The years 1695 to 1705 were particularly volatile for theater companies in London, a situation precipitated in no small measure by the division of the United Companies at the outset and altered again through the introduction of Italian-style opera in 1705. The resulting confluence of events between these years is well studied and documented from a theatrical perspective, but until recently the same could not be said for the music that accompanied the staged works. The seminal music texts and recent doctoral studies in this field are generally focused on specific composers, performers, or the types of works staged and not on the music or performers as a whole. Enter Kathyrn Lowerre’s Music and Musicians on the London Stage, 1695–1705, which seeks to redress this lacuna.

Music and Musicians marks the first attempt to comprehensively study the repertoire, creators, and performers active within this ten-year span. Where previous music-oriented studies approached the subject from a topical or chronological perspective, Lowerre does both with the goal of better uncovering the context of the music, how performance choices changed over time, to facilitate making new connections and comparisons between works (2). To achieve this objective the book is divided into two parts, beginning with a discussion of the place and function of music in dramatic productions, followed by a comprehensive and chronological investigation of the music and musicians involved in the works from this era.

Although the subject matter is chiefly music, Lowerre approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary standpoint and makes the discussion accessible to scholars across related disciplines. Technical jargon, whether theatrical or musical, is generally eschewed in favor of more readily understandable language, and explanatory notes and an appended glossary of musical terms further helps in this regard.

Music and Musicians is a significant step forward for theater historians and musicologists alike, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the chronological investigation of Part II, which comprises the bulk of the text. The author’s encyclopaedic approach to documenting music and personnel related to staged works of this time period speaks to the depth of her investigation. Moreover, Lowerre’s considerable understanding of the repertoire and contemporary events allows her to place the works in their historical context, highlighting social commentaries and intertextual references that occur between pieces and filling in gaps in our knowledge of works and performers through logical deduction where relevant. Examples of these types of connections and conclusions are prevalent throughout, such as the quoting of composer John Eccles’s “Must then a faithful lover go” (Acis and Galatea [1701]) in Colley Cibber’s She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not (1703) (309); evidence of The Self-Conceit; or, the Mother Made a Property performed in the 1700–1701 season (273); and composer John Weldon’s recruitment by the Patent Company in 1702 (271). Lowerre’s interest in filling in these gaps also occasionally leads to less relevant speculation, as with whether or not a part of a set from Pierre Motteux’s Hercules (1697) was reused in John Dennis’s Rinaldo and Armida (1698) (101 n. 83). This should not, however, detract from Lowerre’s larger achievement of creating a single place where one can comprehensively research music and musicians at the turn of the eighteenth century.

The division of the text into topical and chronological parts necessarily means that not all aspects of a given piece are discussed in the same chapter, and the reader must navigate between various sections to get a fuller picture of a specific work. This drawback to the text’s two-part structure is justifiable when weighed against the connections Lowerre makes but could be mitigated through better in-text referencing. Footnotes direct the reader to other chapters in these instances but omit the relevant pagination, forcing one to refer to the Index of Productions to determine where the corresponding information can be found. And while the Index of Productions and its counterpart the Index of Persons are exhaustive, it would be more helpful if specific page references were provided, as they would more directly facilitate the text’s stated goal of making connections and comparisons between works and their sociohistorical environment.

The lack of page numbers in these instances is in good measure a reflection of the book’s editing, and more needs to be said about this issue. Misspellings, misquotes, and punctuation errors are particularly glaring in Part I: “stap my vitals” (i.e. “stop my vitals”; 22); “Make your Honour Misse …” versus “Make your Honour Miss …” (23, 26); “’Twas Pride hot as Hell” (27); “compethition” (140); and the “Index od Persons” (403–6). And while the indexes are thorough, minor errors like referencing Giuseppe Olssi on pages 332 and 348 (actually 334 and 351) again speak to a lack of editorial thoroughness. This is, of course, more a reflection of the publisher than the author, but it is unfortunate nonetheless, as the quality of the author’s work deserves much more attentive treatment.

Editorial issues aside, Music and Musicians is unquestionably a milestone in the field of early eighteenth-century theater music studies. The topical and chronological structure successfully gives the author opportunity to make intertextual connections that shed new light on the music and plays from this period, supplemented in no small part by Lowerre’s thorough knowledge of the subject matter. Her avoidance of genre delimitation allows for the exhaustive inclusion of all theatrical works containing music, reinforcing the text’s role as a reference tool for scholars and students alike. In sum, Music and Musicians is a valuable contribution to theater music studies that sheds light on the transitional nature of musical traditions during a particularly unstable period of English stage history.