Hymen

Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play not frequently performed in the late 17th century, nor very well regarded (“the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life” – Samuel Pepys’ diary, 1662). Despite this, the play would go on to work well within an opera, as the characters of Pyramus and Thisbe could conjure up singing and dancing accomplices. Purcell’s masterful composition, Gabrieli’s first-class performance, and McCreesh’s superb interpretation demonstrate why their recordings are seen as some of the best in classical music today.

Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play not frequently performed in the late 17th century, nor very well regarded (“the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life” - Samuel Pepys’ diary, 1662).

With Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, György Vashegyi – along with his Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir – makes a further dazzling addition to their Glossa series of French dramatic masterpieces from the Baroque, and in the company of a luxurious line-up of vocal soloists.

With Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, György Vashegyi – along with his Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir – makes a further dazzling addition to their Glossa series of French dramatic masterpieces from the Baroque and in the company of a luxurious line-up of vocal soloists.

Nearly a century after its composition, Lully's Persee was recreated in 1770 to mark an exceptional event: the inauguration of the Royal Opera House at Versailles Palace, built to celebrate the wedding of the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette. For this unique occasion, three composers (Antoine Dauvergne, Fran?ois Rebel and Bernard de Bury) were commissioned to revise Lully's work and adapt it to the new circumstances and the new venue, which was regarded as absolutely extraordinary in its time.

The year 1979 saw the death of one of the leading players in the ‘Baroque’ revolution, undoubtedly the most famous countertenor of the twentieth century. Alfred Deller had even achieved the supreme tour de force of convincing us that, three centuries earlier, Purcell had composed his songs for him! With him the public of the 1960s and 1970s discovered not only an absolutely inimitable timbre, but also the delights of a repertory that had been slumbering in libraries until then. Forty years after his death, thanks to the meticulous process of remastering harmonia mundi has carried out on the original tapes, Alfred Deller’s art seems more alive than ever!

A masterpiece of the ‘semi-opera’. In 1692, on the strength of the immense success of Dido & Aeneas and King Arthur, Purcell went on to produce The Fairy Queen, based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer-Night’s Dream.

This is Atys, the royal opera, Lully's masterpiece, which was first performed before the court in 1676.

This is Atys, the King's Opera, Lully’s masterpiece, premièred in 1676 before the court. A legendary work in the rediscovery of Grand-Siècle operas, Atys is a paragon of emerging lyric art: it places love at the centre of the plot, and its hero – for the first time in Lully's work – dies on stage, provoking a sumptuous lamentation that could wring tears from the most hardened heart. Lully’s incredible music magnifies Philippe Quinault’s splendid tragic text, creating their first joint masterpiece, an Atys adored by the Sun King. Christophe Rousset offers his vision of a piece that has fascinated him for the past three decades, lending it the sensual colour imbued by the Reinoud Van Mechelen's performance, a miraculous Atys…

En faisant représenter son opéra Alcione en 1706, Marin Marais livrait la dernière grande « tragédie en musique » du règne finissant de Louis XIV. Composé comme il se devait à la gloire du souverain, le chef-d’œuvre de Marais combinait à merveille le livret d’Antoine Houdar de la Motte, la danse, la mythologie, le chant et l’action scénique.