Hutchinson, Catherine Lucy Jean. 2019. Naturalising Semiramide in 1842: Adaptation, Spectacle and English Prima Donnas. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis] https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26473/ The version presented here may differ from the published, performed or presented work. Please go to the persistent GRO record above for more information. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Goldsmiths, University of London via the following email address: [email protected]. The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. For more information, please contact the GRO team: [email protected] Naturalising Semiramide in 1842: Adaptation, Spectacle and English Prima Donnas by Catherine Lucy Jean Hutchinson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Goldsmiths, University of London 2019 Declaration of Authorship I Catherine Lucy Jean Hutchinson hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. ……………………………………. 28 May 2019 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the many friends and colleagues who have helped me along the way with this thesis. In particular, I would like to thank Anthony Pryer, who was my supervisor for most of the PhD process and who took me through numerous iterations of the thesis; Tamsin Alexander, who took over as supervisor and corrected some of my ideas about London music; and Naomi Matsumoto, who first suggested to Anthony Pryer that I conduct research about bel canto opera in London and was my supervisor in the final stages of the project. I would also like to thank my upgrade examiners Berta Joncus and Ian Gardiner; and Keith Potter, who always took an interest in my work. I have been given much help by the staff at the British Library, Senate House, Goldsmiths Library and the Royal Academy of Music, who patiently answered innumerable questions. There are also many academics around the world who answered my email queries. I was particularly grateful to Philip Gossett who sent me a photocopy of ornaments for Semiramide in Adelaide Kemble’s note book and to Trish Lawlis, who helped him answer other queries. I was greatly helped by Adelaide Kemble’s descendent, Lord Avebury, who was able to point me to the location of much of the material relating to her, including her letters, a copy of her notebook, and the portraits by John Hayter and Sir Francis Grant. I would like to thank Moira Goff of the Garrick Club who allowed me to see the Kemble Papers; and Sophie Littlewood for showing me portraits of Adelaide Kemble and other members of her family at the Portland Collection. I was very grateful to Jennie Bisset, who lent me material she had collected about Mary Shaw; to Rosemary Raza, who allowed me to read the Postans Family Memoir and pointed me to archives at Ightham Mote; and to Wendy Postans, who answered my queries about Mary Shaw. Similarly, I much appreciated the help given by Lynne Antwis, Philip Stott and Samantha Smith of the National Trust, who showed me the documents held at Ightham Mote relating to Mary Shaw. I am also thankful for the assistance given by Laura Brown of the Royal Opera House Archives, who let me see playbills for Norma and Semiramide, the Gye diaries and other material from the 1840s. Lastly, I would like to thank William Leigh Knight, Janet Zimmermann and Peter Shambrook for proof reading and to William Leigh Knight for use of his Sibelius application. 3 Abstract This thesis examines how Rossini’s Semiramide was adapted by T.H. Reynoldson for Covent Garden in 1842, where it was mounted for the first time in the English language, in a spectacular production. Semiramide was performed by Adelaide Kemble, a compelling actress who overturned what had been the dominant interpretation of the role, Giuditta Pasta’s, creating a new one that was vulnerable and womanly. Mary Shaw as Arsace had a refined simplicity and gave meaning to recitative in a way that was unknown in England. With their high standard, Kemble and Shaw were seen as English singers who could compete as equals with the fashionable foreign singers at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The transfer of Semiramide to Covent Garden resulted in an entanglement of English, Italian and other cultural values and operatic practices. The main purpose of this study is, through a close reading of newspapers, memoirs, letters and other contemporary documents, as well as existing iconography, to examine how the opera was ‘naturalised’ for Covent Garden; and to test how well Werner and Zimmermann’s model of histoire croisée and Homi Bhabha’s theories about ambivalence can be applied to this revival of Rossini’s opera. In so doing, it analyses the norms, prejudices and preoccupations of the interpretative communities of the adapters, singers and critics. I argue that the adaptation and spectacle tilted the opera towards the populist genres of melodrama and pantomime. I also propose that Kemble and Shaw’s performances represented a fusion of English and Italian singing. On a larger scale, this study shines a light on the values and performance practices in London theatres at the time and adds to the body of literature about operatic adaptations and staging, as well as prima donna culture. 4 Contents 1. Introduction 10 2. Semiramis becomes Semiramide in Venice, London and Paris 28 3. London and its Theatres 57 4. Naturalizing Melodramma as Melodrama 83 5. Mounting the Spectacle: Puffs, Antiquity and Special Effects 103 6: Singing for England: Womanhood, Acting and a Fusion of Styles 132 7. Postlude: After Kemble 178 8. Conclusion 187 Appendices Appendix I Cast lists of the early performances 202 Appendix II Cuts made to the English Semiramide compared with other versions 203 Appendix III London performances of Semiramide together with cast lists 208 Appendix IV London Theatre Seat Prices in 1842 213 Appendix V Comparison of Covent Garden seat prices by the night in 1842 with those in 1847 214 Appendix VI Omnibuses that could be used to get home after a performance at Covent Garden and Her Majesty’s Theatre, 1844, showing last departure time 215 Bibliography 216 5 Figures Figure 1 Costume designs for Semiramide, Assur and Arsace by Hippolyte Lecomte for Semiramide, Théâtre Italien, Paris, 8 December 1825. 55 Figure 2 ‘Semiramide: Covent Garden Playbill, 1 October, 1842’, Royal Opera House Archives Playbills 1842, No. 16., ROH Collections. © Royal Opera House. 107 Figure 3 John Brandard, lithograph for the music cover of Gioachino Rossini, ‘At Length a Brilliant Ray’, and ‘Delicious Languor’ [‘Bel raggio’], trans. T.H. Reynoldson, arr. Jules Benedict (London: Jefferys & Nelson, [1843]). 119 Figure 4 Detail of ‘The Interior’ [of Covent Garden] showing Semiramide being performed for the opening of the Royal Italian Opera on 6 April 1847 and using the set from the 1842 production (Illustrated London News, 10 April 1847, 233). © Mary Evans Picture Library. 119 Figure 5 Sir Francis Grant, Adelaide Kemble as Semiramide, 1842, oil on canvas. Private Collection. 120 Figure 6 Detail of Sir Francis Grant, Adelaide Kemble as Semiramide, 1842, oil on canvas. Private collection. 121 Figure 7 ‘Last Act of Semiramide’, Illustrated London News, 22 October 1842, 381. © Mary Evans Picture Library. 123 Figure 8 James Morier’s painting of Persepolis with the Hall of a Hundred Columns (Morier, A Journey through Persia, opp. 139). 125 Figure 9 Detail of William Ouseley’s sketch of the fire temple at Gumbed Gulabi (Ouseley, Travels, Vol. 2, Plate XXXVI). 125 6 Figure 10.a Detail of John Brandard’s lithograph of the final tableau showing: heads of people painted on the backdrop; two elephants; a standard with a winged orb; and soldiers lined up (John Brandard, lithograph, in Gioachino Rossini, Semiramide: The Grand March, arr. Stephen Glover (London: Jefferys & Nelson; Cramer, Addison & Beale, [1843]), cover). Figure 10.b Logo printed on all the music covers with Brandard’s illustrations, published by Jefferys & Nelson [1843] and linked to the 1842 Semiramide. Figure 10.c Stone relief from the Apadana (audience hall) at Persepolis (Limestone 6thC-5thC BCE), obtained in 1811 and given by Sir Gore Ouseley to the British Museum in 1825. 126 Figure 11 Cadenza for ‘Bel Raggio’ in Kemble’s notebook (bars 143-151 in Rossini, Semiramide, critical edition). 134 Figure 12 Adelaide Kemble after R.J. Lane, c.1845, miniature on ivory. Private collection. 135 Figure 13 Hermann Winterhalter, Mary Postans, Mrs. Alfred Shaw, c.1850, oil on canvas. Ivy Hatch, Ightham Mote. © National Trust / Charles Thomas. 138 Figure 14 John Hayter, Semiramide and Assur: ‘The sacred flame on the alter expires’, 1843, pastel. Private collection. 147 Figure 15 John Hayter, Semiramide and Assur: ‘Must I recall to thee that night of horror!’, 1843, pastel. Private collection. 147 Figure 16 John Hayter. Semiramide 1843, pastel. Private collection. 151 Figure 17 John Hayter, Semiramide, 1844, pastel. Private collection. 151 Figure 18 Michele Albanesi attrib., Mary Postans aged twenty and dedicated to her fiancé, Alfred Shaw, March 1834, miniature on ivory. 165 Figure 19 John Brandard, lithograph for the music cover of Gioachino Rossini, Thy Smile is Joy Indeed! (‘Giorno d’orrore’), trans. T.H. Reynoldson (London: Jefferys & Nelson, [1843]). 167 7 Musical Examples Ex. 1 ‘As woman I scorn thee’ from ‘Se la vita’. 150 Ex. 2 Cadenza at the end of allegretto section, ‘Giorno d’orrore’ in Rossini’s autograph and the Ricordi 1825 edition of Semiramide. 168 Ex. 3 Ignaz Moscheles’ Piano Transcription of Maria Malibran’s cadenza, 1830 (Ignaz Moscheles, Gems à la Malibran, Vol.