‘Look! […] Things People Can’t See!’ Wordbooks, Reader-Listenership, and Invisible Theatre in Handel’s Oratorios

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The essay offers a unique contribution to musical and theatrical studies by researching the use of workbooks in the genre of oratorio through 2 works.  The discussions and evidence are clear and compelling.  The set up of the argument needs work.  In the introduction, the author references themself as “the author,” “this study,” and “I.” I would try to avoid these sorts of phrases altogether and just make the claim. But if the author deems such a phrase useful, I strongly recommend one way to reference the self or the study.  Also, that section was noticeably beleaguered with passive voice.  These are stylistic concerns.  But the argument and research and its ramifications were solid.  

Author Response

Comment 1: 'The essay offers a unique contribution to musical and theatrical studies by researching the use of workbooks in the genre of oratorio through 2 works.  The discussions and evidence are clear and compelling.  The set up of the argument needs work.  In the introduction, the author references themself as “the author,” “this study,” and “I.” I would try to avoid these sorts of phrases altogether and just make the claim. But if the author deems such a phrase useful, I strongly recommend one way to reference the self or the study.  Also, that section was noticeably beleaguered with passive voice. These are stylistic concerns.  But the argument and research and its ramifications were solid.'

Response: I have done my best to resolve these issues, adding further information to the set up of the argument in accordance with detailed suggestions by other reviewers. The inconsistency of reference to 'the author', 'this study', and 'I' is a holdover from older drafts, and I have regularised it to 'I' in the subsection the reviewer pointed out (as well as the next subsection, which is to say the first subsection of 'Results and Discussion'). Where possible, I have replaced passive-voice constructions with active-voice, here and elsewhere. I appreciate this feedback, and the overall positive response expressed toward this research.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

GENERAL COMMENT: The article aims to highlight the highly stimulating potential of the oratorio libretto on the listener. Other researchers have previously explored this dimension of the “theatre of the mind” characteristic of unstaged oratorios, but they have primarily focused on the suggestive power of the music. The author, by contrast, emphasizes the text as an invitation to imagine an invisible action. The examples analyzed are highly relevant and illustrative. This approach makes it perfectly clear that the oratorio, despite its lack of staging, remains a dramatic genre: engaging the listener’s or reader’s imagination is far more powerful than merely narrating an action. The author also draws a very interesting parallel with the “closet drama,” highlighting the potential for reading and rereading an oratorio wordbook (before, during and after).

I would have liked to see even more concrete examples, but the author was likely constrained by a maximum word limit. This will certainly pave the way for more focused studies in the future.

 

SPECIFIC COMMENTS

Lines 30–31: Regarding that “anonymous contemporary,” Robert D. Hume suggests an identification — the playwright Aaron Hill (see Hume, Robert D. [ed.], See and Seem Blind [1732]: Or, A Critical Dissertation on the Public Diversions, facsimile reprint, Augustan Reprint Society 235, Los Angeles, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1986, p. iii). It would be interesting to mention this widely accepted hypothesis, or even to discuss it if the author does not share this view.

Line 32: I think it would be more appropriate to cite as a source this more recent publication: George Frideric Handel: Collected Documents, vol. 2: 1725–1734, comp. and ed. by Donald Burrows, Helen Coffey, John Greenacombe and Anthony Hicks, Cambridge 2015, p. 535.

Line 33: I wonder about the use of the term ‘patron’ here. In this context, I fear that people will necessarily associate the term with someone who provides financial support, whereas here it simply refers to a member of the public. Why not just refer to them as a spectator? (I am not a native speaker, so my comment may not be relevant.)

Line 64: About the subheading. I don't quite understand the addition of ‘(lack of)’, as the author seems to want to draw a parallel between two theatrical traditions (which, incidentally, seem entirely relevant to me).

Line 76: It seems to me that a concrete example would be welcome here. We know Aaron Hill’s example concerning Italian opera: “I had my Book, and my little Wax-Candle” (Prompter, vol. 7, 4 December 1734; quoted in Xavier Cervantès, “The Universal Entertainment of the Polite Part of the World": L’Opéra italien et le public anglais, 1705-1745, PhD thesis, Université de Toulouse, Le Mirail, dir. Andrée-Marie Harmat, 1995. p. 586).

Another example, directly relevant to oratorio, can be found in the episode where Henry Fielding’s heroine attends a Handel oratorio (IV, 9). See Amelia, 4 vols., London: A. Millar, 1752, vol. 2, p. 81 (quoted in Pierre Degott, “Libretto-Reading in Eighteenth-Century France and England,” in Kerstin-Anja Münderlein (ed.), Final Frontiers: Exploring, Discovering and Conquering in the Age of Enlightenment, vol. 7, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2021, pp. 103–112).

Line 137: The initial capital letter is missing.

Line 139: “If the ‘Bed’ is to discovered.” Isn’t the auxiliary be missing here? // I find this example particularly subtle. It shows that the librettist is truly addressing the "director" of our imagination. This echoes Anthony Hicks's phrase: ‘a living drama played out in the ideal theatre of the mind’ (Anthony Hicks, ‘Handel and the Idea of an Oratorio’, in The Cambridge Companion to Handel, ed. by D. Burrows, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 1997 pp. 145-163, here 156).

Line 152: Page error in the reference : (Jennens 1738, p. 21), instead of p. 19.

Paragraph 2.3:  I find the argument very interesting, particularly the parallel with the turba choruses in J. S. Bach's work. However, I think the reflection could be taken a little further. Unless I am mistaken, the libretto of Saul never mentions a specific place—except in Act II, Scene IX, where it specifies a particular circumstance: “Saul at the Feast of the New Moon.” How might we interpret this? Could it not be a conscious choice on the librettist’s part to make the context as abstract as possible, in order to establish and fully embrace the absence of staging?

Line 258: error in reference > page 162 (not 161).

Note 14: I think the author could also place greater emphasis on the particular case of Rinaldo, whose stage directions are remarkably detailed, yet apparently do not correspond to the reality of its staging, as suggested by the criticisms of Richard Steele in The Spectator. It truly invites a theatre of the imagination. See Mark W. Stahura, “Handel’s Haymarket Theater,” in Opera in Context: Essays on Historical Staging from the Late Renaissance to the Time of Puccini, ed. M. A. Radice, Portland: Amadeus Press, 1998, pp. 95–109.

Line 338: Unless there was a correction in the 2004 reissue, Smith's quote is inaccurate, ‘patrons’ and not 'audience'  >>> ‘at no other did the patrons actually have the words in front of them during the performance’.

Lines 341-342: an opening parenthesis is missing before ‘also usually sung in English’.

After line 358: One could perhaps emphasize that the absence of staging does not prevent acting. This is still evident today when attending an opera in concert version: the performers stand before us in formal attire, yet they inhabit their characters, their faces reflecting all the emotions they sing. For anyone familiar with the plot, the performance comes alive in the imagination.

Perhaps one could also distinguish between the recitative sections and the arias, in order to emphasize that the oratorio audience does not spend the entire time reading the libretto. During the recitatives, listeners can follow the text gradually, as it is fluid and without repetition. But in the arias, which are numerous, the audience typically reads the text once and then allows themselves to be carried entirely by the music.

 

Note on the bibliography:

Line 496:  For the reference Anonymous, 1732—instead of “Deutsch, Otto Erich. 1955. Handel: A Documentary Biography. London: Adam and Charles Black”—I would suggest using this edition, more recent and complete: "Hume, Robert D. (ed.), See and Seem Blind [1732]: Or, A Critical Dissertation on the Public Diversions, facsimile reprint, Augustan Reprint Society 235, Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library."

It seems to me that the final bibliography is missing the reference to “Robarts 2008” (first mentioned in note 3).

Similarly, the full reference to Twomey, ‘To Catch the Song’ (reference note 6).

Author Response

Please see the attachment, and may I take this opportunity to thank you for your remarkably detailed examination of my article, in terms of style and content. I agreed with and applied all suggestions.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an engaging article on a novel topic that will add nicely to the existing literature around oratorio performance and understanding.

Author Response

Comment 1: 'This is an engaging article on a novel topic that will add nicely to the existing literature around oratorio performance and understanding.'

Response: Thank you very much for your kind words!