Henry Purcell 9th – 13th May

[doversoul1]

Donald Macleod explores Purcell's earliest contributions to the theatre, from a smattering of songs for plays in the 1680s, to his only 'all-sung' work for the stage which has eclipsed all his other theatre music - Dido and Aeneas. Privately performed before the composer had established himself in the professional theatre, it is now the only piece with a secure place in the modern repertoire.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xxrl

An excellent starting point:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xw37

The Early Music Show on The Fairy Queen on Saturday 7th May

Lucie Skeaping presents a programme exploring Purcell's semi-opera, The Fairy Queen, based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Purcell did not set any of Shakespeare's original text, and instead added self-contained masques in each of the acts, which include some of Purcell's finest music. Lucie plays musical extracts from each of the masques from various recordings, directed by Ton Koopman, Roger Norrington, Harry Christophers and Nikolaus Harnoncourt..

[ardcarp]

Really enjoying CotW...at least the bits I manage to hear. I guess many of us will have sung/played bits from the stage works in times past. What a man of parts Purcell was, if one compares (say) anthems from his W. Abbey period, the string Fantasias and his theatrical output. All quite different. One should perhaps remember some of the early pioneers in revival of Purcell's dramatic output...names such as Anthony Lewis, Nigel Fortune and Raymongd Leppard.