Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by
James Cobb. Text 1st published (unauthorized),
Dublin [1790].
Sga Storace had 1st appeared in concerts from 1774 to 1778, and at
king's on 24 Apr. 1787 and thereafter]: With new Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. The new Music composed by
Storace, the rest compiled from
Linley? Sen.,
Purcell,
Sarti,
Paisiello,
Martin y Soler?,
Pleyel, &c. The Scenes designed and executed by
Greenwood. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. "In her own particular line on the stage [Sga Storace] was unrivalled, being an excellent actress, as well as a masterly singer. She settled entirely in
England, and after quitting the opera (to which she was frequently recalled in times of distress, as was too often the case), she engaged at
Drury Lane, where the English opera was raised to an excellence not known before, by her singing, with that of
Mrs Crouch,
Mrs Bland,
Kelly, and
Bannister, and under the direction of her brother
Stephen Storace, who composed, or rather compiled,
several very pretty operas, of which the
Haunted Tower, and the
Siege of Belgrade still remain favorites, and are frequently performed" (
Mount-Edgcumbe, 65). Account-Book, 4 Jan. 1790: Paid Cobb on Acct. of the Purchase of the Copyright of the Haunted Tower #157 10s.; 27 Feb. 1790: Paid Cobb in full for Copyright #52 10s. Receipts: #219 9s. 6d. (200.13.0; 17.14.6; 1.2.0)