8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; pp. [3]-19, text; p. [20], blank.
Copy: HEH.
There were no other issues.
This pastoral opera in two acts, performed as an afterpiece at Drury Lane, 29 October 1781, is an alteration of Allan Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd, 1725, which had already had a long stage history. It ran for twenty-two nights and remained the standard stage version until after 1800. In an article entitled “Reviving ‘The Gentle Shepherd,’” W. J. Lawrence condemned Tickell’s alteration out of hand because “the abounding Doric had been bled white, and new music had been substituted for the fine old Scots melodies” (The [London] Graphic, CVIII, 1923, 340). The music has not survived, but the discriminating review in The Universal Magazine praised Linley’s skill in preserving the original airs while providing accompaniments for an expanded orchestra (LXIX, 1781, 237). The dialogue, however handled, was certain to produce disagreement, but Tickell was more faithful to the original than previous adapters had been. On this point James Boaden wrote:
The simple beauties of the poem were ... felt on this occasion, and the lovers of rustic nature were obliged to Mr. Tickell for the restoration of its original language—the pronunciation, and still more the cadence, suffered as might be expected from diffidence and badness of ear (Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons, 1827, I, 252).
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Songs, Duos, Trios, Chorusses, &c., in the Comic Opera of the Carnival of Venice, as it is Performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. London. 1781. Pr. Iˢ.
8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; p. [3], “Dramatis Personæ,” verso blank; pp. 5-27, text; p. [28], blank.
Copy: BM.