Love in a Village, Act I

In October 2018, thanks in large part to a generous grant from the Humanities Project, the University of Rochester was able to stage and professionally record a truly historic musical-theatrical event: the first modern production of the 18th-century comic opera Love in a Village, performed to its original score. This production took place in the University’s Strong Auditorium, complete with period instruments, historically based choreography, and professional musicians.

The opera follows a pair of genteel young lovers who disguise themselves as servants in order to avoid the marriages their parents have arranged for them. This work reflected many of the middle-class values slowly overtaking 18th-century British culture, and which were increasingly being reflected in the “new” genre of the novel. (Indeed, Jane Austen is known to have attended Love in a Village multiple times.) It is often seen as the sentimental counterpart to John Gay’s famous ballad-opera, The Beggar’s Opera (1728).

This video is the first of three parts. View the other parts:

Act II:    • Love in a Village, Act II  
Act: III:    • Love in a Village, Act III  

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