''M. P., or The Blue Stocking'' is an 1811 comic opera in three acts with a libretto by

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

and music written in collaboration between Moore and Charles Edward Horn (1786–1849). It was first staged at the Lyceum Theatre on 9 September 1811 under the directorship of

Samuel James Arnold Samuel James Arnold (1774–1852) was an English dramatist and theatrical manager. Under his management the Lyceum Theatre, London became the English Opera House, and staged the first English productions of many operas, including in 1824 Carl M ...

. The

vocal score The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

was published in London by J. Power (1811) and in New York by The Longworths (1812). The plot concerns a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, Sir Charles Canvas, who has cheated his elder brother, a naval officer Captain Canvas, out of his

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...

. Canvas becomes mixed up with a bluestocking named Lady Bab Blue and a series of mistaken identities follow. Moore was dissatisfied with the work and was reluctant about staging it at all. He refused to attend the first two performances before finally attending the third. He believed that many of the references would be too highbrow for the audience. He tried to alter this by adding some more populist additions, but he feared this sacrificed the integrity of the work. It was only the second work for the stage that Moore wrote after ''

The Gypsy Prince ''The Gypsy Prince'' is a comic opera with a libretto by Thomas Moore and the music written in collaboration between Moore and Michael Kelly. Background It was premiered on 24 July 1801 in London at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, under the dir ...

'', although he had performed in numerous amateur productions, and he decided it would be his last in spite of later tempting offers to write for the stage. In spite of Moore's misgivings the work received generally good reviews and had a respectable run of performances. It was later revived for productions in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

.Kelly (2008), p. 200.

References

{{Thomas Moore 1811 operas Operas by Thomas Moore