Preface

Summary

In 1735 the ‘beauteous Ease’ of Drury Lane star Catherine Clive and the ‘heavnly Strains’ of her song were extolled in the same popular press which in 1746 would call her a ‘Red-Fac'd B[it]ch!’. By the late eighteenth century, stage historians typically sneered at her figure, manner, and nature. Why did Clive, who debuted in 1728 and for whom Handel, Henry Fielding, and David Garrick wrote, rise and fall so drastically in public report? Modern scholars have shown her to be an important actress and a fascinating stage writer. But what marked Clive most strongly has never been properly considered: her song – by which means she shot to first rank – and her sudden downfall.

Clive possessed a protean voice, dazzling audiences equally in exquisite airs and raw ballads. Such singing is unknown today, as is, Handel's works apart, the music she sang. Clive drew energy from playhouse audiences, who loved in particular that she could defy a playbook author's intent; she did this repeatedly, spontaneously, and often through music. Her first great success, in 1731 as Nell in The Devil to Pay, resulted from this skill. Until 1750, Clive used song to bond with her audiences, improvising for them, directly addressing them, and delighting them with send-ups of fashionable Italian sopranos.

Yet her dizzying climb bred her career crash of the 1740s. Clive confronted formidable biases against women, and while she tried to project herself as a witty and incorruptible model Briton, her empowerment caught up with her. While on stage she could project the self of her choosing, but she couldn't control what was said or written about her. Once her high wages and influence behind the scenes became public knowledge, her boldness was heard as insolence and her ease seen as temerity. Gaining weight as she aged made her vulnerable to charges of excess and self-indulgence; fandom, in its progenyeating dynamic, made her into a figure of fun. To save her career Clive took up this parodic view of herself, managing thereby to reign at Drury Lane for another twenty years.