As part of the internationally regarded Purcell Society Edition, the Purcell Society Companion Series presents in modern critical texts – and in many cases for the first time – a varied repertoire of hitherto largely inaccessible work by the composer’s contemporaries, which will both illuminate his own achievement and further our understanding of this flourishing yet complex period of theatrical activity as a whole.
Albion and Albanius is among the first operas in English, written to a libretto by John Dryden, and produced at the Dorset Garden Theatre, London, on 3 June 1685. Composed by the erstwhile Master of the King's Musick to Charles II, the score is of particular interest as representing the French style of Lully, unusual in English music at the time, and is in striking contrast to the score for Dryden's sequel to the work, King Arthur, with music by Purcell.
Hardback
