Book Description

The history of opera in Australia is often considered to date from the arrival of the impresario W. S. Lyster in 1861 yet, as Alison Gyger shows in this book, regular opera performances in Australia began much earlier. Starting in the 1830s, Gyger takes us through the full range of performances showing how each of the early decades had its own distinctive character. In the 1830s, English operas predominated, while the following decade saw the arrival of some Italian operas which were performed in English. It was not until the 1850s that, with the arrival of overseas stars, Italian operas were sung in Italian in Australian theatres. In the second half of the book, Gyger also looks in detail at the period from Lyster's arrival in 1861 through to the 1880s. The detailed wealth of information which the author has assembled from the major newspapers of the day, challenges the conventional picture of the beginnings of opera in Australia.