A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Drury Lane

by Henry Sutherland Edwards

DRURY LANE, opened in 1696 under the name of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane; materially altered and enlarged in 1762 and 1763; pulled down in the summer of 1791; the new theatre opened (for plays) April 21, 1794; burned Feb. 24, 1809; rebuilt and opened Oct. 10, ^[1]1812. Among the eminent composers who have been connected with this theatre must, in the first place, be mentioned Dr. Arne, who, from the year 1738, when he wrote the music to Milton's 'Comus,' until shortly before his death in 1778, produced a large number of operas and operettas. In 1806 one of Sir Henry Bishop's first works, a pantomime-ballet called 'Caractacus,' was brought out at Drury Lane. But Bishop, after the burning of the theatre in 1809, accepted an engagement at Covent Garden, where most of his operas and musical dramas were performed. Meanwhile foreign operas as arranged or disarranged for the English stage by Mr. Rophino Lacy, Mr. Tom Cooke, and others, were from time to time performed at Drury Lane; and in 1833, under the direction of Mr. Alfred Bunn, some English versions of Italian operas were produced with the world-renowned prima donna, Marietta Malibran, in the principal parts. Drury Lane was the last theatre at which she sang. [Malibran.] A few years later Mr. Bunn made a praiseworthy but not permanently successful attempt to establish English opera at this theatre. During this period Balfe's 'Bohemian Girl,' 'Daughter of St. Mark,' 'Enchantress,' 'Bondman,' etc.; Wallace's 'Maritana' and 'Matilda of Hungary,' Benedict's 'Crusaders' and 'Brides of Venice,' were brought out at Drury Lane, for which theatre they had all been specially written. When Her Majesty's Theatre was burnt down (Dec. 6, 1867), Mr. Mapleson took Drury Lane for a series of summer seasons. In 1869 [App. p.618 "1870"] the performances took place under the management of Mr. George Wood (of the firm of Cramer, Wood, and Co.), who among other new works produced Wagner's 'Flying Dutchman'—the first of Herr Wagner's operas performed in England. Until 1877 'Her Majesty's Opera,' as the establishment transferred from Her Majesty's Theatre was called, remained at Drury Lane. In 1877, however, Mr. Mapleson returned to tho Haymarket; and his company now performs at the theatre rebuilt on the site of 'Her Majesty's.'

[ H. S. E. ]

1. This opening, for which the address was written by Lord Byron, gave occasion to the 'Rejected Addresses' of James and Horace Smith.