Henry Purcell’s only Opera proper Dido and Aeneas is a magnificent example of English Baroque music with lively dances and passionate aria sections that demonstrate Purcell’s masterful compositional and choral writing skill. Based on a libretto by Nahum Tate it was first performed in 1689 comprises three acts and lasts about an hour. Filled with dramatic lyricism with a wide range of musical and emotional content it is a monumental Baroque composition considered to be one of England’s foremost operatic works. Dido and Aeneas contains all the elements for a successful opera including a shipwreck sorcery love and lost love anddeath. This is the Vocal and Full Operatic Score edited by Margaret Laurie and Thurston Dart. With its interesting and imaginative realization and authentic editorial process this is an excellent edition that features some performing choices and variants and also includes the reconstructed prologue.

Trag?die en un prologue et cinq actes-The first version of ???Dardanus??? which was performed at the end of 1739 was composed apparently in only six months and marks a particularly productive phase in Rameau???s career. In a period of only six years five of his major works were performed at the Acad?mie Royale de Musique in Paris.The theme is taken from Greek mythology: the opera describes the war between Teucer (the future founder of Troy) his Phrygian people and the army of Dardanus.A milestone of French Baroque opera in a performance practice orientated vocal scoreWith a brief foreword (Fr/Eng) containing salient information on the genesis of the work the synopsis and the editionFull score (BA8854) and vocal score (BA8854-90) available for salePerformance material (BA8854-72) available for hire

An opera from 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi and edited by Denis Stevens. This setting of the story of Orpheus and Euridice is for full renaissance/baroque orchestra.

Oratorio in two parts Rome 1707. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. With his “La Bellezza ravveduta nel trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” (“Beauty Reformed in the Triumph of Time and Enlightenment”), HWV 46a, the 22-year-old Handel notched up one of his greatest successes in this genre right at the very beginning of his oratorio oeuvre. Composed in Rome in 1707, the work was for a long time known as “Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” (“The Triumph of Time and Enlightenment”). In keeping with the Halle Handel Edition, however, the title is that of the name given in the primary source. In many cases inspired by the melodically rich ideas of Reinhard Keiser (1674–1739), the work is unsurpassed by any other oratorio by Handel. At the end of an impressive sequence of truly captivating arias, duets and quartets, Bellezza’s reformation in favour of living a life pleasing to God is accompanied in incisive E major by her overwhelmingly beautiful, impossibly sad closing aria “Tu del ciel ministro eletto”, the consummate pinnacle of dramatic irony in Handel’s output. By virtue of its flawless dramatic structure as well – unlike many other oratorios and all operas of the Baroque period, the story never goes off at a tangent and all arias revolve around the dispute of the four dramatic personae – the oratorio has enjoyed long runs of widely acclaimed, mostly staged performances in the last few years./ Répertoire / Opéra