Editing Charles Bannister (section)

===Dibdin opera roles===
Bannister built on his reputation as a singer at [[Ranelagh Gardens]] not least through the early successful operas of [[Charles Dibdin]], with which he became specially identified. In 1768 he was in ''Damon and Phillida'', and ''The Padlock''.<ref>For Bannister's English opera firsts, see [[Margaret Ross Griffel]], ''Operas in English: A Dictionary'' Revised Edition (Scarecrow Press, 2012), p. 901 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8bQAwAAQBAJ&q=Bannister Read here].</ref>  In 1774 he was the original Tom Tug in Dibdin's lasting work, ''The Waterman'', at its first presentation at the Haymarket.<ref>G.H. Davidson, ''The Songs of Charles Dibdin'' with a memoir by George Hogarth, 2 vols (G.H. Davidson, London 1848), I, pp. xx, xxxiii, 44–45.</ref> He appeared in the first production of ''The Cobbler'', and in 1777 was the first Mr. Steady in ''The Quaker'' at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]].<ref>''The British Drama: A Collection of the Most Esteemed Tragedies, Comedies, Operas, and Farces, in the English Language. In Two Volumes,'' (Jones & Co., London 1824), Vol. 1, p. 233.</ref> 'Steady, in ''The Quaker'', has never, except in him, found an adequate representative.'<ref>Adolphus 1839, Vol. 2, p. 124. There is a portrait of him in this role, see engraving by William Ridley after a painting by Pye, Published London 1804 in the Folger Shakespeare Library [http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~268201~118077:Mr--Charles-Bannister,-comedian,-in View here].</ref> He was in the premiere of ''The Chelsea Pensioner'' in 1779, and was Sergeant (opposite Charles Dibdin as Countryman, and Mrs Wrighten as Wife) in Dibdin and [[Isaac Bickerstaffe]]'s musical entertainment of ''[[The Recruiting Serjeant]]'' at the Royalty Theatre in 1789.<ref>''The British Drama'', 1824, p. 210.</ref> As Tom Tug, Mr Steady and the Recruiting Serjeant he was succeeded (at Covent Garden) by [[Charles Incledon]], and by [[Charles Dignum]], who were his friends, and adopted them for tenor voice instead of bass or baritone.

In December 1776 he brought 'his fine rich and mellow bass voice' to the two-act opera ''Zelima and Azore'' (composed by [[Thomas Linley the Elder|Thomas Linley]] and the orchestra led by [[Thomas Linley the Younger|Linley's son Thomas]], fresh from his studies with [[Tartini]]), opposite Vernon, Dodd, and Mrs. Baddely. This was shortly before the premiere of ''[[The School for Scandal]]'' in 1777: and in October 1778 Bannister had the role of Serjeant Drill in the elder Linley's two-act musical drama ''The Camp'' (after [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan|Sheridan]]), with the recruiting song "Great Caesar, once renown'd in fame".<ref>W. Parke, ''Musical Memoirs'' (1830) Vol. 1, [https://archive.org/stream/musicalmemoirsv100park#page/6/mode/2up pp. 6–8, 12–13]. See Griffel, ''Operas in English'', p. 75.</ref>