a rule, in the adapted form which prevailed in the London theaters until
far into the nineteenth century, before the year 1800, in the towns and
cities of the Eastern seaboard, which were in most active communication
with Great Britain, I quote from an article on the history of opera in
the United States, written by me for the second edition of "Grove's
Dictionary of Music and Musicians":


Among French works Rousseau's "Pygmalion" and "Devin du Village,"
Dalayrac's "Nina" and "L'Amant Statue," Monsigny's "Déserteur," Grétry's
"Zémire et Azor," "Fausse Magie" and "Richard Coeur de Lion" and others,
were known in Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York in
the last decade of the eighteenth century. There were traces, too, of
Pergolese's "Serva padrona," and it seems more than likely that an
"opera in three acts," the text adapted by Colman, entitled "The Spanish
Barber; or, The Futile Precaution," played in Baltimore, Philadelphia,
and New York, in 1794, was Paisiello's "Barbiere di Siviglia." From
1820 to about 1845 more than a score of the Italian, French, and German
operas, which made up the staple of foreign repertories, were frequently
performed by English singers. The earliest of these singers were members
of the dramatic companies who introduced theatrical plays in the
colonies. They went from London to Philadelphia, New York, Williamsburg
(Va.), and Charleston (S. C.), but eventually established their
strongest and most enduring foothold in New York.


Accepting the 1750 date as the earliest of unmistakable records for a
performance of "The Beggar's Opera" in New York, the original home of
opera here was the Nassau Street Theater--the first of two known by that
name. It was a two-storied house, with high gables. Six wax lights were