Event Comment: Mainpiece [1
st time; CO 3, by
James Cobb. Text 1
st published (unauthorized),
Dublin [1790].
Sga Storace had 1
st appeared in concerts from 1774 to 1778, and at
king's on 24 Apr. 1787 and thereafter]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. The new Music composed by
Storace, the re
st compiled from
Linley? Sen.,
Purcell,
Sarti,
Paisiello,
Martin y Soler?,
Pleyel, &c. The Scenes designed and executed by
Greenwood. Books of the Songs to be had at the
Theatre. "In her own particular line on the
stage [Sga
Storace] was unrivalled, being an excellent actress, as well as a ma
sterly singer. She settled entirely in
England, and after quitting the opera (to which she was frequently recalled in times of di
stress, as was too often the case), she engaged at
Drury Lane, where the English opera was raised to an excellence not known before, by her singing, with that of
Mrs Crouch,
Mrs Bland,
Kelly, and
Bannister, and under the direction of her brother
Stephen Storace, who composed, or rather compiled, several very pretty operas, of which the
Haunted Tower, and the
Siege of Belgrade still remain favorites, and are frequently performed" (
Mount-Edgcumbe, 65). Account-Book, 4 Jan. 1790: Paid Cobb on Acct. of the Purchase of the Copyright of the Haunted Tower #157 10s.; 27 Feb. 1790: Paid Cobb in full for Copyright #52 10s. Receipts: #219 9s. 6d. (200.13.0; 17.14.6; 1.2.0)