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English Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London:
Stephen Storace at Drury Lane
Jane Girdham
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997
272 pages, S85.00

Remembered today chiefly as the brother of Ann Selina (Nancy) Storace,

Mozart's first Susanna, the short-lived Stephen Storace (1762-1796) once
enjoyed considerable celebrity in his own right as a composer of English opera.
Now, two centuries after his premature death, he occupies center stage in Jane
Girdham's absorbing study of a corner of the operatic world little known even
to scholars specializing in the late eighteenth century. A revised and reorganized
version of the author's doctoral dissertation,1 the book contains nine chapters
clustered in two parts: "Contexts" and "The Music." Figures, tables, and gen-
erous musical examples effectively supplement Girdham's graceful prose. Five
appendixes provide a wealth of additional detail, while a comprehensive bibli-
ography invites further reading.
Four model contextual studies constitute part 1. Covered in chapter 1 ("Biog-
raphy") are Storace's family background; his stays in Italy and Vienna; his early
days in London; his career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (beginning in the
1788-89 season); his last works and death; the subsequent history of his widow,
Mary; and the last of the Storaces, among them Nancy. Ironically, in view of
his temperate habits and unrelenting industry, the most fully documented event
of Storace's life is also the most atypical, a 1787 arrest in Vienna for disorderly
conduct.
Addressing a conspicuous gap in our knowledge of music's role in the Lon-
don theaters of Storace's time, Girdham covers production matters in chapter
2: theaters and their seasons; the evening's entertainment, with its mainpiece
and afterpiece; the progress of a production; and opening night and beyond.
With chapter 3 ("Musicians at Drury Lane") the focus shifts to the people who
brought the productions to life: the singers, instrumentalists, support person-
 BOOKS 91

nel, and composers. For a principal singer of the company no less than for the
lowliest chorus member, instrumentalist, or tuner, versatility was the prime req-
uisite. Chapter 4, "Music Publishing in the Late Eighteenth Century," rounds
out part 1. At first glance a digression, the content of Girdham's longest chap-
ter quickly proves indispensable to an understanding of English opera's pecu-
liar musical legacy. Moreover, the subject's complexities, absurdities, and assorted
lawsuits make fascinating reading.
As a prelude to discussion of the twenty stage works Storace composed over
an eleven-year career, part 2 opens, appropriately, with questions of genre.

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Because the existing terminology not infrequently confuses rather than clarifies,
Girdham attempts "to provide a working definition of English opera that
includes both mainpieces and afterpieces, that avoids the inconsistencies of
eighteenth-century terminology, and that delimits the genre by excluding at
least some of the stage works in which music played a subsidiary role" (p. 130).
The Haunted Tower, conceived within the English tradition, and The Pirates,
a move toward the more complex genre of opera buffa, furnish excellent exam-
ples of Storace's six mainpiece operas in English (chapter 6). Similarly, No Song,
No Supper, his only opera to survive in full score, aptly illustrates the afterpieces,
Storace's most typically English group of stage works. The Iron Chest, a play
with words, stands as his most important work outside the operas (chapter 7).
Girdham devotes chapter 8 to a sensitive investigation of borrowing, a hallowed
tradition in English opera. Having reviewed eighteenth-century attitudes, the
author then examines Storace's sources (chiefly opera buffa) and his methods of
adaptation as revealed in The Siege of Belgrade, Lodoiska, The Glorious First of
June, and the unfinishedMahmoud. Balancing practicality with uncompromis-
ing compositional ideals, Storace displays uncommon "skill in abbreviating bor-
rowed music and merging new and old while retaining the dramatic integrity
of the music he borrowed" (p. 212). In succinctly closing the brief chapter 9
("Conclusions"), Girdham writes, "As an individual, Storace tried to elevate
the state of English opera. That he did not succeed is a fact of history. Never-
theless, in his attempts to achieve new heights of dramatic opera in England,
Storace gave us some exciting and attractive music" (p. 225).
English Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London exhibits many virtues,
among them a commendable organizational scheme reinforced by the com-
prehensive framing paragraphs of each chapter, an engaging prose style, and
research firmly based on such primary sources as John Philip Kemble's theatri-
cal diaries and the Drury Lane account books. Avoiding pedantry, Girdham
nicely clarifies confusing terms. See, for example, her careful distinction between
"unauthorized" and "pirated" editions and her formulation of the criteria nec-
essary for a work to qualify as an English opera. Well-grounded opinions
broaden and sharpen our view of the field. The handsomely set musical exam-
ples open a window on Storace's unfamiliar compositional style. Appendixes
2-5 likewise convey valuable information about this little-known repertory:
"Contents of Storace's English Operas in Chronological Order," "Entries in the
9 2 B O O K S

Stationers' Hall Registers of Storace's Works," "Complete List of Works," and

"Operas in Which Storace Used Borrowed Material."
In impressive fashion, the late eighteenth century comes vibrantly alive in a
rich tapestry woven from details, illuminating quotations, and anecdotes. Read-
ers will shudder at the disaster of 3 February 1794 at an overcrowded Little The-
atre, delight in the role of the carillon in Storace's orchestration, and profit from
an enlightening capsule history of "Rule Britannia." We learn also that the new
Drury Lane Theatre (1794) could accommodate over 3,600 spectators (in sharp
contrast, Vienna's Burgtheater held approximately 1,350). Collaborating actively

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with librettists James Cobb, Prince Hoare, John Philip Kemble, and George
Colman Jr., Storace shaped his operas in accordance with the stereotyped and
hierarchical casting system prevalent at the time: Michael Kelly and Arina Maria
Crouch almost invariably played the upper-class pair, Nancy Storace and the
actor Jack Bannister the clever, lively, lower-class pair (Nancy received the most
music, followed by Kelly and then Crouch, with Bannister a distant fourth).
While raising the musical level of English opera, Storace remained sensitive to
his audience's tastes, that vital and vocal component of the eighteenth-century
theatrical equation.
The author has selected representative operas wisely; crafted a comprehen-
sive study paradigm that embraces drama, spectacle, and music; and developed
a sophisticated analytic approach that avoids needless technical complication.
Meriting particular attention is her insightful handling of the strophic song,
the borrowing process, ensembles in general, and especially Storace's mastery
of the English branch of the ensemblefinale,that crowning jewel of opera buffa
memorably described by Lorenzo Da Ponte himself. Girdham's inescapable con-
clusion is that "Storace successfully brought Italian influences to bear on his
English operas in integrating drama and music. His works are therefore at the
same time the most musical of English operas and the least close to the norms
of English opera" (p. 135).
Carefully proofread and attractively typeset, the book is relatively error-free.
An extra word appears on page 85, a word is missing from page 152, and text
underlay goes somewhat awry on page 195 (ex. 7-7[c]). The musicologist
Thomas Bauman's name is misspelled throughout with a doubled n. On one
occasion, a substantial section of text returns later in varied form (compare pp.
175-76 with p. 216, concerning The Glorious First of June). On another occasion,
a prose account of Storace's borrowings disagrees slightly with the listing pro-
vided in appendix 5 (compare p. 219 with p. 250, conccmingMahmoud). Grate-
ful though I am for the wealth of information Girdham supplies, I wish that
she had furnished one more appendix. Because some of Storace's opera titles
recall better-known works by other composers, a section devoted to synopses
would have been tremendously helpful.2 To judge from the contemporary
review cited on page 126, for example, Storace's version of The Doctor and the
Apothecary appears to transplant the quintessential German bourgeois drama of
Dittersdorfand Stephanie to Spain.
 BOOKS 93

Drawn as if by a magnet, great performers and composers thronged to Lon-

don throughout the second half of the eighteenth century. The adult Mozart,
who admired all things English, longed to return to that mecca of the musical
world. Haydn actually visited twice (1791-92, 1794-95), during the peak of
Storace's operatic activities. Girdham's account affords the reader frequent
opportunities to view personalities familiar from Haydn and Mozart studies in
a new light and from different angles, among them Michael Kelly, Thomas
Attwood, Da Ponte, and Nancy Storace. Encountered similarly are figures cus-
tomarily associated with the early nineteenth century, notably the tenor John
Braham, who subsequently created the role of Sir Huon of Bordeaux in Weber's

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Oberon. Besides participating in some Storace opera ventures, Braham lived
with Nancy Storace for some nineteen years (c. 1797-1816).
To cite but a few of the threads that lirik Girdham's work to research in related
fields, Storace, like Mozart, strove to create individual, three-dimensional char-
acters through musical means, especially in ensembles.3 James Hewitt's Tam-
manny, or The Indian Chief (1794) has received welcome attention in John
Koegel's wide-ranging account of a popular British tune's evolution and migra-
tion.4 Don Altador, the hero of Storace's The Pirates, appears to be the English
equivalent of the "developing hero" then popular in Italian heroic-comic operas
and, indeed, in Viennese magic operas.5
Currently assistant professor at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan,
Girdham has published additional studies of Storace and his contemporaries.
For example, she provided the Stephen Storace entry for The New Grove Dic-
tionary of Opera. She also writes about and edits music by the little-known
eighteenth-century English composer Margaret Essex. With English Opera in
Late Eighteenth-Century London the author has transmitted a wealth of infor-
mation in a highly palatable manner. While whetting the appetite for record-
ings and adequately funded staged revivals, she also pinpoints the obstacle that
frustratingly hinders such ventures: all but one of Storace's English operas sur-
vive in piano-vocal score only, a poor substitute for orchestral color and motivic
elaboration. From these remains, nonetheless, "Storace emerges as a practical
composer for the theatre who was at the same time uncompromising as regards
his ideals of compositional craft" (p. 221). Thanks to Girdham's efforts, Storace
and his neglected art canfinallyreceive the attention they so richly deserve.
Malcolm S. Cole
NOTES
1. Jane Girdham, "Stephen Storace and dix 1. Interestingly, Girdham does incorpo-
the English Opera Tradition of the Late rate synopses in chapter 4 of her dissertation.
Eighteenth Century" (Ph.D. diss., University 3. For a magisterial study of characteriza-
of Pennsylvania, 1988). tion through musical means see Wye Jamison
2. For model synopses see William Ash- Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: "Le
brook, Donizetti and His Operas (Cambridge: nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" (Chi-
Cambridge University Press, 1982), appen- cago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
9 4 BOOKS

4. John Koegel, "'The Indian Chief 5. Helen Geyer-Kiefl, Die heroisch-komische

and 'Morality3: An Eighteenth-Century
British Popular Song Transformed into a
Nineteenth-Century American Shape-Note
Hymn," in Music in Performance and Society:
Essays in Honor ofRoland Jackson, ed.
Malcolm Cole and John Koegel (Warren,
Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1997), pp.
481-83.
Oper, ca. 1770-1820, 2 vols. (Tutzing: Hans
Schneider, 1987), vol. 1, p. 24. Tamino, who
is just such a humanized representation of
the traditional hero,figuresprominendy in
my unpublished study "The 'Magic Flute
Formula': A Recipe for ZauberoperV

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Mozart: A Musical Biography
Konrad Kiister
Translated by Mary Whittall
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996
409 pages, $35.00

One might wonder what, if anything, could possibly remain to be said about
the life of one of history's most written-about composers. The impressive thing
about Mozart: A Musical Biography is not so much what Konrad Kiister adds to
the existing literature but how he goes about it.1 Eschewing hagiography in
favor of a more pragmatic look at the Mozart miracle, the author explains in
his preface, "Some of the things in Mozart's music that we are accustomed to
admire as 'divine' seem to be so precisely calculated and so coolly thought out
that genius manifests itself more cogently in the intention than in the element
of happy chance" (pp. x-xi).
Kiister puts this philosophy to work by distilling biographical data and musi-
cal analysis into forty dense chapters ("snapshots," as he calls them), arranged in
more or less chronological sequence. Each chapter focuses heavily on the musi-
cological elements of one or more major compositions, simultaneously weigh-
ing them against events in the composer's life. Although the author is fairly
selective in both the degree and the nature of his attention to the material, over
the course of these essays he manages to touch on virtually all of Mozart's
important creations and activities.
One of the most refreshing aspects of this biography is the way it avoids the
conventional day-to-day recounting of familiar facts by offering a less pre-
dictable series of short self-contained essays. As a result, it lends itself to piece-
meal ingestion; indeed, it is just as satisfying to jump back and forth from essay
to essay as it is possible to read the book from cover to cover.
Cumulatively, the forty "snapshots" (each interestingly titled) add up to a
fairly comprehensive traversal of Mozart's life and art. In "The Minuet as a
Teaching Medium: Mozart's Earliest Compositions (to c. 1763)" the anecdotal
sources of the child prodigy's compositional activity are scrutinized in connec-