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Achilles. An opera.

Description: John Gay is credited with inventing the ballad opera, a genre that blends spoken plays and previously composed songs to new texts. Although The Beggar’s Opera (1728) was his most successful endeavor, he continued to compose English musical dramas. Achilles was finally performed in 1733, one year after Gay died. In this story, Achilles appears as a girl named Pyrrha, unknown to most of the inhabitants of the island of Scyros, in order to circumvent a prediction that he will die in battle. D… more
Date: 1733
Creator: Gay, John, 1685-1732
Partner: UNT Music Library

Beggar's opera

Description: This is a 1735 fourth ed. of the three-act ballad opera "The beggar's opera" by John Christopher Pepusch and John Gay. It includes the score for the overture (for violins (2), viola, and bass ensemble) and the melodies of each song. The inscription, "Nos haec novimus esse nihil" (transl. as, We know these to be nothing) that appears on the t.p. is an epigram by Marcus Valerius Martialis from his Books of Epigrams. On the back of the t.p. appears the advertisement of these works printed by Joh… more
Date: 1735
Creator: Pepusch, John Christopher, 1667-1752 & Gay, John, 1685-1732
Partner: UNT Music Library

Devil to pay: or, The wives metamorphos'd

Description: English libretto to Charles Coffey's ballad opera The devil to pay or, The wives metamorphos'd. The Devil to Pay is an adaptation of Thomas Jevon’s play The Devil of a Wife (1686). Nearly fifty years later, the ballad opera appeared at Drury Lane with Charles Coffey and John Mottley each responsible for half of the three acts. However, a much shorter and more well-received one-act version, edited by Theophilus Cibber, is represented in the printed libretto. Today Coffey is generally the onl… more
Date: 1732
Creator: Coffey, Charles, d. 1745; Mottley, John, 1692-1750 & Jevon, Thomas, 1652-1688
Partner: UNT Music Library

Harmonia Sacra

Description: This collection of six anthems for various combinations of voices employs a figured continuo accompaniment. Instrumental interludes labeled "symphonies" can also be found interspersed among the choral selections. Though the music cites no particular scriptural passages, the text seems inspired by - if not directly derived from - the Bible.
Date: 1730~
Creator: Purcell, Henry, 1659-1695
Partner: UNT Music Library

Nouvelles Poesies Morales sur Les Plus Beaux Airs de la Musique Francoise et Italienne avec la Basse.: Fables Choisies Dans le gout de M. De La Fontaine, Sur des Vaudevilles & petits Airs aisés à chanter, avec leur Basse & une Basse en Musette. Recueil I. 6 liv. broché.

Description: This score is a collection of poetry and set to music including moral fables (marked on the table of contents with an asterisk). Each piece has words written with musical lines in treble, bass, or a combination of both. Includes a preface ('Avis.') and table of contents for the movements prior to page 1 for each of the seven collections ('recueil'). The pagination restarts for each collection and for the fables which fall at the end of each section.
Date: 1737
Creator: La Fontaine, Jean de, 1621-1695
Partner: UNT Music Library

Le triomphe des sens

Description: This opera (ballet héroique) is comprised of five acts with a prologue. It was premiered on 29 May 1732 at L'accademie Royale de Musique in Paris. This score opens with a letter of dedication from the composer "A Son Altesse Serenissime Monseigneur Le Prince de Dombes." Next, Mouret includes two tables of contents: one of the dances (Airs de Simphonie) and the other, of the arias (Airs à Chanter). The following pages lists other publications by Mouret including prices and where these items may … more
Date: 1732
Creator: Mouret, Jean-Joseph, 1682-1738
Partner: UNT Music Library
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