To be filed under 'opera' because I don't have a category for semi-opera, or masques.
By Henry Purcell. Purcell is said to be the father of English opera, although it is said he only wrote one, Dido and Aeneas, which is short. And until Britten, there aren't really any other English opera composers whose works have endured, unless you include Handel, which I think you can, but cautiously.
I walk past Purcell's birthplace on average about once a week. Indeed most of my smoking breaks are spent staring down the street on which he was born. I suppose that makes him my local composer.
According to the booklet that came with this DVD, this isn't an opera. Furthermore, although the various audio editions include dialogue, this is a very free interpretation by director David Pountney. It does seem a bit strange. The actual DVD describes itself as 9 masques in 3 acts. The uniting factor is the music: the usual baroque formula of numbers - often exquisitively beautiful joined together by continuo. Supposedly, there is also the drama, based on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, that propels the semi-opera together. But, I have to say, if I didn't know the story of MSD, I am not sure I would be able to follow this.
It comes over to some extent as separate sections of singing and dancing. I don't care for the dancing in this. I could be facetious and say there is too much of it. I suppose if one happened to be a fan of that style one would enjoy it - but the singing would get in the way. at times I found some of the costumes disturbing - such as Puck (male) wearing a bra and one of the other dancers wearing a nappy. All the positive reviews comment on the humour in the piece.
The booklet says this is generally performed in concert. The scores went missing in 1695 and mysteriously reappeared in the early 20th century; it was the first performance of the Covent Garden Opera Company in 1946. The accompanying booklet to this DVD says that Benjamin Britten unburied the work in 1970. This DVD dates from 1995; there is an excellent review of the 2002 revival at MusicOMH. It's currently playing in rep in Linz; and has also been performed in Como and Aachen this season.
So, how do I rate it? Musically, it is always pleasant, but, despite hearing it three times, there is not a single number that stands out. I rate Dido & Aeneas much more highly - this CD rather than this video; not least for the well-known aria When I am laid in earth.
I think if my attention was drawn to a cheap CD or download with exceptional singers I would consider obtaining it. If it were to be performed locally, I might consider going, but more likely to a concert performance. I missed the Armonico Consort's production in last year's Chelsea Festival, and can't decide whether or not to go to their King Arthur next month. From what I have seen on this DVD, were ENO to revive it my decision whether to go to would be based solely upon whether or not the cast attracted me.
Not so long ago I had a reaction to Handel along the lines of 'very nice, but so what, shrug'. I have got over that, at least to some extent. I tended to think that Handel wrote loads of gorgeous music, but I could not see the collection of numbers as part of a coherent whole in the way I would for Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner etc. And I suppose that is my problem with Purcell: that there isn't enough unique DNA in Fairy Queen - or Dido, or Indian Queen - to motivate me to become sufficiently familiar.
