Robert Ayres Barnet (September 3, 1853[1][2] – June 26, 1933) was an American musical theatre lyricist from New York City,[3] active in New York and Boston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[4][5] He is most remembered for his colaborations with the Boston Men's Army Cadets.
Career
Barnet wrote lyrics for 1492 and Excelsior, Jr.[6] Collaborators included Robert Melville Baker,[7] George Whitefield Chadwick,[8] Edward Warren Corliss,[9] Louis F. Gottschalk, Harry Lawson Heartz,[10] David Kilburn Stevens,[11] Lewis Sabin Thompson,[12] and George Lowell Tracy.[13] He belonged to the Boston Cadets, and contributed to the group's amateur theatricals.[14] 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. The music is by A.B. Sloane. ... Augustus Pitou, Klaw & Erlanger, E.E. Rice, and other prominent gentlemen" attended.[15] The female impersonator Julian Eltinge appeared in the early shows. Barnet died in New York in 1933.[16]
Images
Boston Cadets' production of Barnet's Simple Simon, 1897
"Bugaboo Man," New York World, 1900
Miladi and the Musketeer, 1901
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.
- R. A. Barnet (1890), Injured innocents, Boston: E. B. Stillings & Co., OL 23639405M
- 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
- George Whitefield Chadwick; Robert Ayres Barnet (1894), Tabasco: burlesque opera in two acts, Boston: B. F. Wood Music Co.
- Lewis Sabin Thompson; Robert Ayres Barnet (1899), Prince pro tem: a comic opera in two acts, Boston: C. W. Thompson
- Harry Lawson Heartz; Robert Ayres Barnet; George Lowell Tracy (1900), Miladi and the musketeer: a romantic extravaganza, Boston: White-Smith Music Publishing Company
- Harry Lawson Heartz; Robert Ayres Barnet (1901), Miss Simplicity: a musical comedy ... as presented by the Frank Daniels' Comic Opera Company, Boston: White-Smith
- Louis Ferdinand Gottschalk; David Kilburn Stevens; Edward Warren Corliss; Robert Ayres Barnet (1904), Cinderella and the prince; or, Castle of heart's desire: A fairy excuse for songs and dances, Boston: White-Smith
- Dan Sullivan; Robert Ayres Barnet; Robert Melville Baker (1906), Miss Pocahontas: an Indian war-whoop in two whoops, Boston: White-Smith Music Pub.
- 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