In November 2009 we have celebrated the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell with a double-bill of 17th century operas – John Blow’s Venus & Adonis, the earliest surviving British opera, together with the first English operatic masterpiece, Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, written a few years later.
"[...] For a semi-pro venture, Hampstead Garden Opera is surprisingly good, ambitious and innovative; and its autumn show, staged as usual at the Gatehouse, Highgate, was a double bill that paired Purcell's Dido (which everyone does) with John Blow's exactly contemporary Venus and Adonis (which almost no one does). And hearing them back to back made me wonder why this coupling isn't standard [...] The two pieces make a broadly convenient fit in style and story. Both are about abruptly terminated love. Both leave a woman on the stage alone, without her man [...] And this production drew them even closer by superimposing a modern-day narrative that played one as a sequel to the other [...] There were commendable performances from Lucy de Butts in the double role of Cupid/Belinda, Christina Petrou as Venus, Rebecca Henning and Taylor Ott as a pair of decidedly perky witches, and above all from Helen Bailey as a warm and secure Dido who delivered her lament in an interesting way: not as grand tragedy but as the pale, exhausted monologue of someone numbed by grief. And why not? In this production it was, after all, her second time unlucky." – Michael White for Catholic Herald. Read the full review
"[...] Audience reaction suggested my absorbed pleasure throughout the evening as widely shared. The productions generated consistent audience involvement with immediately believable characters, far from the idealized classical figures so often portrayed. [...] Musical and dramatic standards were impressive. They amply met what must have been substantial demands from the conductor (Oliver-John Ruthven) and producer/director. Lucy Roberts (Venus), Henry Deacon (Adonis), Anna Whyte (Cupid/Belinda), Emma Watkinson (Dido) and Ashley Riches (Aeneas) had most chance to shine, and took it fully, but all other cast members also gave exemplary performances. The Dionysus Ensemble (just six musicians this time) played with great feeling and understanding." – Ed Gordon for BUZZ. Read the full review
Venus & Adonis was composed for the Court of King Charles II, and, as stated in the Libretto, ‘perform’d before the King. Afterwards at Mr Josias Priest’s Boarding School at Chelsey by Young Gentlewomen’. The première was given at some point between 1681 and 1683, the school performance in April 1684. The role of Venus was first performed by one of the King’s ex-mistresses, Moll Davies, and Cupid was sung by her 8-10 year old daughter, Lady Mary Tudor, who, if she did justice to the role, must have been a precocious moppet.
A work of immense charm and beauty, it is most unusual for its time in three respects. First, the prologue, far from eulogizing the royal family as would be expected, blatantly satirises the infidelity prevalent at the time in court circles. Secondly, the main character in the prologue, Cupid, also plays a major role in the main opera. Thirdly, it ends tragically with the death of Adonis, when a royal audience would normally expect to be sent home smiling.
Blow’s work served as a model for his friend and pupil Purcell’s much better-known work, which was actually written for, as well as first performed at, Mr. Josias Priest’s School. This is but one of many links between the two operas. Purcell probably played in Blow’s orchestra. Both works are based on classical legends. Both end tragically (in the same key). Cupid launches Venus & Adonis, and is invited to close Dido & Aeneas by scattering roses on Dido’s tomb. Both contrive to tell their story with admirable concision and wit. The hunt plays a significant role in both works. Above all, both protagonists, Venus and Dido, are women of power and authority who lose their lovers (in different ways) to the consequences of a hunt. But there are differences too, and Purcell has the trump card – Dido’s famous lament, which precedes her death, ‘justly regarded’, as Sir Jack Westrup wrote, ‘as one of the great things in music’ – monumentally grand yet utterly simple, a world of grief expressed within a few plangent bars.
The stories of both operas are simple. Venus & Adonis tells the Arcadian tale of the fatal attraction between the goddess Venus and the young shepherd, Adonis (as told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses). Cupid’s dangerous arrows are echoed by the hazards of hunting. Adonis is too infatuated to go hunting – he has already caught the noblest prey. But Venus insists: parting will rekindle his desire. Alas! He returns from the hunt mortally wounded by a boar. Venus bemoans her immortality and mourns her loss
Dido & Aeneas, with a libretto by Nahum Tate, is based loosely on Virgil’s story of the journey of Aeneas, exiled hero of the Trojan war, to found a new Troy in Italy. After many years of wandering, he and his followers have arrived in North Africa, where Dido, Queen of Carthage, has fallen in love with her royal visitor. Aeneas is torn by his love for Dido and the fate to which he is called by the gods. A sorceress with her troupe is intent on bringing mischief on Carthage, and on bringing about the departure of Aeneas and the downfall of Dido. She spoils their hunt with a storm, and in the guise of a Spirit brings a message from Jove that Aeneas must leave that night. Aeneas at first bows to his destiny, but then resolves to stay with Dido. But he has convinced Dido that he is not true to her, and she resolves equally to send him away, and to assuage her grief in death.
| Roles | Cast A 19, 21, 27 & 29 November 2009 (subject to change) |
Cast B 20, 22, 26 & 28 November 2009 (subject to change) |
| Venus |
Lucy Roberts | Christina Petrou |
| Adonis |
Henry Deacon | Samuel Queen |
| Cupid |
Anna Whyte | Lucy de Butts |
| Shepherdess |
Katy Powis | Pippa Woodrow |
| 1st Shepherd/2nd Huntsman |
Jonathan Crowhurst | Jonathan Crowhurst |
| 2nd Shepherd |
Kris Bowtell | Matt Jelf |
| 3rd Shepherd/1st Huntsman |
Emily Phillips | Helena Daffern |
| 3rd Huntsman |
Stephen Wilmot | Nigel Gee |
| Little Cupid |
Ben Noar | Ben Noar |
| Dido |
Emma Watkinson | Helen Bailey |
| Belinda |
Anna Whyte | Lucy de Butts |
| Aeneas |
Ashley Riches | James Gilbert |
| Sorceress |
Rosie Middleton | Fiona Mackay |
| 1st Woman/1st Witch |
Emilia Pountney | Rebecca Henning |
| 2nd Woman/2nd Witch |
Hannah Mayhew | Taylor Ott |
| Spirit |
Emily Phillips(*) | Helena Daffern |
| Sailor |
Jonathan Crowhurst | Jonathan Crowhurst |
| * Cover for Cupid/Belinda | ||
| Production Team: | ||
| Production director | James Hurley | |
| Music director | Oliver-John Ruthven | |
| Set and lighting designer | Rob Mills | |
| Costumes | Madeleine Millar | |
| Stage manager | Laura Duncan | |
| Répétiteurs | Stuart Hancock, Suzy Ruffles, Nico de Villiers, Maki Yoneta | |
| Orchestra | The Dionysus Ensemble |
