SEASON OF
I79°-I79i
Before the commencement of this season the disputes between
the rival opera houses, outlined in the preceding head-note,
were at least partially settled. On 30 June 1790 a patent
% was formally issued, in the name of Robert O’Reilly, for the
performance of operas in the Pantheon.1 The reason given by the Lord
Chamberlain, when he granted this favor, was that the new King’s Theatre
in the Haymarket, which had begun to be reconstructed three months
earlier, would be of such enormous size — as indeed it was — that it would
always be financially ruinous to its proprietors and its creditors. He was,
in fact, not mistaken. In 1795 Joseph Haydn makes mention of the large
sums of money that “a group of various Lords, bankers, merchants, &c.”
were obliged every year to pay into the empty till of the opera house’s
treasury .2
O’Reilly knew nothing at all about the management of theatre or
°f opera. But, however blindly, he was determined to make some money,
and thanks to his assistant Luigi Borghi, a well-known violinist, he was
able to assemble an excellent company both for the operas and the ballets.
The building which he rented for the forthcoming season, the Pantheon,
was situated on the south side of Oxford Street, some few doors east of
Oxford Circus. 3 It was one of the handsomest buildings ever erected in
1 Morning Post , 22 March 1791. See also London Gazette, 7-10 Aug. 1 790: Lord Chamberlain’s
Office, August 9, 1790. Notice is hereby given that the Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty’s
Household has granted License for the Performance of Italian Operas at the Pantheon to
Robert Bray O’Reilly, Esq. [This license refers only to the actual use of the building.]
2 Haydn, pp. 297-98.
3 The premises are now occupied by Messrs Marks and Spencer.
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