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It is a masque or semi-opera
by Henry Purcell. It was first performed on May 2, 1692 at
Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden in London. It was composed for
the United Company of the Theatre Royal. The libretto comes from
an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's comic play A
Midsummer Night's Dream. The English tradition of semi-opera, to
which The Fairy-Queen belongs, demanded that music be only
introduced in scenes concerning love or the supernatural;
therefore Purcell has the Fairies introduce all the masques and
scenes provided with music.
Written as he approached the end of his brief career, The
Fairy-Queen contains some of Purcell's finest theatre music, as
musicologists have agreed for generations. |
