• Andrew Pinnock narrator
• Claire Tomlin soprano
• Daniel Auchincloss tenor
• Psalmody
• Essex Baroque Orchestra
• directed by Peter Holman

Henry Purcell’s score for The Prophetess, or The History of Dioclesian was a landmark in English musical history. First performed in May 1690, it was Henry Purcell’s first major work for the London theatre, beginning the series of spectacular operatic plays that was also to include The Fairy Queen and King Arthur.  It established him as England’s leading dramatic composer, and used a full Baroque orchestra in the theatre for the first time, with recorders, oboes, bassoon, trumpets, strings and continuo.  It is full of wonderful music, including the songs ‘What shall I do’ and ‘Sound, Fame, thy brazen trumpet’, the beautiful Chaconne ‘Two in one upon a ground’, and the elaborate Masque of Cupid and Bacchus in Act V, with its richly varied solos, vocal ensembles and orchestral passages. 

Dioclesian has been rather neglected in the modern Purcell revival, mainly because it is yoked to a creaky old Jacobean play about love, murder and intrigue in the late Roman empire that is unlikely to be revived in the modern theatre. In this complete performance of Purcell’s music, the various musical scenes are linked by a witty verse narrative, written and performed by Andrew Pinnock, Purcell scholar and Head of Music at the University of Southampton.  An evening not to be missed.