Robert Ayres Barnet (September 3, 1853 – June 26, 1933) was an American musical theatre
lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment.
Royalties
A lyricist's income ...
from New York City, active in New York and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is most remembered for his collaborations with the Boston Men's Army Cadets.
Career
Barnet wrote lyrics for ''
1492
Year 1492 ( MCDXCII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
1492 is considered to be a significant year in the history of the West, Europe, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spain, and the Ne ...
'' and ''
Excelsior, Jr.
''Excelsior, Jr.'' is an 1895 musical comedy with music by George Lowell Tracy, A. Baldwin Sloane, and Edward E. Rice, and also with lyrics by Robert Ayres Barnet.
After playing in New Haven, it debuted on Broadway to a great fanfare as the ...
'' Collaborators included Robert Melville Baker,
George Whitefield Chadwick, Edward Warren Corliss,
Louis F. Gottschalk
Louis Ferdinand Gottschalk (October 7, 1864 – July 15, 1934) was an American composer and conductor born in St. Louis, Missouri. The son of a Missouri governor, also named Louis, he studied music in Stuttgart, Germany, where his father, a judg ...
, Harry Lawson Heartz, David Kilburn Stevens, Lewis Sabin Thompson, and George Lowell Tracy. He belonged to the
Boston Cadets
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...
, and contributed to the group's amateur theatricals. For example, his ''Jack and the Beanstock'' premiered in 1896 at Boston's
Tremont Theatre. It was performed by the "Boston Cadets, who always present Barnet's pieces before they are staged professionally. The new piece is ... a fairy Mother Goose
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. . The music is by
A.B. Sloane. ... Augustus Pitou,
Klaw & Erlanger,
E.E. Rice, and other prominent gentlemen" attended. The female impersonator
Julian Eltinge appeared in the early shows. Barnet died in New York in 1933.
Images
Image:1894 Tabasco BFWoodMusicCo Boston.png, ''Burlesque Opera of Tabasco
Originally performed in 1894, the ''Burlesque Opera of Tabasco'' (also sometimes rendered ''Burlesque Opera Tabasco'') is a musical comedy composed by George W. Chadwick with a libretto by R. A. Barnet. At first titled ''Tabasco'', the opera was ...
'', 1894
Image:1897 SimpleSimon Act2 Scene1 BostonCadets IllustratedAmerican v21 no368.png, Boston Cadets' production of Barnet's ''Simple Simon'', 1897
Image:1900 BugabooMan NewYorkWorld June10 NYPL p2.jpeg, "Bugaboo Man," ''New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
'', 1900
Image:1900 Miladi Musketeer WhiteSmithMusicPubCo Boston.png, ''Miladi and the Musketeer'', 1901
Image:1906 MissPocahontas WhiteSmithMusicPubCo Boston.png, ''Miss Pocahontas: an Indian War-Whoop in Two Whoops'', 1906
References
Further reading
* Barnet, Anne Alison. ''Extravaganza King: Robert Barnet and Boston Musical Theater''. Northeastern University Press, Boston: 2004.
*
* Ford, John-Peter Springer, "GEORGE WHITEFIELD CHADWICK AND ROBERT AYRES BARNET’S TABASCO" (2022). ''Electronic Theses and Dissertations''. 2216.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2216
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* Zukerman, Robert S. “Robert Ayres Barnet: American Playwright and Lyricist.” PhD dissertation, The City University of New York, 1981.
External links
* New York Public Library
*
I love you Evaline words by R.A. Barnet ; music by Geo. L. Tracy; from Excelsior Jr. (Boston: Bates & Bendix, 1895)
*
O lovely home libretto by R.A. Barnet ; music by G.W. Chadwick; from Tabasco, 1894
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnet, Robert Ayres
1853 births
1933 deaths
Musicians from Boston
19th century in Boston
Writers from New York City
Songwriters from Massachusetts
Cultural history of Boston