ABSTRACT
This chapter exposes the nature of Dublin's opera seasons from 1848 to 1870, focusing on the role of the touring Italian companies which dominated both in terms of social status and in frequency of appearance. The status of the city of Dublin in the nineteenth century is one of true peculiarity. On the one hand, it was a relatively small, non-industrial city, and for most of the citizens of Great Britain something of a backwater, the Irish Sea forming a major physical barrier between the two land masses. Cultural activities were celebrated and went some way to ameliorate the tensions that arose in other aspects of Irish life. Dubliners were proud of their own musical abilities, manifested in the many amateur societies in the city, and also proud of their ability to attract leading professional musicians to the city.
