The Serpent Queen

A new biography of Catherine de' Medici, the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, whose author uses neglected primary sources to recreate the life and times of a remarkable – and remarkably traduced – woman.

With The Fairy Queen, Sébastien d’Hérin and Les Nouveaux Caractères set down on record their musical vision of one of Henry Purcell’s most compelling dramatic works. The 1692/1693 work dates from around half a century before two other Baroque scores which Les Nouveaux Caractères has tackled recently and received significant critical approval: Leclair’s Scylla et Glaucus and Rameau’s Les Surprises de l’Amour (the latter, like The Fairy Queen, appearing on Glossa).