{"product_id":"9780809318032","title":"Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800","description":"\u003cp\u003eA major project begun in 1973 reaches its conclusion with the publication of volumes 15 and 16 of the \u003ci\u003eBiographical Dictionary, \u003c\/i\u003ea series considered \"a reference work of the first order\" by \u003ci\u003eTheatre and Performing Arts Collections.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong performers highlighted in these last volumes is Catherine Tofts, a gifted singer whose popular acclaim was captured in lines by Samuel Phillips: \"How are we pleas’d when beauteous Tofts appears, \/ To steal our Souls through our attentive Ears?’ \/ Ravish’d we listen to th’ inchanting Song, \/ And catch the falling Accents from her Tongue.\" The first singer of English birth to master the form of Italian opera, Tofts frequently won leading roles over native Italian singers. Her salary—£400 to £500 a season—was one of the highest in the theatre. Her popularity declined, however, as her demands for payment increased—a situation captured in an epigram Alexander Pope may have penned: \"So bright is thy beauty, so charming thy song, \/ As had drawn both the beasts and their Orpheus along; \/\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eBut such is thy avarice, and such is thy pride, \/ That the beasts must have starved, and the poets have died.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Vanbrugh, whose play \u003ci\u003eThe Relapse \u003c\/i\u003eis ranked as one of the best comedies of the Restoration period, became a subordinate crown architect under Sir Christopher Wren in 1702. In 1703, Vanbrugh began plans for the Queen’s Theatre in the Haymarket, an enterprise endorsed by the Kit Cat Club (of which Vanbrugh was a member). Even though his lavish design was acoustically defective, restructuring helped correct the problem and the theatre eventually became the exclusive center for opera in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Southern Illinois University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47016573370608,"sku":"9780809318032","price":62.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780809318032_p0.gif?v=1763740577","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780809318032","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}