page_title: The Duenna
section_title: The songs
hierarchical_section_title: The Duenna / The writing of The Duenna / The songs
caption_attribution_description: English: Michael Leoni as Don Carlos amd Mrs. Mattocks as Louisa in The Duenna, circa 1775. TCS 44, Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University
context_page_description: The Duenna is a three-act comic opera, mostly composed by Thomas Linley the elder and his son, Thomas Linley the younger, to an English-language libretto by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. At the time, it was considered one of the most successful operas ever staged in England, and its admirers included Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt and Lord George Byron.
  First performed in the Covent Garden Theatre on 21 November 1775, The Duenna was performed seventy-five times in its first season, and was frequently revived in Britain until the 1840s. In total, 256 performances of the opera had been held in London from its opening in 1775 to the end of the eighteenth century. Another 194 performances occurred in the capital during the nineteenth century, with the last known London representation happening in January 1851. The opera was first performed in Jamaica in 1779, and subsequently spread round the English-speaking world. Soon after its first London performance, representations sprang up in British provincial theatres, though these often used invented dialogue to link the published songs and musical numbers.
context_section_description: The songs in The Duenna were among the fundamental reasons for its success. While it does owe its heritage to the Ballad opera of the 1720s (John Gay's The Beggar's Opera being the most famous example) the songs in The Duenna were more technically complex and required trained singers in the lead roles. The musical score was a combination of successful works by other composers, traditional ballads and new compositions. About half of the pieces are new, composed by Linley the elder and (mainly) by Linley the younger. Editions of the vocal score were published but a complete orchestral score was never printed. Nevertheless, about half the numbers survive in manuscript full score (numbers 1, 3, 5, 11, 16, 21–26, 28–29), printed parts (the overture, by Linley the younger) and published full score (the borrowed numbers 6, 18, 24). The original scoring of the remaining numbers in this most popular opera may never be heard again, though they were orchestrated for the English Touring Opera performances in 2010.
  Act 1
  1. Song (Antonio): Tell me, my lute, can thy soft strain
  
  2. Trio (Antonio, Louisa, Don Jerome): The breath of morn bids hence the night
  
  3. Air (Ferdinand): Could I her faults remember
  
  4. Air (Antonio): I ne'er could any lustre see
  
  5. Air (Antonio): Friendship is the bond of reason
  
  6. Air (Ferdinand): Tho' cause for suspicion appears
  
  7. Air (Louisa): Thou canst not boast of fortune's store
  
  8. Air (Don Jerome): If a daughter you have, she's the plague of your life
  
  9. Air (Clara): When sable night, each drooping plant restoring
  
  10. Air (Carlos): Had I a heart for falsehood fram'd
  
  11. Trio (Isaac, Louisa and Carlos): My mistress expects me
  Act 2
  12. Song (Isaac): Give Isaac the nymph who no beauty can boast
  
  13. Song (Don Jerome): When the maid whom we love
  
  14. Song (Duenna): When a tender maid is first essay'd
  
  15. Song (Carlos): Ah! sure a pair was never seen
  
  16. Duet (Isaac, Don Jerome): Believe me, good sir
  
  17. Glee (Jerome, Ferdinand and Isaac): A bumper of good liquor
  
  18. Air (Louisa): What Bard, O Time, discover
  
  19. Song (Carlos): O, had my love ne'er smil'd on me
  
  20. Trio (Antonio, Carlos, Louisa): Soft pity never leaves the gentle breast
  Act 3
  21. Song (Don Jerome): O, the days when I was young
  
  22. Air (Ferdinand): Ah! Cruel maid, how hast thou chang'd
  
  23. Recit. Accomp. & Air (Ferdinand): Shall not my soul?/Sharp is the woe
  
  24. Air (Clara): By him we love offended
  
  25. Song (Antonio): How oft, Louisa, hast thou told
  
  26. Air (Clara): Adieu, thou dreary pile
  
  27. Glee and Chorus (Father Paul, Francis, Augustine, and Friars): This bottle's the sun of our table
  
  28. Duet (Louisa and Clara): Turn thee round, I pray thee
  
  29. Chorus: Oft does Hymen smile to hear
  
  30. Final ensemble (Jerome, Louisa, Ferdinand, Antonio, Clara): Come now for jest and smiling
caption: Illustration for the song Had I a heart for falsehood fram'd
exif: {}