Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer.
His style of Baroque music was uniquely English,
although it incorporated Italian and French elements.
Generally considered among the greatest English opera
composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple
and William Byrd as England's most important early
music composers. No later native-born English composer
approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin
Britten in the 20th c...(+)
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer.
His style of Baroque music was uniquely English,
although it incorporated Italian and French elements.
Generally considered among the greatest English opera
composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple
and William Byrd as England's most important early
music composers. No later native-born English composer
approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin
Britten in the 20th century.
Fully titled The Prophetess; or, the History of
Dioclesian, Henry Purcell’s 1690 semi-opera has it
all: fabulous music; an epic story of love, lust, and
politics; and enough special effects to fill a feature
film. Like other semi-operas (including Purcell’s
King Arthur, which was a follow-up hit to this work),
Dioclesian consists of various short works for
orchestra, vocalists, and chorus — vigorous dances,
pastoral episodes, instrumental interludes, serene solo
numbers, lively duets and ensembles, and large choral
outbursts. Of particular interest are the masques sung
by minor characters: gods and goddesses, shepherds, and
the like.
Purcell and librettist Thomas Betterton, who relied on
a Jacobean tragicomedy by John Fletcher and Philip
Massinger (which, in turn, was based on the life of the
third-century Roman emperor Diocletian), tell the story
of a Roman foot soldier who rises, through an unlikely
set of circumstances, all the way to the imperial
throne.
It’s an age-old struggle between love and duty.
Diocles comes to the attention of the prophetess
Delphia, who advises him that he will become emperor
when he has killed a great boar. When he slays a
soldier named Volutius Aper — whose name means Wild
Boar — he wins the hand of Delphia’s niece,
Drusilla. Once engaged, however, Diocles (now named
Dioclesian) decides he’d rather marry Aurelia, the
sister of the former emperor. Delphia, enraged,
unleashes storms, various spells, even a monster sent
down to upend the nuptials, whereupon a chastened
Dioclesian returns to the original plan and marries
Drusilla. The work concludes with lavish festivities in
honor of Love.
Purcell responded to the story with a wealth of music
— zesty hornpipes leading to boastful odes, a martial
song yielding to a diaphanous chaconne for flutes.
It’s probably just as well that we didn’t see the
score’s “Chair Dance” as it was originally
staged, yet the vocal numbers for fawns, bacchanals,
shepherds, and shepherdesses are beguiling. It’s all
amusingly over the top (several times during
Wednesday’s performance, I found myself wishing that
Mark Morris would make a dance for this score), and if
it lacks a measure of cohesion — characters tend to
pop up and just as quickly vanish
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell).
Although originally composed for Voices (SSATB) & Mixed
Chorus (SATB), Baroque Orchestra & Continuo), I created
this interpretation of "Still I'm wishing" from "The
History of Dioclesian" (Z.627 No. 11) for Winds (Flute,
Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
