The Opera of the Nobility is an opera company set up and funded in 1733 by a group of nobles (under Frederick, Prince of Wales) opposed to George II of England, in order to rival the (Second) Royal Academy of Music company under Handel (backed by George II and his queen).
Nicola Porpora is invited to be its musical director and Owen Swiny considered as its talent scout.
The company has Senesino (who has fallen out with Handel) as its lead singer and is based at a theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields under John Rich which becomes available on Rich's opening of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
The "Opera of the Nobility" is however not a success in its initial 1733-34 season.
Though Farinelli joins it late in the season and thus makes it financially solvent, he is unable to prevent its eventual bankruptcy.
At the end of its initial season it took over the King's Theatre from Handel.
The "Opera of the Nobility" goes bankrupt and is dissolved in 1737 (shortly after appointing Giovanni Battista Pescetti its musical director), but not before it had poached some of Handel's best singers such as Francesca Cuzzoni and Antonio Montagnana and forces Handel's own company into bankruptcy too.
The remnants of the two companies combined at the King's Theatre for the 1737-38 season.
A second "Opera of the Nobility" is formed in 1740 by the Earl of Middlesex, but it did not survive for long.
Nicola Porpora is invited to be its musical director and Owen Swiny considered as its talent scout.
The company has Senesino (who has fallen out with Handel) as its lead singer and is based at a theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields under John Rich which becomes available on Rich's opening of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
The "Opera of the Nobility" is however not a success in its initial 1733-34 season.
Though Farinelli joins it late in the season and thus makes it financially solvent, he is unable to prevent its eventual bankruptcy.
At the end of its initial season it took over the King's Theatre from Handel.
The "Opera of the Nobility" goes bankrupt and is dissolved in 1737 (shortly after appointing Giovanni Battista Pescetti its musical director), but not before it had poached some of Handel's best singers such as Francesca Cuzzoni and Antonio Montagnana and forces Handel's own company into bankruptcy too.
The remnants of the two companies combined at the King's Theatre for the 1737-38 season.
A second "Opera of the Nobility" is formed in 1740 by the Earl of Middlesex, but it did not survive for long.
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