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Sketches and Impressions, Musical, Theatrical and Social
Sketches and Impressions Musical Theatrical and Social Author:Thomas Goodwin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. First production of " The Creation " in London —Pantomime of " Mother Goose "—Grimaldi. For more than fifty years my father, amongst other responsible ... more »positions connected with his profession, was music librarian to Covent Garden Theatre. He was a man of excellent taste, both musical and literary, and was himself the author of some poetry which was well esteemed in its day. I remember a ban -mot of his in connection with the first production of the oratorio of " The Creation " in London. The copy of the oratorio, afterwards published by my brother William, has this reference to its composition and first production. " Haydn was sixty-three years old when he undertook this great work and was employed two whole years upon it. When urged to bring it to a conclusion he replied: ' I spend much time upon it because I intend it to last a long time.' " In the beginning of the year 1798 the oratorio was completed, and in the following Lent was performed for the first time in Vienna. It was performed in England, in the year 1800, at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, then under the direction of Mr. Ashley, the score having been brought from Germany by a king's messenger on Saturday, March 22d, and the oratorio was produced on the Friday following ; it having been copied by the publisher's father (and assistants) in six days." Surprise being expressed at the short time taken to prepare so great a work for its production, my father remarkedthat it was not entirely unique, " for according to Scripture the whole work was done once before in the same time." It was as a boy in my father's office and library, having access to every part of the theatre, that I began to become familiar with theatrical affairs and notice conspicuous persons both before and behind the scenes. In th...« less