Concertos ‘upon the stage’ in Early Hanoverian London: the instrumental counterpart to opera seria

This chapter argues that the (then) relatively new genre of the concerto fulfilled a role on the London stage that was not found elsewhere in Europe; that is, that because of the competitive culture of benefit concerts, instrumental performers were pressed to devise performance and promotional device to compete with the raft of newly-imported Italian opera stars. The response from instrumental soloists was to imitate the most highly-esteemed singers, not only in terms of their repertoire and style, but also in assuming their physical place 'upon the stage'—a performance environment normally reserved for opera stars.