Seedo (also Sidow) (c. 1700 – c. 1754), also called Mr Seedo, as his forename is unknown, was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who worked primarily in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

until 1736 when he became musical director to Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia.

Life

Seedo was a son of Samuel Peter Sidow, a musician employed by the

Elector of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Prince-elector, Electors of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg during the time when Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the prima ...

. By the mid-1720s, Seedo was working at the

Little Theatre As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theater as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912. The Little Theatre Movement served to provide experimental centers for the d ...

in London's Haymarket. On 27 September 1727 he married the singer Maria Manina, who had small parts in London's Italian operas beginning in 1711, including

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''

Teseo ''Teseo'' ("Theseus", HWV 9; ) is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's '' Thésée''. It was Ha ...

''. Between 1731 and 1734, Seedo worked on

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

imitations. He wrote several successful stage works, of which his

ballad opera The ballad opera is a genre of England, English ''comic opera'' stage play that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier ''comédie en vaudeville'' and the later ''Sings ...

''The Devil to Pay'' was the most successful. When the work was first performed on stage it was a failure, but when the composer cut it significantly, from a full opera of 42 airs to an afterpiece of sixteen airs, it became a hit. Apart from ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...

'', ''The Devil to Pay'' was by far the most popular ballad opera of the 18th century. The work was given regular London performances until well into the 19th century and a translation by C. W. von Borcke made it popular in Austria and the German states as well. Borcke's translation was a major influence on the development of ''

singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...

''. He also composed the ballad opera ''

The Lottery "The Lottery" is a short story by Shirley Jackson that was first published in ''The New Yorker'' on June 26, 1948. The story describes a fictional small American community that observes an annual tradition known as "the lottery", which is int ...

'' with

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along wi ...

in 1732. "Mr Seedo" was also an organist and organ composer in London during the first part of the 18th century; some of his organ Voluntaries are preserved in the John Reading Manuscripts of Dulwich College, London, and have been recorded.Riccardo Bonci (organ), The John Reading Manuscripts of Dulwich College, Brilliant Classics 94454 (2011) In 1736 his wife appeared singing in a benefit for Seedo as he was in debt. He and Maria Seedo were in Potsdam later that year where Seedo was the musical director to Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. Seedo died in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

about 1754, a date inferred from payments made to him.

References

Sources

Roger Fiske Roger Fiske (11 September 1910 – 22 July 1987) was a musicologist, broadcaster and author who played an important part in establishing music for schools at the BBC during and after World War II. Fiske was born in Surbiton. He studied English at ...

/Irena Cholij. ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), and {{authority control 1700s births 1754 deaths Emigrants from the Kingdom of Prussia Immigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain German Baroque composers English classical composers German opera composers German male opera composers 18th-century classical composers English Baroque composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians