View source for Opera of the Nobility

The '''Opera of the Nobility''' (or '''Nobility Opera'''<ref>{{Cite Grove |author= |title=Nobility Opera}} {{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref>) was an opera company set up and funded in 1733 by a group of nobles (under [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]]) opposed to [[George II of Great Britain]], in order to rival the (Second) [[Royal Academy of Music (company)|Royal Academy of Music]] company under [[Handel]] (backed by George II and [[Caroline of Ansbach|his queen]]).

[[Nicola Porpora]] was invited to be its musical director and [[Owen Swiny]] considered as its talent scout. The company had [[Senesino]] (who had fallen out with Handel) as its lead singer and was based at a theatre at [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]] under [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]] which had become available on Rich's opening of the [[Theatre Royal, Covent Garden]]. The company's first opera was ''[[Arianna in Nasso (Porpora)|Arianna in Nasso]]'' by [[Porpora]], a direct challenge to Handel's ''[[Arianna in Creta]]''.

The company was not a success in its initial 1733–34 season. Though [[Farinelli]] joined it late in the season and thus made it financially solvent, he was unable to prevent its eventual bankruptcy. At the end of its initial season it took over the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre]] from Handel.

The company went bankrupt and was dissolved in 1737 (shortly after appointing [[Giovanni Battista Pescetti]] its musical director), but not before it had poached some of Handel's best singers such as [[Francesca Cuzzoni]] and [[Antonio Montagnana]] and forced his company into bankruptcy too.  The remnants of the two companies combined at the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre]] for the 1737–38 season. A second Opera of the Nobility was formed in 1741 by the [[Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset|Earl of Middlesex]], but it did not survive for long.

==Sources==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=l_b2vIXHsUkC&dq=%22Opera+of+the+Nobility%22&pg=PA186 ''A short history of opera'']

==References==
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[[Category:1733 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1733]]
[[Category:1737 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1737]]
[[Category:British opera companies]]
[[Category:18th-century theatre]]
[[Category:Frederick, Prince of Wales]]


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