ABSTRACT
Transnational transfer processes can be considered as an integral part of the history of opera. Throughout the nineteenth century the saison of the Parisian Théâtre Italien – lasting usually from November until April – served as an important hub for London’s opera managers. During the 1830s, and especially through the efforts of Pierre-François Laporte, the timing of the Parisian saison and the consecutive Italian season in London – April to September – were ideally coordinated in order to facilitate operatic exchange. London asserted its prominent position in the nineteenth-century opera industry mostly because it sat in the crosshairs of various overlapping cosmopolitan and transnational networks, which ranged from artistic, diplomatic, personal and political to managerial and medial networks. London’s unique position as a cosmopolitan crossroads of the Italian opera industry furthermore supported the transfer of singers and works to the American continent.
