The Old Bachelor: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Old Bachelor, credited to William Congreve, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Old Bachelor by William Congreve. Read in English by a full cast. "In The Old Bachelor we have three or four concurrent plots, which become interwoven, indeed, at the end.... It is recorded that the successive unmasking of four beautiful women gave the audience such delight that they burst into a thunder of applause. "Here, then, was a play compounded of quite familiar elements, and attempting nothing in the least new or ambitious in technic.... But each of the actions was clear, spirited, and suited to the taste of the day; and the familiarity of the material was redeemed by the novel vivacity of the author's wit." - Summary by William Archer, editor, 1912 Cast list: Heartwell, a surly old bachelor, pretending to slight women, secretly in love with Silvia: ToddHW Bellmour, in love with Belinda: Jason in Panama Vainlove, capricious in his love; in love with Araminta: Tomas Peter Sharper: KHand Sir Joseph Wittol: Adrian Stephens Captain Bluffe: Adam Bielka Fondlewife, a banker: Larry Wilson Setter, a pimp: alanmapstone Barnaby, servant to Fondlewife: Craig Franklin Araminta, in love with Vainlove: B L Newman Belinda, her cousin, an affected lady, in love with Bellmour: JennPratt Lætitia, wife to Fondlewife: Sonia Sylvia, Vainlove’s forsaken mistress: Availle Lucy, her maid: Lisanne Lavoie Betty: Lydia Boy: Elijah Fisher Footman: Nemo Music-Master: Elijah Fisher Servant to Fondlewife: Elijah Fisher Stage Directions: MichaelMaggs Editing: ToddHW

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Old Bachelor
• Author credits: William Congreve
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 5
• Listed recording duration: 3:03:36

Catalogue topics

• vice
• comedy of manners
• play

Track guide

1. 01 - Act 1 — 42:00
2. 02 - Act 2 — 25:17
3. 03 - Act 3 — 32:03
4. 04 - Act 4 — 47:07
5. 05 - Act 5 — 37:09

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.