Scan 275
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 235. See the scan on archive.org.
1During the twenty-five years in which ballad-opera held sway foreign operas were becoming familiar in adapted form. These were heard in America as given in London, the music simplified according to the whim of the adapter, who also undertook to add to or take away from both libretto and score of the original. The towns and cities in close touch with the European centers, as has been seen, enjoyed both French and Italian operatic music before the close of the Eighteenth Century. Outside of New Orleans these performances were given principally by English singers.
3The presentation of Italian opera in its entirety in the United States begins with the coming of the Garcia family. Manuel del Popolo Vincente Garcia was then in the prime of life. He was a Spaniard by birth, and had won fame as a tenor singer and as a composer of operas not only in his own country but in Italy, France and England as well. His daughter, Maria Felicita, afterward known as Mme. Malibran, was his pupil, and had made her debut in London the year previous to accompanying her father to America. The principals of the company, besides Garcia and his daughter, were his wife, his son Manuel, Mme. Barbieri, Crivelli, and Angrisani. The company opened its season at the new Park Theatre, New York, on Nov. 29, 1825, with Rossini's "Barber of Seville," Garcia himself taking the part of Almaviva. It took the people of New York by storm. The orchestra itself was a revelation at this period, consisting of seven violins, two violas, three violoncellos, two contrabasses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, one pair of kettledrums, and piano.
5After the novelty had worn off, however, the financial success was not so encouraging as was that from the artistic side. At first people went to the theatre to gratify their curiosity. The opera interested them for a time as something novel, but, failing to understand the language in which it was given, they gradually lost interest in the music. So after a year, playing at both the Park and Bowery theatres, and giving in all seventy-six performances, Garcia conceived
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