Rivalry, Camaraderie and the Prima Donnas : Elizabeth Billington & Gertrude Mara
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2432053
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Exploring the Lives of Women, 1558–1837
- Publisher
- Pen and Sword
- ISBN
- 9781526744975
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This book chapter examines the public relationship of two British operatic stars of the late eighteenth century, Gertrude Mara (1749-1833) and Elizabeth Billington (1765-1818). My inspiration for the work was Suzanne Aspden’s book 'Rival Sirens', in which she primarily focusses on prima donnas of the early eighteenth century, and I further develop Aspden’s idea that prima donna rivalries were “staged” by the singers themselves and used to generate media attention.
The chapter was a direct development of my PhD studies, though the material did not in fact feature in the final thesis. Initially, I had been looking for evidence of these two singers’ vocal styles and how they developed over their careers. After extensive archival research and the examination of hundreds of newspaper articles published over the course of the careers of Mara and Billington, I found several accounts where their vocal styles and abilities were compared to one another, leading to fully staged events that allowed the audience to compare their relative merits directly.
My study, therefore, demonstrates how female singers could use the media to their advantage. It provides further justification for Aspden’s theory and shows that rivalries continued to dominate media discussions throughout the eighteenth century.
I presented the research at the Women’s Studies Group seminar series in 2016 and was invited to submit it to their edited collection Exploring the Lives of Women, 1558-1837, published by Pen and Sword in 2018. The book is now available as a paperback.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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