The Padlock

The Padlock

was first published in 1815. The play remained in regular circulation in the U.S. as late as 1843.

tory and music

Bickerstaffe's libretto, based on Miguel de Cervantes' "El celoso estremeño" (a work translated into English as "The Jealous Husband"; the title literally means "the jealous Extremaduran"), consists of normal dialogue with a few interludes of song. It tells the story of an old miser who keeps his fiancée behind the closed door of their home for fear that she will not be faithful to him (in Cervantes's version, the woman is his wife). The opera's title comes from the large padlock that the old man keeps on the cottage door.

In contrast to Cervantes's miser-centred story, "The Padlock" is centred on the old man's servant, a black man named Mungo from the West Indies, who also provides a large part of the comedy. The part was played by a white man in blackface, making "The Padlock" an early example of this practice, but not "the" earliest as claimed by some sources. [See, for example, Scheytt, "Brief historical survey".] Mungo is a stereotype: a musical, heavy drinking, money-grubbing servant who speaks in an approximation of the black dialect of West Indies slaves. Mungo's master beats him with a rattan cane and makes him sing and dance on cue. The servant's pretense at being an opera singer constitutes the aria for Act 2. He is normally obsequious to whites, but in moments of drunkenness or solitude, he becomes impudent:

:Dear heart, what a terrible life am I led!:A dog has a better, that's shelter'd and fed;::Night and day, 'tis de same,::My pain is dere game::Me wish to de Lord me was dead.::Whate'ers to be done,::Poor blacky must run;::Mungo here, Mungo dere,::Mungo every where;::Above and below,::Sirrah, come; sirrah, go;::Do so, and do so.::Oh! oh!:Me wish to de Lord me was dead. [Bickerstaffe, Isaac (1825). "The Padlock: A Comic Opera in Two Acts". New York: Charles Willey, p. 15. Quoted in Cockrell 20.]

An actor named Moody, who was supposed to have been familiar with the dialect of the blacks in the West Indies, was originally scheduled to play the part. However, in the end, Dibdin stood in for him. Audience reactions to Dibdin's performance were overwhelmingly positive, and in 1787, he spun his fame as Mungo into a one-man show wherein he sang, gave speeches, and did impressions of black people. Ira Aldridge, an African American actor, played the role of Mungo in a later productions of the opera. His portrayal was more serious and became one of his more lauded roles. Aldridge tried to play both "Othello" (as the title character) and "The Padlock" on his first night in more rural locations to show his acting range and generate good publicity.

Dibdin's music shows heavy influence from Italian operatic traditions.Nathan 22.] In fact, one Italian composer, today unknown, accused Dibdin of stealing material from him. Dibdin thus used the preface of the published version of "The Padlock" to refute the claims. Although touted as a genuine depiction of a black character, Mungo's singing parts show no influence from African musical traditions.

Notes

References

*Cockrell, Dale (1997). "Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World". Cambridge University Press.
*Lindfors, Bernth (Summer 1999). " [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_2_33/ai_55577124 'Mislike me not for my complexion…': Ira Aldridge in whiteface] ". "African American Review". Accessed 10 November 2005.
*Mahar, William J. (1999). "Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy in Antebellum American Culture". Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
*Nathan, Hans (1962). "Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy". Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
*Scheytt, Jochen. [http://www.jochenscheytt.de/minstrelshow/minpreface.html "The Minstrel Show"] . Accessed 10 November 2005.
*Sussman, Charlotte (24 August 2000). [http://www.rc.umd.edu/reviews/back/slavery.html Review] of Kitson, Peter and Lee, Debbie, eds. "Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: Writings in the British Romantic Period". Accessed 10 November 2005.

External links

* 1787 [http://www.brycchancarey.com/slavery/padlock1.htm Epilogue to "The Padlock"] from the "Gentleman's Magazine".


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Padlock Law — The Padlock Law (officially called Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda ) (QcFr: La loi du cadenas / Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande communiste , 1 George VI Ch. 11) was an Act of the province of Quebec,… …   Wikipedia

  • The Tomb (short story) — The Tomb is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in June 1917 and first published in the March 1922 issue of The Vagrant . It is the first work of fiction that Lovecraft wrote as an adult.ynopsis The Tomb tells of Jervas Dudley, a self… …   Wikipedia

  • Padlock (disambiguation) — Padlock may mean:*Padlock, a simple detachable lock with a hinged or sliding shackle * The Padlock , a comic opera by Isaac Bickerstaffe and Charles Dibdin …   Wikipedia

  • The opera corpus — is a list of nearly 2,500 works by more than 775 individual opera composers. Some of the works listed below are still being performed today   but many are not. The principal works of the major composers are given as well as those of historical… …   Wikipedia

  • Padlock — For other uses, see Padlock (disambiguation). Padlock Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorized use, and harm. They are designed to protect against some degree of forced and surreptitious entry …   Wikipedia

  • padlock — pad|lock [ˈpædlɔk US la:k] n [Date: 1400 1500; Origin: pad (of unknown origin) + lock] a lock that you can put on a gate, door, bicycle etc ▪ He undid the padlock and eased back the lid. >padlock v [T] …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • The Magic Flute — For other uses, see The Magic Flute (disambiguation). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart …   Wikipedia

  • padlock — ► NOUN ▪ a detachable lock hanging by a pivoted hook on the object fastened. ► VERB ▪ secure with a padlock. ORIGIN pad is of unknown origin …   English terms dictionary

  • Padlock — Pad lock , n. [Perh. orig., a lock for a pad gate, or a gate opening to a path, or perh., a lock for a basket or pannier, and from Prov. E. pad a pannier. Cf. {Pad} a path, {Paddler}.] 1. A portable lock with a bow which is usually jointed or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • padlock — (n.) removable lock, late 15c., from lokke (see LOCK (Cf. lock) (n.)), but the first element is a complete mystery. The verb is attested from 1640s. Related: Padlocked; padlocking …   Etymology dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”