# The Poor Soldier

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{{Short description|1783 British opera}}
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[[File:Poster for a Southampton performance of the play ‘The Country Girl’.jpg|thumb|Playbill for a 1790 performance of the opera at [Theatre Royal, Southampton](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Southampton)]]
'''''The Poor Soldier''''' is a 1783 British [pasticcio](/source/pasticcio) opera with music by [William Shield](/source/William_Shield) and a text by [John O'Keeffe](/source/John_O'Keeffe_(Irish_writer)). It was a comedy set around Irish soldiers returning home after fighting in the British army in the [American War of Independence](/source/American_War_of_Independence), which formally ended that year with the [Peace of Paris](/source/Peace_of_Paris_(1783)).<ref>Shaffer, p. 174.</ref> One of the [redcoats](/source/Red_coat_(British_army)) must fight for the love of Norah with the urbane Captain Fitzroy. The events are set entirely in a small Irish village called Carton, a few miles from [Dublin](/source/Dublin), although several versions refer to it only as "a country village".<ref>Richards, p. 64.</ref>

''The Poor Soldier'' was an altered version, as an afterpiece, of the earlier ''[The Shamrock, or The Anniversary of St Patrick](/source/The_Shamrock)'', first performed as a comic opera on 16 April 1777 at [Crow Street Theatre](/source/Crow_Street_Theatre), Dublin, followed by a London performance on 7 April 1783 at [Covent Garden](/source/Covent_Garden_Theatre). The first performance of ''The Poor Soldier'' took place on 4 November 1783 at Covent Garden.<ref>White, Eric Walter: ''A Register of First Performances of English Operas'' (London: Society for Theatre Research, 1983), p. 49.</ref>

The work enjoyed widespread popularity in the newly independent [United States](/source/United_States), and was a favourite of [George Washington](/source/George_Washington).<ref>McLucas, p. 90.</ref>

The music by [Shield](/source/William_Shield) was mostly based on Irish traditional tunes, which had been sung to Shield by the Irishman O'Keeffe,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/01/the-poor-soldier-review|title=The Poor Soldier &#124; Opera review|website=[TheGuardian.com](/source/TheGuardian.com)|date=July 2010}}</ref> as in many other examples of the collaboration between Shield and O'Keeffe.<ref>Brian Boydell: "O'Keeffe, John", in: ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (MGG), biographical part, vol. 15 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2006), cc. 702–3.</ref> One exception was the Scottish tune "[Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad](/source/Oh%2C_whistle_and_I'll_come_to_you%2C_my_lad)", used for the song "Since love is the plan, I'll love if I can".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Alexander|last=Whitelaw|author-link=Alexander Whitelaw (editor)|title=The Book of Scottish Song|date=1843|page=334|publisher=Blackie and Son|location=London}}</ref> The song "How Happy the Soldier" also featured in the opera. 

In 1786, O'Keeffe wrote a sequel ''[Love in a Camp](/source/Love_in_a_Camp)'', when the characters have joined the [Prussian army](/source/Prussia).

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* Brasmer, William & Osborne, William (eds.): ''The Poor Soldier (1783)'' (Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, 1978)
* Hager, Alan: ''Encyclopedia of British Writers: 16th, 17th & 18th Centuries'' (New York: Book Builders, 2005)
* McLucas, Anne Dhu: ''The Musical Ear: Oral Traditions in the USA'' (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010)
* Richards, Jeffrey H.: ''Drama, Theatre and Identity in the American New Republic'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
* Shaffer, Jason: ''Performing Patriotism: National Identity in the Colonial and Revolutionary American Theater'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007)

==External links==
* {{FadedPage|id=20130737|name=The Poor Soldier}}

{{John O'Keeffe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poor Soldier}}
Category:1783 operas
Category:English comic operas
Category:Operas set in the British Isles
Category:Plays by John O'Keeffe

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