'Rosamond. An Opera. Inscribed to her Grace the Dutchess [sic] of Marlborough [...]

Bookseller Notes

Thomas Arne's opera Rosamond (1733), copied into manuscript by the celebrated botanist Richard Pulteney (1730-1801).Using Joseph Addison's libretto of 1707, Arne's opera revolves around the fate of the titular Rosamond, the mistress of Henry II, who is hidden in a maze in Woodstock Park in an attempt to evade the notice of Queen Eleanor. Discovered, Rosamond is offered death by dagger or poison, of which she chooses the latter, but after the king is reminded of his conjugal duty, the queen reveals that Rosamond's life was spared, and that she has entered a nunnery. 'Rosamond was planned as the first truly English all-sung opera, with a story drawn from English folk history linked to the current military triumphs of the Duke of Marlborough', hence the dedication to the Duchess of Marlborough. Rosamond's legend lives on in Oxfordshire; she gives her name to a well in Blenheim Park, and is also thought to haunt the ruins of Godstow Nunnery.The opera was something of a commercial flop, but evidently of sufficient interest to be included in private or semi-public theatricals. A strip of leather at the spine indicates that this was at one time in a leatherbound volume, presumably with sundry other dramatic works. The dating indicates that Pulteney made the copy during his seven-year apprenticeship to a Loughborough apothecary. It is pleasing to conjecture that since Loughborough didn't have a purpose-built theatre until 1771, private theatricals were the order of the day. Richard Pulteney remained in Loughborough, becoming a renowned botanist, and a respected commentator on Linnaeus.See: Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson. 'Rosamond.' Grove Music Online (OUP: 2002).