''Patrick in Prussia, or Love in a Camp'' is a 1786 comic opera with music by

William Shield William Shield (5 March 1748 – 25 January 1829) was an English composer, violinist and viola, violist. His music earned the respect of Haydn and Beethoven. Life and musical career Shield was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, County Durham, th ...

and a libretto by John O'Keeffe. An

afterpiece An afterpiece is a short, usually humorous one-act playlet or musical work following the main attraction, the full-length play, and concluding the theatrical evening.p24 "The Chambers Dictionary"Edinburgh, Chambers,2003 This short comedy, farce, o ...

, it was a sequel to the 1783 hit ''

The Poor Soldier ''The Poor Soldier'' is a 1783 British pasticcio opera with music by William Shield and a text by John O'Keeffe. It was a comedy set around Irish soldiers returning home after fighting in the British army in the American War of Independence, wh ...

'' with the characters now serving in the

Prussian army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

. The work in two acts was first performed on 17 February 1786 at the

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

opera house, London.White (1983), p. 50.

References

Bibliography

* Shaffer, Jason: ''Performing Patriotism: National Identity in the Colonial and Revolutionary American Theater'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) * White, Eric Walter: ''A Register of First Performances of English Operas'' (London: Society for Theatre Research, 1983) 1786 operas English comic operas Operas set in the British Isles Plays by John O'Keeffe English-language operas {{English-opera-stub