ABSTRACT
Recent research has revealed unsuspected links between the building projects to which Charles II committed in the last decade of his reign and the opera projects on which court-sponsored poets and composers embarked right at the end of it. ‘Albion & Albanius’ (words John Dryden, music Louis Grabu), and ‘King Arthur’ (words Dryden, music Purcell) are especially implicated. Both can be read? and when first created were meant to be read? as animations of new or intended additions to the royal real estate, bringing buildings and the mythologized version of British history encoded in buildings to life on the operatic stage. They delivered political messages instantly intelligible to members of Charles II?s court circle but completely baffling to modern audiences lacking knowledge of or connection with the places and contexts referenced. This chapter encourages imaginative re-engagement with the royal-architectural backdrop to Carolean court opera and suggests that published opera texts? words spoken and sung, along with scene descriptions? can with appropriate care be mined for historical evidence. They reflect the image of the king as he himself wished to be seen, make his political priorities explicit, and open new windows into his famously inscrutable state of mind.
