Artaxerxes: the opera that time forgot
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/oct/22/artaxerxes-thomas-arne-linbury-studios
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Thomas Arne was the star of English composition in the 18th century, but within a few decades he had been all but forgotten. Now one of his greatest works, Artaxerxes, is being revived.
Arne's greatest music dates from the early 1760s. Charlotte is reckoned to be its inspiration, though it is also possible that Handel's death in 1759 absolved Arne of his psychological need to adopt an oppositional stance to his rival. From this point onwards, he allowed himself to gravitate towards Handelian form. Artaxerxes, meanwhile, was an attempt – unique in musical history – to write an Italian tragic opera in English.
Artaxerxes, familiar from concert performances and on disc, receives its first staging for more than a century when the Classical Opera Company present it at the Royal Opera House later this month. Arne lived and worked in Covent Garden for most of his life, and the opera's effective homecoming seems curiously apt.
Artaxerxes is at the Linbury Studios, Royal Opera House, London from 30 October. Box office: 020-7304 4000.
Arne's greatest music dates from the early 1760s. Charlotte is reckoned to be its inspiration, though it is also possible that Handel's death in 1759 absolved Arne of his psychological need to adopt an oppositional stance to his rival. From this point onwards, he allowed himself to gravitate towards Handelian form. Artaxerxes, meanwhile, was an attempt – unique in musical history – to write an Italian tragic opera in English.
Artaxerxes, familiar from concert performances and on disc, receives its first staging for more than a century when the Classical Opera Company present it at the Royal Opera House later this month. Arne lived and worked in Covent Garden for most of his life, and the opera's effective homecoming seems curiously apt.
Artaxerxes is at the Linbury Studios, Royal Opera House, London from 30 October. Box office: 020-7304 4000.
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- Classical Music
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- Culture, Classical, Classical Music, Opera
