rank. Before he was 20, he won applause by an opera at Brunswick (1692), so that he aspired to be heard at Hamburg. Most of his subsequent career was passed there, except 3 years at Weissenfels (from 1706), 2 at Ludwigsburg (from 1719), and 7 at Copenhagen (from 1722). His official positions varied, but he was always a leading spirit in musical enterprises. He is said to have written 116 operas or similar works, 4 Passions, many solo cantatas and songs, motets, etc. His most brilliant period was about 1700, noted works being Adonis (1697), La forza della virtù (1700), Claudius Cäsar (1703, with Italian arias for the first time), Crœsus (1710), etc. In 1706 he put forth a statement of his dramatic principles, which, however, he did not always observe. Though the subjects and the style of his librettos were often poor, his readiness as a melodist and his clever handling of effects gave him a hold upon popular attention. He devoted himself chiefly to the aria rather than to recitative, choruses or orchestration, though dances were used freely. His popularity stimulated other musicians, and he contributed to Handel's early growth (see sec. 120). With him German subjects first came to the front.
Lesser composers at Hamburg were Johann Philipp Förtsch (d. 1732), a versatile physician, with about 10 operas (1686-90); and Georg Bronner (d. 1724), Keiser's predecessor as director, with 6-7 (1693-1702).
In Copenhagen the first opera (1689) was by Paul Christian Schindler (d. 1740).
88. The English Masque.—In England the dramatic form
that led toward the opera was the 'masque,' originally imported
from Italy in the 16th century, but specially developed
by English poets. This was a piece of private theatricals in
which members of high society in disguise (whence the name)
acted out a mythological or other fanciful story with dialogue
and declamation, much dancing, elaborate scenic effects and, as
time went on, considerable singing and incidental pieces for instruments.
Though resembling the French ballet at first, the masque came to differ
in its greater literary finish, since many of the best poets undertook it
(like Ben Jonson, Chapman, Fletcher, Milton, etc.). The fashionable
court attention to it under the Stuarts checked the advance of the more
serious drama. Under the Commonwealth masques were at length suppressed
because of their tendency to coarseness, but with the Restoration
in 1660 they came in again.
Throughout the century almost all leading English composers
wrote masque music, and thus gradually the musical
masque became important (sometimes under the Italian name
'opera'). Its development into a national type of musical
drama hardly came to pass, but the operatic genius Purcell
was influenced by it more or less.
