Excerpt from Operatic Performances in England Before HandelNo field in English Literature has received less attention than that of the heroic drama, and inseparably connected with this is the so-called literary opera, for the composers who wrote the one, also wrote the other. I have chronicled the rise and progress of the English opera from 1656, the date of its initial performance, until the introduction in 1710 of Italian librettos by Handel and his co-workers. Little or nothing has been written on the consecutive history of the Opera between those two dates. The works them selves are not easily available and for that reason I have given epitomes of the operas and I have collected many facts concerning this excrescence of literature. I have read every extant opera, many of which are to be found only in the library of the British Museum.My indebtedness to the librarians of Havard and Cc lumbia Colleges, of the University of Pennsylvania, of the Congressional Library and of the British Museum, I grate fully acknowledge.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.