Interest in English baroque music languished under the prolonged Hanoverian enthusiasm for Handel. But in London in the 1780s and again in the 1830s there were revivals of interest in the English music of earlier days, particularly in the music of Henry Purcell. The second of these xenophilic revivals was focused among a group of musicians who were also teachers of music at the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Especially when writing for the accompaniment of vocalists, baroque composers of the eras from Elizabeth to Queen Anne (c. 1580s–c. 1730s) had used a background continuo referred to as a “ground” or “through-bass.” But they did not always write out keyboard or orchestral scores in their entirety: musical scores could present a very simple-seeming series of single notes on a stave, with plain numerals placed vertically below them, a kind of abbreviated musical notation known as “figured-bass.” It was a form of musical shorthand which indicated the fundamental key and the intervals of its chords (or discords) from which ensemble musicians or individual keyboard-players might improvise. Often a solitary number was sufficient to imply the presence of others. Musicians of the day were adept at recognizing the harmonies required from these minimal indications.1 Even among modern aficionados of early music, except perhaps the musical historians among them, several of the musicians key to the 1830s Purcell revival – Cramer, Dragonetti, Macfarren, Rimbault, Smart, Taylor, Turle – are now little known. Their renaissance of interest may have been a reaction to the insistence on the superiority of Italian music by the Academy’s founding figure John Fane, Lord Burghersh (ODNB 6.1041). Their doings are nevertheless of interest to readers of the Dickens Quarterly,

中文翻译：

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狄更斯、迪克和狄多：奥利弗·特威斯特和家中的歌剧

在汉诺威对亨德尔的长期热情之下，对英国巴洛克音乐的兴趣逐渐消退。但是在 1780 年代和 1830 年代的伦敦，人们对早期英国音乐的兴趣再次复苏，尤其是亨利·珀塞尔（Henry Purcell）的音乐。这些亲外主义的第二次复兴集中在一群音乐家中，他们也是新成立的皇家音乐学院的音乐教师。尤其是在为歌手伴奏创作时，从伊丽莎白到安妮女王（约 1580 年代至 1730 年代）的巴洛克作曲家使用了称为“地面”或“低音”的背景连续音。但他们并不总是完整地写出键盘或管弦乐乐谱：乐谱可以在五线谱上呈现一系列看似简单的单个音符，在它们下方垂直放置简单的数字，一种被称为“数字低音”的缩写乐谱。它是一种音乐速记形式，它表示合奏音乐家或个人键盘手可能即兴创作的基本键和和弦（或不和弦）的音程。通常一个单独的数字就足以暗示其他人的存在。当时的音乐家善于从这些最小的迹象中识别出所需的和声。 1 即使在早期音乐的现代爱好者中，除了其中的音乐历史学家之外，还有几位音乐家是 1830 年代珀塞尔复兴的关键——Cramer、Dragonetti、Macfarren、 Rimbault、Smart、Taylor、Turle——现在鲜为人知。他们的兴趣复兴可能是对学院创始人约翰·费恩伯格什勋爵 (ODNB 6.1041) 坚持意大利音乐优越性的一种反应。