Introduction

Summary

In the 1750s, the King's Theatre in London was in a state of near collapse. A shifting series of alliances between performer-impresarios, aristocratic amateurs and bankers kept it afloat, but the venture was plagued by financial instability and managerial incompetence. Its artistic decline was even more spectacular. The days when Handel was the resident opera impresario were by now little more than a memory. Since that august era, no other composer of stature had stayed long enough in London to make an impact, and repertoire was of depressingly low quality. Perhaps only one factor ensured the survival of the theatre at all: the unchallenged place of Italian opera at the heart of the social and musicalworld of the English aristocracy. In the 1760s, there were some signs that the worst period was over. Highquality singers, always central to the success of Italian opera in London, began to appear more regularly, with the castrati Manzuoli and Elisi enjoying popular successes. More significant in the long term was the establishment of opera buffa as a regular part of the London season. Comic opera was cheaper to stage, gave variety to the season, and in due course produced its own lineage of stars with the charisma to attract audiences. Mixed seasons of opera seria and opera buffa afforded some protection against failure in either genre, and a further spreading of the risk was provided by ballet.