74 BAROQUE OPERA IN ENGLAND
IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Baroque opera in EnglandBEFORE
1617 Lovers Made Men, a
masque by Ben Jonson, is set
to music by Nicholas Lanier in
the Italian recitative style.1656 The Siege of Rhodes, by
five composers, is considered
the first English opera, but is
called “recitative music” to
avoid the Puritan ban on plays.c. 1683 John Blow’s Venus
and Adonis is premiered at
Charles II’s court.1685 Albion and Albanius,
with a libretto by John Dryden
set to music by Louis Grabu, is
the earliest full-length English
opera to survive in its entirety.AFTER
1705 Jakob Greber’s Gli amori
d’Ergasto is the first Italian
opera produced in London.1711 Handel premieres the
Italian opera Rinaldo, his first
work for the London stage.Puritans show disdain for the
flamboyantly dressed Cavaliers in a
17th-century tavern scene. Cromwell
closed many inns and theatres, which
he called bastions of “lascivious mirth.”T
he greatness of Dido and
Aeneas by Henry Purcell
(1659–1695) lies in the
perfection of its characterization
and musical depth. Although
conceived on a miniature scale, it
is the most significant early English
opera and a masterpiece of the
entire Baroque musical era.
In the late 17th century, when
Dido and Aeneas was composed,
opera was still in its infancy in
England. It had evolved in Florence
in the 1590s from a form of private
entertainment organized by groups
of artists and musicians known as
“academies” (see pp.62–63). From
there, it had spread throughout Italy
with performances in one or other
of the many small courts. Only in
1637, with the opening of the Teatro
di San Cassiano in Venice, was
opera performed for a wider public.
The new genre had reached
Germany by this time and France
by the 1640s, quickly taking root
in both countries.
In England, opera advanced
more slowly, partly because of a
prejudice against sung drama in a
country where spoken drama was
dominant. England also lacked a
royal court around which operatictradition could develop, due to the
exile of the future King Charles II
following the defeat of the Cavaliers
(Royalists) in the English Civil War
(1642–1651) and the establishment
of a Protectorate under the rule of
the Puritan Oliver Cromwell. During
this period, English composers
were often not exposed to foreign
influences and their music tended
to retain a strong national identity.
Forms such as the verse anthem,
in which solo voices and choir sang
alternate verses, were favored in
Anglican liturgy. Secular music
included “catches”—simple, often
bawdy rounds or canons, usually
sung in taverns—which had no
direct continental equivalents.A mysterious genesis
The Restoration of the monarchy
under Charles II in 1660 brought
England closer to Europe and its
musical repertoire. This would have
influenced Purcell as he developed
his skills composing masterlyDido and Aeneas is
one of the most original
expressions of genius
in all opera.
Gustav HolstUS_072-077_Purcell.indd 74 26/03/18 1:00 PM