Sir William Davenant

For more information on Sir William Davenant, visit Britannica.com.

(b Oxford, bap. 3 March 1606; d London, 7 April 1668). English dramatist, theatre manager and poet. He wrote the libretto of the first all-sung English opera with a unified heroic subject, The Siege of Rhodes (1656; music lost), and influenced the subsequent development of English opera through his use of incidental music in plays produced at the Duke's Theatre, London, particularly through his adaptations of Shakespeare's Macbeth (1663) and Tempest (with Dryden, 1667), using spectacular musical scenes.

Quotes:

"Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves."