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Described by the architectural historian Simon Thurley as ‘the most lavish ecclesiastical building built by an English monarch since the Reformation’, the Catholic chapel designed by Sir Christopher Wren for King James II and constructed at Whitehall between 1685 and 1687 was destroyed by fire, along with most of the adjoining palace, in 1698. The physical removal of the chapel and its environs (viewed as something of an embarrassment by King William III and Queen Mary II) from the centre of government in London, and dispersal of many of its associated cultural artefacts, symbolized the passing into oblivion of the last, brief, period of open Catholic worship by royalty in England. This article sets in context the careers of musicians, clergy, artists and craftsmen involved with the daily life of the chapel, shedding new light on polychoral music composed by its Italian maestro di cappella Innocenzo Fede, and demonstrating that, as an outpost of Counter-Reformation Europe built in the heart of Protestant London, the chapel and its religious infrastructure acted as an important centre for the generation and circulation of printed and manuscript Catholic liturgical music. The article suggests that, as a specifically Catholic cultural and religious nucleus supported by the king, around which English Catholic recusant networks revolved, the Catholic chapel of James II, in its day, was very far from being a peripheral phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details the account of a chapter in the history of Italian opera in London, England, focused on Johann Jakob Heidegger's management of the Haymarket Opera from 1713-1717, succeeding Owen Swiney. Lawsuit filed by Heidegger against Swiney clarifying issues about the financial situation of the opera, how Heidegger managed it and the reasons for its bankruptcy and eventual closure.

Focuses on the conference `Dance to honor kings: Sources for court and theatrical dramatic entertainments, 1690-1740,' at King's College, London, England in August 1996. Date the conference was held; Countries contributing to the conference; Reference to Richard Ralph's opening keynote lecture; Information on the topics discussed.

Enderby Jackson, one of the most talented musical entrepreneurs of the mid-Victorian period, claimed to have invented the brass band contest. One of his major achievements was the establishment of contests held at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, on the outskirts of London, between 1860 and 1863. They brought mass audiences to the edifice, which had been moved from its original site in central London. One of the main purposes of the event was to contribute to the establishment of the new venue as a centre for entertainment at a national rather than a merely local level. Jackson was a brilliant commercial strategist who based his organizational method on meticulous planning. Each band wishing to enter the contest was required to complete a form which detailed critical information about its musical and social identity. Seventy-five of these forms survive in the care of the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, and they provide a rich and intimate source of information on the instrumentation, repertory and social framework of bands of the period. Taken with information about the reception of the events, the sources cast an important light on the nature of one of the most widespread and popular forms of public musical entertainment of the period, and about the entrepreneurial techniques that were employed to make it successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 February 1725, Francesco Geminiani became a freemason in London, and soon afterwards was involved in the setting up and running of a masonic lodge whose members shared a love for the performance of Italian instrumental music. The lodge’s minute book survives in the British Library, but hitherto has received little attention from music historians. Although the lodge was short-lived—its records end in 1727—the minute book allows us a fascinating glimpse into the world of middle-class men’s amateur music-making in early 18th-century London, their taste for the new, and their cultural aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an overview of British responses to Chinese music in the 18th century, and discusses in depth an informal musical performance by a Chinese visitor to London, not previously remarked upon in musicological literature. Taking place in 1756, this may have been the earliest Chinese musical performance in the West. The imbalance between the European response to Chinese visual and musical cultures is explored, and an examination of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is used to argue that even in musical contexts it is Chinese visual culture, rather than musical culture, which was most prominent. British responses to Chinese music are distinguished from those of continental Europe, on which they are nevertheless shown largely to depend at least until the period of Lord Macartney’s embassy to China in 1793. A transcription of one of the pieces of music played by the Chinese visitor (which was published in a contemporary magazine account of the event as ‘A Chinese Air’) is discussed, and the Chinese performer is identified as ‘Loum Kiqua’ with the aid of other documentation of the period. A portrait of Loum Kiqua by Dominic Serres—known today only through a print by Thomas Burford—is considered. Broader issues of Chinese–Western cross-cultural musical interchange are raised with reference to the specific example of ‘The Chinese Air’, and the possibility is also considered that Loum Kiqua met Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith during his stay in London, perhaps even providing one of the inspirations for the latter’s The Citizen of the World, a satire on British society presented as written by a Chinese visitor. Amongst Western commentators on Chinese music considered are Gaspar da Cruz, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde, Joseph-Marie Amiot, John Barrow, Johann Christian Hüttner and Charles Burney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article characterizes the music and traces the records of the opera "Dito and Aenas," composed by Henry Purcell, dating its performance at the Chelsea School in London, England, before the end of 1689. According to some evidences gathered from Aleppo, Syria, the opera was first performed at Josias Priest's boarding school for girls in Chelsea. A letter from Rowland Sherman, an English trading agent for the Levant Company in Aleppo, which appeared to refer to Purcell's opera, also gave light to its performance at Chelsea.

The article discusses pianos and harpsichords in royal courts during the eighteenth century. It mentions that the piano became popular in London and Vienna near the end of the century. The square piano was introduced in Paris and later became more accepted in other locations and replaced the harpsichord. The article argues that there was a period wherein the piano and harpsichord were both appreciated in royal courts including of Ferdinando de' Medici, Maria Barbara, and Frederick the great. The article describes the history of the coexistence of the piano and the harpsichord.

By the end of the 17th century one of the most influential dancing-masters in London was Mr Isaac. His success was due not only to his own abilities as a dancing-master and to his contacts with the highest levels of London society, but also to the publication of his dances in a new system of dance notation available in London by 1706. He was the first London dancing-master to benefit on a large scale from this innovation, and 22 of his dances survive as publications issued after 1706. They represent dances created for performance at court, many of them to celebrate the birthdays of Queen Anne or of other members of the royal family, and subsequently sold in notated form as souvenirs and for pedagogic purposes. More significantly, they also suggest that Mr Isaac was working at a time of transition after which royal birthday dances presented at court were as likely to be performed by professionals as by courtiers, and thus were sometimes taken into the commercial theatre. This article also addresses the unresolved question of the identity of Mr Isaac, and examines the likelihood that he was Edward Isaac, a Catholic dancing-master associated with the circle of musicians and dancers working for the Stuart royal family after the Restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines a simple possibility pertaining to the performance of theatrical dance in opera in the Restoration English theatre, namely that the existence of many of the dances and their accompanying music in 17th- and early 18th-century English operas is hidden in the context and score of the just-performed vocal numbers. The possibility that this could be the case in one or two specific instances has been raised elsewhere, but this article considers the evidence for the expansion of these cases into a more general convention. There can be no dispute that the role of dance in dramatick opera is a significant one. In the 11 or so works in the genre written and performed in London between 1690 and 1706, there are some 71 dances indicated in the surviving play-texts; as the period progresses, hardly an act passes by the audience without one. They became one of opera's drawcards and range widely in type and style. The article proposes that there was more dancing than even the already copious amounts indicated in the printed sources; the repeats proposed—particularly the final ones in musical sequences—could hold the solution to the problem of some of the apparently ‘missing’ dances and resolve issues raised by attempts to co-ordinate musical and spoken sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on stage dancing in the 1700s which was a part of the entertainments offered on the stages of the London theaters, while highlighting the impact of the Licensing Act of 1737. Effect of the Licensing Act of 1737 on London's theatrical life; Achievements which dance had accomplish; Reference to entertainments of dancing created by John Weaver; Concern of the development of stage dancing, in style, technique and subject matter to dancing-masters.

Focuses on the Eton Choirbook (Eton College Library Ms. 178), a seminal English music manuscript. Number of pieces by Robert Wylkynson, which were copied into the choirbook that now survives; Association of the English late-15th-century votive antiphon repertory with the manuscript; Primacy of the choirbook; Listing of recordings from the Eton Choirbook.

Reports that 15th century retrenchments, 16th-century reformations and 19th-century reforms have transformed the Eton College into a public school in London, England. What the 15th-century constitution of the school included; Importance of corporate identity to the school; Most significant recruit at Eton; Extension of the intellectual and musical contacts of Eton College; Reference to the Eton Choirbook.

Focuses on minstrels in the 16th century, during the reign of the early Tudor kings, showing how the royal household or `court' was the center of politics, patronage and power. Where the minstrels considered their main center of professional activity; Duties the minstrels were bound to perform; Listing of individual minstrels serving under early Tudor kings.

Focuses on Barouqe opera in London, England, highlighting the presentation of two contrasting approaches. Presentation of several operas at the Barbican Hall; Dates in which the operas will be presented; Decision to have semi-staged versions of the operas by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants; Description of the performances by the singers in `Les plaisirs de Versailles.'