Purcell opera next week

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32977, 25 July 1972, Page 10

Purcell opera next week

Purcell’s “The FairyQueen,” produced by the visiting Royal Academy of Music lecturer, April Cantelo, with the entire staff and students of the music department of the University of Canterbury, contains a variety of music, song, dance, and amusing dialogue.

The opera will be performed on August 3,4, and 5. The opera is one of seven similar works by Purcell, most of which are not well known. “The Fairy Queen” was first performed in 1692, but after its second season, the score for the opera apparently disappeared. Although it was the most elaborate score of the leading composer of the day, and its performances were extremely popular, “The Fairy Queen” was not found until the beginning of the present century, when it appeared mysteriously in the library of the Royal Academy of Music. Although referred to as an opera, “The Fairy Queen” was written as a sumptuous entertainment, based on a rewritten version of Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In its original form, it takes about five hours to perform, but for the School of Music production Miss Cantelo has adapted the score to a basically musical form, lasting about one hour and a half. She has included the dramatic plot (which will be presented by members of the University Drama Society) covering the Oberon-Titania-Indian boy conflict, the roles of Puck and Bottom, and the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Most of the music is contained in five detachable masques, which are musical interludes involving song, dance, and sometimes spectacle. The singers have been cast so that as many as possible may take part, and so that no individual has a major sustaining role. There are 13 soloists, but for those who do not wish to give a solo performance, there is an offstage choir, an onstage choir, and an

acting chorus, as well as the University Chamber Orchestra—conducted by Professor John Ritchie — to choose from.