Burletta: Some Episodes of the British history of the genre

- · 26.03.2026

Review article
DOI: 10.56620/2227-9997-2026-1-69-77

Yulia I. Agisheva

Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, Russia,
y. agisheva@gnesin-academy.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0317-1270
Abstract: The paper will take a brief excursion into the British history of a genre “burletta” which had emerged on the English stage in the second half of the 18th century. The genre was an opera miniature of the Italian origin. A light and a blithe spirit of burlettas had enchanted the English audience very quickly. A mythological plot, folk music, tunes from the Italian operas, bright characters, concise shape had become features of the genre from the starting point. Sometimes a term “burletta” was a terminological umbrella for pieces which had been staged in minor theatres and had no chance to meet with a censorial approval. Uncertainty and flexibility of the form of burlettas brought to gradual blurring of the frame of the definition and confused the terminological issue. James Sanderson, John Cartwright Cross, Charles Burney, James Robinson Plancé and the others were among the British authors who had turned to the genre. A special attention will be paid to burletta «Poor Vulcan» (1778) by Charles Dibdin (1745–1814). A methodology used in the work included conventional approaches to studying music and verse, genre together with contextual, historical approaches. 

Keywords: burletta, low dramatic genres, the British theatre, 18th–19th centuries, Charles Dibdin

For citation: Agisheva Yu. I. Burletta: Some Episodes of the British history of the genre. Scholarly papers of Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. 2026;(1):69-77. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.56620/2227-9997-2026-1-69-77
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