ABSTRACT
The ‘dramatick operas’ of Henry Purcell, staged in the early 1690s, were an anomalous and unique form of theatre. Away from the professional theatre, the first chamber operas had been created in English. The nearest came to ‘dramatick opera’ was perhaps Albion and Albanius, with a text by John Dryden and music by Louis Grabu. Dryden dredged up one of his old scripts, King Arthur, originally written in 1684, revised it and gave it to Purcell to supply music. With its expensive scenery, spectacular effects and sumptuous costumes, Purcell’s music and Josias Priest’s choreography, Dioclesian was highly acclaimed, and to an extent made Purcell’s name. The Fairy Queen, the third of Purcell’s dramatick operas, was staged at Dorset Garden in May 1692, and was probably the most costly of them all. Adapted from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, perhaps by Thomas D’Urfey. Purcell’s music was at its richest and most wide-ranging, and the scenes were again gorgeous and eye-catching.
