luckett, Pepys Librarian, Magdalene, Cambridge, with his neat typographical book label designed by Will Carter of the Rampant Lions Press.