There She Goes Again Fanny the Fairy Queen Song

Semi-opera by Henry Purcell

The Fairy-Queen
Semi-opera by Henry Purcell
Title page of the original printed edition
Description	Restoration spectacular
Based on	A Midsummer Dark'due south Dream by William Shakespeare
Premiere	2 May 1692 (1692-05-02) Queen'southward Theatre, Dorset Garden, London

The Fairy-Queen (1692; Purcell catalogue number Z.629) is a semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular".^[ane] The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare'south comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[2] First performed in 1692, The Fairy-Queen was composed 3 years before Purcell's death at the age of 35. Post-obit his death, the score was lost and only rediscovered early in the twentieth century.

Purcell did not ready any of Shakespeare's text to music; instead he equanimous music for curt masques in every human action only the first. The play itself was also slightly modernised in keeping with seventeenth-century dramatic conventions, just in the primary the spoken text is as Shakespeare wrote it. The masques are related to the play metaphorically, rather than literally. Many critics have stated that they bear no relationship to the play. Recent scholarship has shown that the opera, which ends with a masque featuring Hymen, the God of Matrimony, was composed for the fifteenth wedding anniversary of William III and Mary Ii.^[three]

Growing involvement in Baroque music and the rise of the countertenor contributed to the piece of work'due south re-entry into the repertoire. The opera received several full-length recordings in the latter part of the 20th century and several of its arias, including "The Plaint" ("O permit me weep"), have get popular recital pieces.

In July 2009, in celebration of the 350th anniversary of Purcell's birth, The Fairy-Queen was performed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera using a new edition of the score, prepared for the Purcell Order by Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock.

Original product [edit]

The Fairy-Queen was first performed on two May 1692 at the Queen'southward Theatre, Dorset Garden in London past the United Visitor. The writer or at to the lowest degree co-author of the libretto was presumably Thomas Betterton, the managing director of Dorset Garden Theatre, with whom Purcell worked regularly. This belief is based on an analysis of Betterton'south stage directions.^[3] A collaboration between several playwrights is also feasible.^[4] Choreography for the diverse dances was provided by Josias Priest, who likewise worked on Dioclesian and King Arthur, and who was associated with Dido and Aeneas.

A letter describing the original performance shows that the parts of Titania and Oberon were played past children of viii or nine.^[five] Presumably other fairies were also played by children; this affects our perspective on the staging.

Context and analysis [edit]

Following the huge success of his operas Dioclesian (1690) and King Arthur (1691), Purcell composed The Fairy-Queen in 1692. Purcell'due south "First" and "Second Music" were played while the audience were taking their seats. The "Act Tunes" are played betwixt acts, every bit the curtain was normally raised at the outset of a performance and not lowered until the end. After act 1, each act commences with a short symphony (3–5 minutes).

The English language tradition of semi-opera, to which The Fairy-Queen belongs, demanded that most of the music inside the play be introduced through the agency of supernatural beings, the exception being pastoral or drunken characters. All the masques in The Fairy-Queen are presented by Titania or Oberon. Originally act 1 contained no music, just due to the piece of work's enormous success it was revived in 1693, when Purcell added the scene of the Drunken Poet and 2 farther songs afterward on in the piece of work; "Ye gentle spirits of the air" and "The Plaint".^[6] As noted to a higher place, each masque is subtly related to the action in the play during that particular deed in a metaphorical style. In this manner nosotros have Night and Sleep in human action 2, which is apt as that act of the play consists of Oberon's plans to apply the power of the "dear-in-idleness" flower to confuse various loves, and it is therefore appropriate for the allegorical figures of Secrecy, Mystery et al. to usher in a dark of enchantment. The masque for Lesser in act 3 includes metamorphoses, songs of both real and feigned beloved, and beings who are not what they seem. The Reconciliation masque between Oberon and Titania at the end of deed 4 prefigures the final masque. The scene changes to a Garden of Fountains, denoting Rex William's hobby, simply after Oberon says "bless these Lovers' Nuptial Day". The 4 Seasons tell us that the marriage here celebrated is a good i all year round and "All Salute the ascent Sun"/...The Birthday of King Oberon". The kings of England were traditionally likened to the sun (Oberon = William. Significantly, William and Mary were married on his altogether, 4 November.). The Chinese scene in the final masque is in homage to Queen Mary's famous collection of china. The garden shown above information technology and the exotic animals bring King William dorsum into the moving picture and Hymen's vocal in praise of their spousal relationship, plus the stage management bringing (Mary's) china vases containing (William's) orange trees to the front of the phase complete the symbolism.^[3]

The music [edit]

Written as he approached the end of his brief career, The Fairy-Queen contains some of Purcell'southward finest theatre music,^{[half dozen]} equally musicologists have agreed for generations. In particular, Abiding Lambert was a great gentleman; from it he bundled a suite and in collaboration with Edward Dent arranged the work to form the then new Covent Garden opera company's get-go postwar production.^[7] It shows to excellent upshot Purcell'southward complete mastery of the pungent English style of Bizarre counterpoint, likewise as displaying his absorption of Italian influences. Several arias such as "The Plaint", "Thrice happy lovers" and "Hark! the echoing air" have entered the discographic repertory of many singers exterior their original context.

The orchestra for The Fairy-Queen consists of ii recorders, two oboes, 2 trumpets, timpani, string instruments and harpsichord continuo.

Performance history [edit]

Following Purcell'southward premature death, his opera Dioclesian remained pop until well into the eighteenth century,^[viii] but the score of The Fairy-Queen was lost and merely rediscovered early in the twentieth century.^[9] Other works like it barbarous into obscurity. Changing tastes were not the but reason for this; the voices employed had too become difficult to find. The list of singers beneath shows the frequent employment of the male alto, or countertenor, in the semi-opera, a voice which, after Purcell, essentially vanished from the stage, probably due to the rise of Italian opera and the attendant castrati. Afterwards that Romantic opera emerged, with the attendant predominance of the tenor. Until the early on music revival, the male alto survived mainly in the ecclesiastical tradition of all-male church building choirs and twentieth-century American vocal quartets.

Even so, Purcell's music (and with it The Fairy-Queen) was resuscitated by two related movements: a growing interest in Baroque music and the rising of the countertenor, led by pioneers such as Alfred Deller and Russell Oberlin. The former movement led to performances of long-neglected composers such as Purcell, John Dowland, John Blow and even George Frideric Handel, while the latter complemented information technology past providing a way of making such performances as authentic equally possible equally regards the original music and the composer's intentions (less true for Handel, where countertenors appear as castrati replacements).^[ten] This has led to The Fairy-Queen'south increased popularity, and numerous recordings accept been fabricated, oft using period instruments. The format of the work presents problems to modern directors, who must make up one's mind whether or not to nowadays Purcell's music equally part of the original play, which uncut is rather lengthy. Roughshod calculated a length of iv hours.^[11] The decision to curtail the play is ordinarily taken together with the resolution to modernise to such an extent that the cohesion betwixt music, text and action sketched higher up is entirely lost, a criticism levelled at the English National Opera'due south 1995 product directed by David Pountney.^[12] The production was released on video the aforementioned year, and revived by the company in 2002. A bold arroyo was taken at the Brazilian Opera Company's 2000 staging by Luiz Päetow, with the libretto becoming unstuck in time.^[xiii]

In July 2009, two months before the 350th ceremony of Purcell's birth, The Fairy-Queen was performed in a new edition, prepared for The Purcell Society past Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock, which restored the unabridged theatrical entertainment too as the original pitch used by Purcell. The performance by Glyndebourne Festival Opera with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by William Christie was repeated later on that month at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.^[14]

In June 2016, the opera was performed by the Hungarian Land Opera, in a new, neo-noir production directed by András Almási-Tóth

Roles [edit]

The function of Mopsa was originally performed by a soprano; however, a later revision by Purcell stated that it was to be performed by "Mr. Pate in woman's habit", presumably to have a grotesque effect and highlight the refrain "No, no, no, no, no; no kissing at all" in the dialogue between Corydon and Mopsa.^[6] Likewise, it is not entirely clear what the give-and-take "countertenor" means in this context. The record is ambivalent as to whether Purcell (himself a countertenor) used a tenor with a peculiarly high range (though lighter at the top) and tessitura (known sometimes every bit an haute-contre, the descendants of the contratenors alti of medieval polyphony) or a falsettist. It seems that throughout his career he used both.^[15] However, purely for reasons of dramatic verisimilitude, information technology is more than likely than not that the travesty role of Mopsa was taken by a falsettist, and the presence of a duet for two male altos ("Let the fifes and the clarions") makes it seem more probable that for this work falsettists were employed.

For a list of not-singing characters see A Midsummer Night'southward Dream, with the exception of Hippolyta, who was removed past Purcell's librettist.

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 2 May 1692 (Conductor: )
Drunken Poet	bass
First Fairy	soprano
Second Fairy	soprano
Night	soprano
Mystery	soprano
Secrecy	countertenor
Sleep	bass
Corydon	bass
Mopsa	soprano/countertenor
Nymph	soprano
3 Attendants to Oberon	1 soprano, 2 countertenors
Phoebus	tenor
Leap	soprano
Summer	countertenor
Autumn	tenor
Winter	bass
Juno	soprano
Chinese Man	countertenor
Chinese Woman, Daphne	soprano
Hymen	bass
Chorus: Fairies and Attendants.[xvi]

Synopsis [edit]

For the plot of the play see A Midsummer Night'south Dream. Only a synopsis of scenes provided with music is given here.

Human action one [edit]

The first scene prepare to music occurs after Titania has left Oberon, following an statement over the ownership of a lilliputian Indian boy. Two of her fairies sing of the delights of the countryside ("Come, come up, come, come, allow united states of america leave the town"). A drunken, stuttering poet enters, singing "Fill up the bowl". The stuttering has led many to believe the scene is based on the habits of Thomas d'Urfey. Nonetheless, it may also be poking fun at Elkanah Settle, who stuttered as well and was long thought to be the librettist, due to an error in his 1910 biography.^[six]

The fairies mock the drunken poet and drive him abroad. With its quick repartee and its broadly "realistic" portrayal of the poor victim, the Masque of the Drunken Poet is the closest episode in Purcell'south London stage works to full-fledged opera as the Italians knew it.^[17]

Act 2 [edit]

It begins after Oberon has ordered Puck to bless the eyes of Demetrius with the love-juice. Titania and her fairies merrily revel ("Come all ye songsters of the sky"), and Night ("See, even Dark"), Mystery ("Mystery'due south song"), Secrecy ("1 mannerly night") and Slumber ("Hush, no more, be silent all") lull them comatose and exit them to pleasant dreams.

Human action three [edit]

Titania has fallen in love with Bottom (now equipped with his ass' head), much to Oberon'southward gratification. A Nymph sings of the pleasures and torments of love ("If dear'southward a sweetness passion") and afterwards several dances, Titania and Lesser are entertained by the foolish, loving banter of two haymakers, Corydon and Mopsa.

Act 4 [edit]

It begins afterwards Titania has been freed from her enchantment, commencing with a brief divertissement to gloat Oberon's altogether ("At present the Dark", and the abovementioned "Let the fifes and the clarions"), simply for the most part it is a masque of the god Phoebus ("When the barbarous winter") and the Four Seasons (Leap; "Thus, the ever grateful spring", Summer; "Here's the Summertime", Autumn; "See my many coloured fields", and Winter; "At present Winter comes slowly").

Human action 5 [edit]

Later Theseus has been told of the lovers' adventures in the wood, it begins with the goddess Juno singing an epithalamium, "Thrice happy lovers", followed by a adult female who sings the well-known "The Plaint" ("O let me weep"). A Chinese homo and woman enter singing several songs virtually the joys of their earth. ("Thus, the gloomy world", "Thus happy and costless" and "Yeah, Xansi"). Two other Chinese women summon Hymen, who sings in praise of married bliss, thus uniting the hymeneals theme of A Midsummer Nighttime's Dream, with the celebration of William and Mary'southward ceremony.^[three]

Recordings [edit]

Audio

• Bruno Maderna, (Excerpts) Orchestra dell'Angelicum of Milan, (1 LP) – 1957 – Fonit Angelicum LPA970. This was also the first recording of Cathy Berberian mentioned on the encompass as Catherine Berio.
• Benjamin Britten, English Bedchamber Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, (2 CDs) – 1970 – Decca 4685612
• Alfred Deller, The Deller Espoused, Stour Music Chorus (2 CDs) – 1972 – Harmonia Mundi
• John Eliot Gardiner, The English Baroque Soloists The Monteverdi Choir, (2 CDs) – 1982 – Archiv Produktion 419 221–2
• William Christie, Les Arts Florissants (ii CDs) – 1989 – Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 1308/0
• David van Asch, The Scholars Bizarre Ensemble (2 CDs) – 1992 – Naxos 8.550660-1
• Roger Norrington, The London Classical Players, The Schütz Choir of London (2 CDs) – 1994 – EMI Classics 7243 5 55234 2 half-dozen
• Harry Christophers, The 16, (2 CDs) – 1993 – (Coro COR16005
• Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, (ii CDs) – 1994 – Erato 98507
• Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien, Arnold Schoenberg Chor (2 CDs) – 1995 – Teldec Classics 4509-97684-two
• Antony Walker, Cantillation, Orchestra of the Antipodes, (2 CDs) – 2005 – ABC Classics ABC4762879
• Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort, (1 CD) – 2006 – Deux-Elles DXL1120
• Ottavio Dantone, Accademia Bizantina & New English language Voices, (2 CDs) – 2012 – Brilliant Classics 94221
• Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort, (two CDs) - 2020- Signum Records : SIGCD615

Video

• Nicholas Kok, David Pountney (stage managing director), English National Opera, (1 DVD) – 1995 – Arthaus Musik 100200
• William Christie, Jonathan Kent (stage director), The Glyndebourne Chorus & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, (ii DVDs) – 2010 – Opus Arte OA1031D
• Cathryn Robertson, (manager, producer) Ballet B.C. And CBC tv set. "Within the Faerie Queene"

See also [edit]

• Listing of compositions by Henry Purcell
• A Midsummer Nighttime's Dream (opera past Britten)
• The Modification and Instrumentation of a Famous Hornpipe as a Merry and Birthday Sincere Homage to Uncle Alfred

References [edit]

Notes

1. ^ Milhouse, pp. 50–61
2. ^ Information technology has nix to do with Edmund Spenser'south verse form The Faerie Queene
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Muller 2005 pp. 667–681
4. ^ Savage 2000
5. ^ Burden 2003 pp. 596–607
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Toll 2006
7. ^ Ashman 7 May 2005
8. ^ Milhouse 1984 p. 57
9. ^ Westrup & Harrison p.199
10. ^ Steane
11. ^ Cruel 1973 pp. 201–222
12. ^ White 29 October 1995. For a contrasting view, see Kimberley 21 October 1995.
13. ^ "Ópera de Purcell". newspaper in Portuguese.
14. ^ Breen 2009
15. ^ Steane. Encounter also DeMarco 2002 pp. 174–185.
16. ^ Typically, the chorus is used at the end of airs to provide a recapitulation of the chief theme of the air, as well as at moments of detail dramatic grandeur, such every bit at the entry of Phoebus during human action 4.
17. ^ http://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com ex. 3-thirteen Henry Purcell, The Fairy Queen, human action 2 masque, Secrecy's song

Sources

• Ashman, Mike, "Lost in Music." The Guardian, 7 May 2005
• Breen, Ed, "Purcell: The Fairy Queen", Musical Criticism, July 2009
• Brunt, Michael. "Casting issues in the original production of Purcell'south opera The Fairy-Queen " Music & Letters 84/4 (Nov.2003) oxfordjournals.org (subscription access)
• DeMarco, Laura. oxfordjournals.org "The Fact of the Castrato and the Myth of the Countertenor." The Musical Quarterly 86 (2002), 174–185. (subscription access). An argument against the utilize of countertenors every bit castrati replacements, but the relevance to this article comes in the more balanced give-and-take of countertenors as used by Purcell.
• Dent, Edward J. Foundations of English language Opera, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928.
• Holst, Imogen [ed]. Henry Purcell 1659–1695: Essays on His Music, Oxford University Press, London, 1959.
• Kimberley, Nick, "The Fairy Queen Crass? Vulgar? Magic!", The Independent, 21 October 1995
• van Lennep, William et al. [eds], The London Phase, parts 1 (1965) and 2 (1959), Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
• Moore, R. E. Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre, Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 1961.
• Milhous, Judith, "The Multimedia Spectacular on the Restoration Stage", in British Theatre and the Other Arts, 1660–1800, ed. Shirley Strum Kenny, Associated Academy Presses, Cranbury, New Jersey, 1984
• Muller, Frans and Julia, oxfordjournals.org "Completing the flick: the importance of reconstructing early on opera". Early Music, vol XXXIII/4 (November 2005). (subscription access).
• Price, Curtis A. Henry Purcell and the London Stage,Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
• Price, Curtis. grovemusic.com "The Fairy-Queen", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 25 January 2006), (subscription access).
• Savage, Roger. "The Shakespeare-Purcell Fairy-Queen: A Defence and Recommendation", Early Music, vol I (1973) oxfordjournals.org (subscription admission).
• Savage, Roger. "The Fairy-Queen: an Opera" in Henry Purcell'southward Operas, The Complete Texts, ed. Michael Burden, Oxford University Printing, Oxford, 2000.
• Shay, Robert, and Robert Thompson. Purcell Manuscripts: The Main Musical Sources (Cambridge, 2000).
• Steane, J. B. grovemusic.com "Countertenor", Grove Music Online, ed. Fifty. Macy (accessed 25 July 2006), (subscription admission).
• Westrup, Sir Jack and Harrison, F.Ll. Collins Encyclopedia of Music, William Collins Sons & Company, London and Glasgow, 1976, ISBN 0-00-434331-X.
• White, Michael, "What a drag – it's just not Purcell", The Independent on Sunday, 29 Oct 1995

External links [edit]

• The libretto
• A facsimile of the libretto on Early English language Books Online (login required)
• Purcell: The Fairy Queen, The Prophetess / Savall, Et Al. [1]

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fairy-Queen

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