Operatic Performances in England Before Handel

From the beginning of the first chapter. This study deals chiefly with the early opera in its connection with English letters. Music has been considered only as it serves to give a more distinct and comprehensive view of the principal theme. This limitation is necessary because with a few exceptions the scores of operas composed before the time of Handel have been lost. The nature of the music therefore can only be surmised from incidental references to it, scattered throughout diaries, let...