TOMASO GIOVANNI ALBINONI (1671–1751), ED. MICHAEL TALBOT THE CANTATAS FOR SOPRANO AND BASSO CONTINUO IN THE STAATSBIBLIOTHEK ZU BERLIN Launton: Edition HH, 2010 pp. xv + 164, isbn 978 1 905779 41 3

TLDR: Lowerre as discussed by the authors provides a musical/theatrical context for the genius of Henry Purcell and a discussion of how the theatres moved beyond his death in 1695 and how the music establishment prepared the way for, or alternatively resisted, the introduction of fully-fledged Italian opera.

Abstract: to flip through the book until one locates the numbered list (336). A better copy-editor could also have prevented some unnecessary inconsistencies and errors: citations waver between ‘Eubanks Winkler’ and ‘Winkler’; McGeary’s name does not appear with the first citation of his 1998 Philological Quarterly article, but three notes later (360); Lowerre’s own dissertation is not identified until page 304 and does not appear in the bibliography, though there are constant references to it for fuller discussion. Lowerre provides not only a musical/theatrical context for the ‘genius’ of Henry Purcell but a discussion of how the theatres moved beyond his death in 1695 and how the music establishment prepared the way for, or alternatively resisted, the introduction of fully-fledged Italian opera. If she has stuck resolutely to a ‘who, what, where and when’ format, rather than applying cultural studies to her subject, she has nevertheless pinpointed the utility of music to London theatre in this crucial ten-year period. judith milhous