King Arthur (Arr. Laurie)-King Arthur was the only one of Purcell's professionally produced operas to have been designed as a semi-opera; the others were all adaptations of earlier plays. Dryden made a real attempt to integrate the music into the drama but since he ascribed to the dramatic conventions of the period which virtually confined music to allegorical or supernatural beings and thier worshippers or servants shepherds and similar characters the main action mostly occurs in the spoken sections and even the two singing characters Philidel and Grimbald speak more than they sing.

Chamber opera in a prologue and one act. A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as acourt of enquiry into the unexplained disappearance of the three keepers from a lighthouse. Questions are posed by a solo horn which may sound from among the audience and three officers give answer. Gradually they move fromstraight testimony into fantastical imaginings of evil during a 'flashback' to the lighthouse; but then we snap back to the courtroom. In the main act the three singers become the vanished keepers. They have been together formonths long enough to be fully aware of each other's weaknesses; petty bickerings suggest a relationship which is stable but liable to become highly unstable at any moment. They sing songs to reduce the tension Blazes beginningwith a rough ballad of street violence accompanied by violin and banjo. Sandy's song with cello and out-of-tune upright piano is a thinly disguised description of sexual bliss and Arthur's with brass and clarinet is atub-thumping hymn. But the songs serve only to resurrect in their minds ghosts from the past and as the fog descends each of the keepers becomes convinced that he is being claimed by the Beast. They prepare to meet its dazzlingeyes which become the lights of the relief vessel and the three men reappear as officers met at the lighthouse only by an infestation of rats. They leave and at the end the last hours of Blazes Sandy and Arthur begin to playover again.Study Score. Duration c. 1h 25mins.

Camelot is a popular Musical which also received a film adaptation in 1967. Available here is the Libretto for the Musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The show is based on the King Arthur legend as based on the T.H. White novel The Once and Future King.

This opera opened April 23 1881 at the Opera Comique and ran for 578 performances at both the Opera Comique and Savoy Theatres. The county dames are in love with two poets while the poets are both in love with Patience the village milkmaid. The brigade men don't see the point to aesthetics but decide they had better give it a try to win the women's love.

The tale of Nanki-Poo and his passion for Yum-Yum has charmed audiences since its 1885 debut with graceful well-loved melodies such as 'Three little maids from school are we ' 'The flowers that bloom in the spring tra-la ' and many others. Now available in a newly edited newly engraved full-score publication based on Sullivan's autograph and the first edition of the full score this new performing edition by Ephraim Jones and Carl Simpson corrects many errors and incorporates Gilbert's later libretto changes..Dover Original.