Thomas Gray in London - the 1750's

from Letter from Mr Gray to Count Algarotti, Cambridge, Sept. 9th, 1763, pages 258-259:

I cannot help telling you, that eight or ten years ago I was a witness to the power of your comic music.—There was a little troop of buffi that exhibited a burletta in London, not in the Opera House, where the audience is chiefly of the better sort, but on one of the common theatres full of all kinds of people, and (I believe) the fuller from that natural aversion we bear to foreigners; their looks and their noise made it evident they did not come thither to hear; and on similar occasions I have known candles lighted, broken bottles, and penknives flung on the stage, the benches torn up, the…   more >>
cite as

Thomas Gray, Letter from Mr Gray to Count Algarotti, Cambridge, Sept. 9th, 1763. In John Drinkwater (ed.), Gray's Poems, Select Letters and Essays (1912), p. 258-259. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1384364284052 accessed: 29 March, 2024

location of experience: London

Listeners

Thomas Gray
scholar, Poet
1716-1771

Listening to

hide composers
comic opera
written by Cocchi, Pergolesi
performed by Italian buffi troupe

Experience Information

Date/Time the 1750's
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Originally submitted by hgb3 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:38:04 +0000