Stephen Storace facts for kids
Stephen John Seymour Storace (born April 4, 1762 – died March 19, 1796) was an English composer from the Classical era. He was best known for his operas. His sister, Nancy Storace, was a very famous opera singer.
Stephen was born in London. We don't have many direct records about his life. Most of what we know comes from the memories of people who knew him, like the singer Michael Kelly and the actor John Bannister.
Contents
Early Life and Studies: 1762–1780
Stephen's father, Stefano Storace, was an Italian bass player and composer. He taught Stephen to play the violin so well that by age ten, Stephen could play very difficult music. Stephen grew up surrounded by musicians because his father was the music director at Marylebone Gardens.
His father wanted Stephen to get the best music education. So, he sent Stephen to Italy to study at the Conservatorio di Sant' Onofrio in Naples. However, Stephen was more interested in painting and went on art trips with Thomas Jones. Even so, his interest in art might have helped his operas. The printed music for his operas often had detailed pictures of the stage designs. Some people think Stephen drew these himself.
While studying, Stephen and Nancy met Michael Kelly by chance in Livorno. This meeting started a lifelong friendship between Kelly and the Storace siblings.
Return to England and Time in Vienna: 1780–1787
Stephen Storace returned to England around 1780 to 1782. This was likely to sort out his father's affairs after his father passed away. Nancy and her mother went to Vienna in 1783. Nancy soon married an English musician, John Abraham Fisher, but the marriage did not last long.
It's not clear how Stephen got his first chance to write an Italian opera in Vienna. Nancy probably helped him get the job in late 1784. Stephen arrived in Vienna around that time.
His first opera, Gli sposi malcontenti, opened in Vienna on June 1, 1785. The first show had a problem when Nancy, who was singing the main role, became unwell on stage. The performance had to stop. Nancy returned to the stage a few months later. For her return, three composers – Mozart, Salieri, and "Cornetti" (who might have been Stephen) – wrote a special piece called Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia. This rare piece by Mozart and Salieri was only found in 2016.
In Vienna, the Storaces became good friends with Mozart. Nancy sang the role of Susanna in the first performance of Mozart's famous opera, Le nozze di Figaro. Stephen often played pool with Mozart. There's a story that in 1785, Haydn, Dittersdorf, Mozart, and Wanhal played one of Stephen Storace's string quartets together.
Stephen wrote a second opera in Vienna called Gli equivoci. This opera was based on Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors.
English Operas: 1787–1796
It's not fully known why the Storaces left Vienna when they were doing so well there. It might have been for personal reasons. Nancy's mother wanted to return to England with her children. Nancy left Vienna in February 1787 with Michael Kelly and Stephen. They hoped to find success in London, but people had mostly forgotten them after their long absence. Stephen, who was remembered as a child violin player, found it hard to get work as an unknown composer.
Both Nancy and Stephen hoped to work at the King's Theatre. This theatre had a special right to perform Italian operas. Kelly got some roles there, but the Storaces found it hard to get in because Italian musicians were already well-established. Stephen worked as a music director at the King's Theatre for a while. In 1789, he moved to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. This theatre was run by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Sheridan was more interested in making money from the theatre than in the art itself. He put on big musical shows that looked amazing. To avoid the King's Theatre's special rights, Sheridan presented English-language operas. These were often like Singspiel (operas with spoken dialogue) or "English" versions of popular European operas. Stephen Storace's first job at Drury Lane was to make an English version of Dittersdorf's German Singspiel Doktor und Apotheker. It became Doctor & Apothecary in 1787. Making "English" versions meant more than just translating. Stephen had to change complicated music, write new English words, and sometimes add new funny songs.
Stephen quickly showed Sheridan that he could produce good work quickly. He also had a talent for knowing what would be popular and make money. He started adding famous songs from Vienna to his shows. Stephen saw that the King's Theatre mostly performed old-fashioned operas. He realized there was a chance for new "romantic" stories with ghosts, mystery, and adventure. His first original work for Drury Lane, The Haunted Tower (1789), used all these ideas. It was a huge hit, selling out for 50 nights!
A big part of its success was Michael Kelly's performance. Kelly sang a high note in his song "Spirit of My Sainted Sire!" in the Italian style. This was new for English theatre and was so popular that audiences often asked him to sing it again. This song remained famous for many years.
Even with the success of The Haunted Tower, Sheridan still didn't want Storace to write too much new music. Storace was asked to make an English version of Gretry's Richard, Coeur du Lion. This was difficult because the main actor, John Bannister, couldn't sing well.
Luckily, Stephen's friends helped him. Michael Kelly was now a favorite with the audience. In 1790, Kelly had a "Benefit Night," where he could choose the show. He decided to premiere a new short opera by Storace called No song, no supper. Sheridan was not happy about this risk. But No Song became even more popular than The Haunted Tower. It was the best-selling show at Drury Lane for the next ten years. This success finally helped Nancy Storace get a full-time job in Britain.
Storace then worked on The Siege of Belgrade (1791). He changed it from a ballad-opera style to the Mozartian "Singspiel" style, with spoken dialogue and musical numbers. This opera was known for its long group songs and impressive solo performances. Nancy Storace sang a very difficult song called "Domestic Peace" that amazed the audience.
In 1792, Storace created his most ambitious opera, Dido, Queen of Carthage. This was his only English opera that was entirely sung, with no spoken dialogue. Nancy thought it was his best work. However, the public didn't like it, and it was quickly taken off the stage. Sadly, none of the music from this opera survives today.
The Pirates, also from 1792, was partly based on Gli Equivoci. It was one of the first English operas to have a grand finale. Later works like The Cherokee (1794) and The Three and the Deuce (1795) were very popular. The Cherokee introduced a talented boy singer named "Master Walsh," who then appeared regularly in Storace's works.
Stephen Storace also worked with Sheridan to bring William Godwin's book Caleb Williams to the stage. This story, about a loyal servant whose life is ruined by a cruel master, was very well-known. It was performed as The Iron Chest on March 12, 1796.
Storace's last work was Mahmoud, Prince of Persia, but he passed away before its first performance.
Death
Stephen Storace caught a cold during rehearsals for The Iron Chest. He died on March 15 or 16, 1796. He is buried in Marylebone Parish Church.
Nancy Storace made sure that his unfinished opera, Mahmoud, was completed. It was performed as a special show to help Storace's widow.
Storace also created music for special events, like The English Fleet in 1391. He also wrote pieces for popular performers at the Drury Lane Theatre, such as the funny musician Richard "Dicky" Suett. For him, Storace wrote the musical comedy My Grandmother.
Legacy
Stephen Storace's English operas were very popular when he was alive. However, they are not performed much today. This is partly because his boss, Sheridan, was very careful with money. Sheridan didn't want copies of Storace's music to be shared, fearing that others would perform them without paying royalties. Even so, pirated versions of Storace's works were played in New York by the end of the century.
It is believed that the original music scores were lost in a fire at the Drury Lane Theatre. His two operas from Vienna have been saved. But only one of his English operas, No Song, No Supper, still exists completely. Other works only survive as piano and voice versions.
There are currently no recordings available of any of Storace's operas. He is not known to have written any music just for instruments, except for the opening pieces (overtures) for his operas.
Storace's music sounds very English. But his friendship with Mozart greatly helped him learn how to write for an orchestra. He also wrote very well for singers, likely because of his sister Nancy's amazing voice.
Musical Compositions
Operas
- Gli sposi malcontenti (1785, Vienna)
- Gli equivoci (based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, 1786, Vienna)
- La cameriera astuta (1788, London)
- The Doctor and the Apothecary (1788, London)
- The Haunted Tower (1789, London)
- No song, no supper (1790, London)
- The Siege of Belgrade (1791, London)
- The Cave of Trophonius (1791, London)
- Poor Old Drury (1791, London)
- Dido, Queen of Carthage (1792, London)
- The Pirates (1792, London)
- The Price (1793, London)
- My Grandmother (1794, London)
- Lodoiska (1794, London; an "English" version of another opera)
- The Glorious First of June (1794)
- The Cherokee (1794, London)
- The Three and the Deuce (1795, London)
- The Iron Chest (1796, London)
- Mahmoud (1796, London)
Ballet
- Venus and Adonis (1793, London)
