Henry Purcell Essay

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Henry Purcell was a prominent English composer of the late seventeenth century who was known for his culmination of French and Italian techniques to create a distinctly English form of baroque music. As one of the greatest English composers, he composed many great songs, and most notably the miniature opera Dido and Aeneas. This piece was his only true opera, but marked a transition in his career towards writing music for theatre. The main plot of the opera depicts the tragic love story between Dido, Queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, the Trojan War hero. As the Houston Purcell group, we should take notes from two very different performances and interpretations of this work to replicate in our own production. The Mark Morris Dance Group put on …show more content…
At the Houston Purcell group, I think we should try to emulate the Richard Hickox version in our production over the other one. The Mark Morris production, while unique in its production, is more difficult for an audience to follow. The use of dance as the main medium of expression throughout leaves many aspects of the opera unclear or under expressed. It’s difficult to differentiate between the characters as they are all dressed similarly and the actual singers are offstage in the pit. The Hickox version is much more theatrical and easy to follow. The costume design is elaborate and clearly shows which characters are which. The use of large scale sets also helps to clarify the plot of the opera. The use of props also adds to the clarity of the performance. The music for both works is Purcell’s original score. The first version was very much modernized as a contemporary dance piece while the other stayed truer to the original production. It’s much easier to witness the characters interact in the Hickox than the Morris where small facial expressions and gestures do not always come across as clear as regular interactions. If we use more of the aspects of the Hickox work, our production will draw in a larger audience and it will be easier for a less educated audience to interpret as it is much more straightforward to
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