Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King's Theatre, and Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Including a Period of Nearly Half a Century

Volume 2 of the autobiography of the famous Irish singer and composer Michael Kelly (1762–1826), first published in 1826.

Michael Kelly (Author)

9781108038720, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 October 2011

386 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.49 kg

Michael Kelly (1762–1826) was an Irish singer and composer who studied music in a Naples conservatory before touring Europe and performing for royalty. His voyage to Italy began with a brush with pirates, one of whom was a childhood acquaintance. Kelly also found himself stranded penniless in Venice, spent a night in prison after a fist fight at the theatre, and had a narrow escape from revolutionary France. He is probably best remembered for creating the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio in the first performance, in 1786, of Le Nozze di Figaro, of which he describes the rehearsal period and reception. He later joined London's Theatre Royal as both a performer and composer and opened a music shop, which went bankrupt. These memoirs, published in 1826, provide rich first-hand insights into a key period in theatre history. Volume 2 covers Kelly's later musical and theatrical career.

1. First performance of the Siege of Belgrade
2. The author's mistake in taking Sir Charles Turner for Hobler, the chorus-singer
3. The author at Paris
4. Paesiello's comic opera, the 'Zingari in Fiera', at the King's Theatre
5. The Beggar's Opera prohibited in Dublin
6. Edinburgh
7. First performance of the Wheel of Fortune
8. The author apprehended as a French spy at Dover
9. Fracas at Plymouth Dock
10. Anecdotes of Monk Lewis
11. Mazzanti, the Italian soprano, at the performance of the Beggar's Opera Travestied
12. Mrs. Billington's dismay at the unexpected appearance of Monsieur de Felican, her husband
13. Difficulty of eating on the stage
14. The King's Theatre opened by Mr. Francis Goold
15. Tobin's Honey Moon
16. Miss De Camp in the 'Forty Thieves'
17. Madame Catalani dancing in a kitchen at Bangor, to the music of an old blind harper
18. Covent Garden Theatre burnt to the ground
19. The author's last appearance on the stage
20. Kean's first appearance as a tragedian in 'Shylock'
21. Arrival at Paris
22. Death of Sheridan
23. List of sixty-two dramatic pieces, for which Kelly composed the music
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]