Book contents
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- 7 English Music in Benefit Concerts: Henry Purcell and the Next Generation
- 8 Strategies of Performance: Benefits, Professional Singers, and Italian Opera in the Early Eighteenth Century
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
8 - Strategies of Performance: Benefits, Professional Singers, and Italian Opera in the Early Eighteenth Century
from Part III - Benefits and Public Image
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2019
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Musical Benefits in the London Theatre: Networks and Repertories
- Part II Beyond London: Mimicry or Originality?
- Part III Benefits and Public Image
- 7 English Music in Benefit Concerts: Henry Purcell and the Next Generation
- 8 Strategies of Performance: Benefits, Professional Singers, and Italian Opera in the Early Eighteenth Century
- Part IV Charity Benefits
- Part V The Role of the Audience
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Musical Works
- General Index
Summary
This chapter considers how professional singers used benefit concerts to facilitate their exposure and to establish their reputations between 1703 and 1729 – years inclusive of the earliest Italian opera performances in England through the Royal Academy of Music. First, it will document the patterns and conventions apparent in benefits given by professional Italian and English singers, emphasizing the different kinds of concerts and opera benefits, the pros and cons of each, and the ways in which these events were tailored to fit the singers. For the bulk of the chapter, I will focus on three clear motivations behind concert benefits for singers of Italian opera. My survey of advertisements shows that singers used these special performances in order (1) to collaborate within a network of professional musicians; (2) to create and promote their individual celebrity; and (3)to construct and respond to particular narratives about contemporary musical taste.
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- Music and the Benefit Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain , pp. 162 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019