Purcell Choir & Orfeo Orchestra

This Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra concert promises to be a celebratory event from several aspects, with Henry Purcell and his music being the two celebrated elements. In spite of his short life, Purcell ranks as one of the greatest geniuses in music history, and St. Cecilia is considered the patron saint of music; in her honour, enthusiastic friends of the Musical Society of London organized annual celebrations on 22 November starting in 1683. Purcell composed several works for these festivities, the best-known being Hail, bright Cecilia (1692), otherwise known as Ode to Cecilia.

After the break there is a performance of the most famous English musical tragedy Dido and Aeneas, although it was created at a time when operas were far from tragic and true opera did not yet exist in England. In London during Purcell’s day, the semi-opera genre was most popular, in which the music was not closely tied to the plot (although it played an important role) and the main players were not singers but prose actors. Together with his immediate predecessor, John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Dido is a remarkable gem of the opera tradition stretching from Monteverdi to Mozart.