Music for the Melodramatic Theatre in Nineteenth-Century London and New York

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MUSIC for the MELODRAMATIC THEATRE in Nineteenth-Century LONDON & NEW YORK • • STUDIES IN THEATRE HISTORY AND CULTURE E d i t e d b y Heather Nathans MICHAEL V. PISANI U n i v e r s i t y o f i o wa P r e s s , i o wa C i t y MUSIC for the MELODRAMATIC THEATRE in Nineteenth-Century LONDON & NEW YORK • • University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 2014 by the University of Iowa Press Printed in the United States of America Design by Richard Hendel www.uiowapress.org No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is committed to preserving natural resources. Printed on acid-­ free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 978-1-60938-230-8 (pbk) isbn: 978-1-60938-265-0 (ebk) lccn: 2013953635 Once the theatre was cleared of audience, Elliston, fancying himself the equivalent of Alexander the Great, Henry V, or Napoleon Bonaparte, came striding onto the stage and then stopped, rapping his “wand of authority” on the floor and calling out to all. “Carpenters, fall in and take close order. Leader of the band, marshal your men in the van—yes, have them all in the orchestra, and prepare to sound the alarm. Prompter, take up your position on the left-­ wing with your call-­ boy, property-­ man, and assistants. Acting-­ manager, be prepared at the right-­ wing. Scene-­ shifters, you will form in double file, two deep. Flymen, you will occupy the heights. Wingmen, you will skirt the rear. Trapmen and cellarmen, be prepared to act as sappers and miners . . . Dismiss, you others, and to your work. Call on the opening chorus, prompter. Play the first melos, leader. Band, strike up in the orchestra, for Judah’s lion is o’erthrown for ever. Yes, now I’m satisfied—I’ve triumphed !—greatly triumphed! . . .—so quick, quick!—off with the flats, and on with the rehearsal!” Robert W. Elliston, rehearsing a melodrama at the Surrey Theatre, London, 1809 (W. T. Moncrieff, “Ellistoniana, No. XII: Elliston’s Valour,” New Monthly Magazine 69 [1843]) ...