Ewald Palmetshofer

In a time long ago: the Britons and the Saxons are arming themselves for the final battle. Soon the men of young King Arthur and the warriors of the Saxon king Oswald will face each other in combat to decide who rules the island. Rumours circulate among Arthur’s men about the Saxons’ strange rituals, a dark cult of worship to their Nordic god, about spirits and a cunning magician. If the great magician Merlin was not one of Arthur’s close confidants, the Britons’ situation would appear hopeless. When Arthur’s lover, the blind Emmeline, is kidnapped by the Saxon king, a chase begins through enchanted forests and moors populated by airborne and earth-dwelling spirits, nymphs and fauns. Lost in a shadowy world between dream and reality, Arthur not only has to win back Emmeline, he must also keep alive the hope that peace is possible on the island. Because neither the Britons nor the Saxons can predict whether weapons, magic, trickery or reason will have the final say. And what will be left once the final spell has been spoken, the last sword broken and the final song has died away?

Purcell and Dryden’s semi-opera, which received its world premiere in London in 1691, combines acting, singing, music and dance in a single artistic experience embracing all the performing arts. The semi-opera genre is a delicate hybrid form, a play with music in which – unlike classical opera – the plot is carried forward by actor in speaking roles. Purcell placed a glorious baroque sound world alongside Dryden’s play that was freely based on an early version of the Arthurian legend. Apart from the best known aria from King Arthur, the Cold Song, Purcell’s rich musical cosmos is ripe for discovery as an integrated part of a fairy-tale narrative about the desire for a world that is at peace.