A Singer’s Guide to Purcell’s ‘King Arthur’
A Singer’s Guide to Purcell’s ‘King Arthur’
It’s been a while since I took a look at some of my favourite music, but I was reminded recently that Purcell’s incidental music to John Dryden’s play, ‘King Arthur, or the British Worthy’, has featured many times throughout my life, and I thought it might be interesting to investigate this extraordinary work in some detail.
John Dryden was appointed Poet Laureate by Charles II in 1668, and had a fine career as a writer, principally renowned as a satirist, although his reputation has waxed and waned considerably over the years, and he has never been universally popular. Having been the Laureate, he was nonetheless never a toady, and seems to have upset as many people as he pleased. The Glorious Revolution in 1688, when William and Mary replaced James II and VII, saw Dryden’s influence at court lessen, but his theatrical fame increased. Having lost royal favour, it was important to make some money, and the theatre in London offered an opportunity. Purcell too had suffered somewhat with the death of the arty Charles II in 1685, and in 1690 the theatre impresario, Thomas Betterton, engaged him to write the semi-opera, ‘Dioclesian’, an adaptation of a play by Beaumont and Fletcher. Purcell’s incidental music and the lavish production created a rousing success, and Betterton decided to ask Purcell to combine with Dryden to resurrect the playwright’s earlier, unsuccessful, work ‘King Arthur’.
By a very happy coincidence, my first two recordings with the English Concert, directed by Trevor Pinnock, on Deutsche Grammophon, were Purcell’s ‘Dioclesian’ and ‘King Arthur’, so I have first-hand knowledge of these two masterworks, performed by the finest early music ensemble in the world at the time. After the recordings, we played ‘King Arthur’ in the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Albert Hall in London (a BBC Prom) and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in Argentina. What experiences those were!
1691 saw the first performances of ‘King Arthur’ at the Queen’s Theatre in London, and it appears that it was a financial success. Described by Dryden as a ‘Dramatick’ Opera, it is no such thing, but fascinating nonetheless. None of the main protagonists sings, and the story has nothing to do with Camelot, Excalibur or the Knights of the Round Table. Rather it is a story of plucky Britons fighting off the evil Saxons who are bent on domination. Much of the plot rests on the abduction of the blind princess Emmeline by the pagan Saxon, Oswald. Emmeline is in love with the British king Arthur, but Oswald steals her away, using the bad magic of his wizard Osmond, assisted by a malevolent spirit, Grimbald. Arthur is assisted by Merlin, and the good spirit, Philadell. There are strong parallels with ‘The Tempest’, and scenes in magic forests with alluring temptresses. All the music in the 3rd Act consists of a masque conjured up by Osmond, who has drugged his master Oswald and wants Emmeline for himself. This masque, the centrepiece of Purcell’s incidental music, is Osmond’s sneaky ploy to win the princess for himself, and shows how, in a land frozen and covered in snow, Cupid wakes the spirit of Frost from his slumbers and, with true love, melts the snow and the hearts of the frozen people.
More battles and magic follow, but Emmeline is rescued, given back her sight and is united with Arthur, who sends the grim Saxons back to Germany. The final act is a celebration of all things good and British, and in particular, our coasts and our traditions. With a final song to St George, the audience is sent home with a warm glow of satisfaction to be living in such a wonderful island, an island where the Britons “brook no Foreign Power, to lord it in a land, Sacred to Freedom!” Familiar words?
I have never seen a full production of Dryden’s ‘King Arthur’ with all the dialogue and the music. It would be a long evening. Trevor Pinnock’s solution was to play the music with a dramatic narration, declaimed by a famous actor. I think we had the fabulous Michael Pennington for the Prom!
My first experience of Purcell’s King Arthur was at school in 1968. I was in Senior 2 and still a boy soprano when we performed the piece, but I still remember the excitement of the first scene, where the Saxons are sacrificing animals to the Norse gods of Woden and Thor, ending with the sacrifice of a cow of Friesland breed to Woden’s wife and to Thor’s mother. The extraordinary Frost Scene remains in the mind from that time too, and we played it several times in the USA, where the George Watson’s Choir and Orchestra toured in the summer of 1968, totally oblivious to the Chicago Democratic Convention riots and all the anti-Vietnam War protests.
My first experience of singing the bass solos was in the late 1970s, when I was invited to sing in a series of concerts around the city of Le Mans in northern France, with a French choir who sang the words of John Dryden in, shall we say, an idiosyncratic way! It was also one of the first times I sang with a countertenor and was certainly the first time many in the audience had heard such a voice. The sight of an entire church nave, filled with civic dignitaries, with shoulders shaking and giggles suppressed, was one I shall never forget!
Little did I know that just 12 years later, I would be recording the bass solos of the Cold Genius and Aolus, the God of Wind, in Henry Wood Hall, alongside the likes of Nancy Argenta, Jamie MacDougall and Gerald Finley, on perhaps the most prestigious recording label in the world.
Those two gentlemen were heard at the beginning of the disc, singing the sacrificial prayers to the Saxon gods I mentioned earlier. Nancy followed these oblations with an ethereal solo thanking the brave Saxon soldiers in advance for their heroic deeds in battle, and the chorus takes up the strain, promising eternal life in Valhalla to the brave warriors. Dryden’s muse occasionally deserted him, and we hear lines like; ‘fame acquiring by expiring’ and ‘honour prizing, death despising.’ It’s not Shakespeare, alas!
The Saxons are undone by their own hubris however, and the last numbers of the first act see the plucky Brits defeat the invaders. Starting with ‘Come if you dare’, the British tenor rallies his troops, and the Saxons are crushed and sent packing. This aria with chorus is a thrilling example of the new music Purcell was writing, with the tenor voice combining with steely trumpets to save the day for the Britons and Arthur. The composer’s early death in 1695 at the age of only 36 has robbed posterity of some amazing music. Like Mozart a hundred years later, we are left to ponder what might have been composed by this young genius.
In Act 2, the Britons are pursuing the fleeing Saxons, but Oswald’s malevolent spirit, Grimbald, is endlessly trying to lead the Britons astray. Fortunately, they have a better spirit, Philadell, who can outfox the ‘Malicious Fiend!’ We discover blind Emmeline being entertained by theatrical shepherds and shepherdesses in the beautiful tenor solo, ‘How blest are shepherds, how happy their lasses’, but their revelry is interrupted by Grimbald who, spurred on by Oswald’s magician, Osmond, captures Emmeline and abducts her.
A long period without music follows. The Britons pursue Oswald, Osmond and Grimbald but Osmond plants an impenetrable magic wood around Oswald’s camp. Philadell and Arthur manage to reach Emmeline, and indeed cure her blindness, but Osmond, who has now usurped his master, is too strong, and the Britons retreat.
In an endeavour to woo Emmeline herself, Osmond puts on an elaborate masque for her entertainment, as she, revolted by his appearance, is frozen in horror. The masque represents a frozen land ruled by the Cold Genius (bass/me) who eventually has his heart melted by love in the form of Cupid (in our recording, the divine Nancy Argenta). All the frozen people come to life as the Cold Genius and Cupid sing a warm duet, ‘Sound a parley, ye fair, and surrender!’
Purcell’s own genius comes to the fore here, in one of the most extraordinary arias ever written, in which the strings and the singer are instructed to play and sing with a quavering sound on each note. This instruction has been interpreted many ways over the years, but Trevor Pinnock and I decided to do a trill on each note, creating an eerie frosty feel to the sound. I think it works brilliantly, and the whole scene is quite magical. Emmeline remains unmoved.
Act 4 has little music, as Merlin brings Arthur to the Magic Wood, where he attempts to reach Emmeline again. He is accosted by two seductive sirens, who rise out of a stream and tempt him in a languid duet. This is astonishing text and music for 1691 – “Two daughters of this aged stream are we/ Come bathe with us an hour or two/ Come naked in, for we are so, What danger from a naked foe/ We’ll beat the waters till they bound and circle round” It’s very sexy and dangerous, and brilliantly composed, but Arthur remains resolute in the face of such temptation. Next he is assailed by nymphs and sylvans who try to lull him with their happy rural charms away from the safe path. This is a lovely sequence of solos, choruses and duets – “How happy the lover, how easy his chain, how sweet to discover he sighs not in vain” - but even these homely pleasures cannot distract the king from his task. A lengthy section without music finally sees the capture of the evil Grimbald, as the spell is broken!
Act 5 opens as Arthur captures Oswald’s castle. The Saxon leader challenges Arthur to single combat as a final attempt, but Arthur is, obviously, victorious. A Trumpet Tune rings out his triumph, as he is reunited with Emmeline, Osmond is carted away to the dungeons, and Oswald is forced to watch (like a Royal Variety Performance) a masque celebrating Britain’s splendours both magnificent and homely. The God Aeolus (my other role) calms a mighty storm and presides over calm seas abundant with fish. This is a terrific aria, firstly full of bluster rising to a top G and descending to a bottom G in a couple of bars, and then, to the words “Serene and Calm, and void of fear, the Queen of Islands must appear,” the bass gets to sing a delightful calming scena, using a honeyed head voice to dispel any residual breezes.
The masque continues with an evocation of the natural wealth of Britain, extolling its fishing, its agriculture and its sheep farming in duets and trios, climaxing in a bucolic folk song, complete with drunken farmers, led by the God of Festivity, Revelry and Nocturnal Dalliances, Comus, in full ‘Wurzel Gummidge’ mode. In a juxtaposition of genius by Dryden and Purcell, this wild revelry is silenced as Venus appears and sings one of the finest songs to emerge from the 17th century in ‘Fairest Isle’, a glorious soprano air, sung on our recording to perfection by Nancy Argenta. It was a privilege each night on tour with the English Concert to listen to the exquisite singing of this lovely Canadian soprano, who I was delighted to find, twenty years after the recording, living and teaching in Victoria on Vancouver Island, where I sang several times with the wonderful Pacific Opera Victoria.
A discourse on love follows between a man and a woman, trumpets sound, and a paean to St George is sung by another soprano, as our wondrous island basks in all its glory, soon to be united under one king and queen newly arrived from Holland!
Thus ends this extraordinary work, on a very positive note, using the triumph of the native population over marauding foreigners in the Dark Ages as a model for the relaxed new regime of the House of Orange, which of course will soon lead on to the succession of the Hanoverians in the form of George I in 1714. Ironically, Hannover is in Lower Saxony!!
Although a paean to our island home, ‘King Arthur,’ is a very English work. The crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603, and 16 years after the premiere of ‘King Arthur’, the two Parliaments joined, but all the flag waving and self-praise of the text reflects a purely English sensibility, with Scotland nowhere to be seen. Indeed the great rebellions of the ‘15 and the ‘45 were sparked by Jacobites in the north, completely at odds with Dryden’s vision of Britannia.
Nonetheless, ‘King Arthur’ is a ground breaking work in many ways, and I am proud to have been part of its recorded history. The original recording with the English Concert, directed by Trevor Pinnock, can be found on Spotify and YouTube. Enjoy!
My annual Edinburgh Fringe opera concert this year, at the New Town Church, with Emma Morwood, Catherine Backhouse and Magnus Walker, with Michał Gajzler, at 1430 on Saturday 16th August, will feature several excerpts from ‘King Arthur’.
