Semi-opera
Encyclopedia
The terms Semi-opera, dramatic[k] opera and English opera were all applied to Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...

-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included machines in the manner of the restoration spectacular
Restoration spectacular
The Restoration spectacular, or elaborately staged "machine play", hit the London public stage in the late 17th-century Restoration period, enthralling audiences with action, music, dance, moveable scenery, baroque illusionistic painting, gorgeous costumes, and special effects such as trapdoor...

. The first examples were the Shakespeare adaptations produced by Thomas Betterton
Thomas Betterton
Thomas Patrick Betterton , English actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London.-Apprentice and actor:...

 with music by Matthew Locke
Matthew Locke (composer)
Matthew Locke was an English Baroque composer and music theorist.-Biography:As a boy, Locke was trained in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons...

. After Locke's death a second flowering produced the semi-operas of Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...

, notably King Arthur
King Arthur (opera)
King Arthur or, The British Worthy , is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and alibretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691....

and The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen is a masque or semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's wedding comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. First performed in 1692, The Fairy-Queen was composed three years before Purcell's death at the age...

. Semi-opera received a deathblow when the Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....

 separately licensed plays without music and the new Italian opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

.

Semi-operas were performed with singing, speaking and dancing roles. When music was written, it was usually for moments in the play immediately following either love scenes or those concerning the supernatural.

It has been observed that several of Calderón
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...

's comedias with music by Juan Hidalgo de Polanco are closer to semi-opera than to the pastoral Zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...

.

List of English semi-operas

  • Macbeth (1673) libretto by William Davenant
    William Davenant
    Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...

     after Shakespeare's Macbeth
    Macbeth
    The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

    ; music by Matthew Locke
    Matthew Locke (composer)
    Matthew Locke was an English Baroque composer and music theorist.-Biography:As a boy, Locke was trained in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons...

  • The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island (1674) libretto by Thomas Shadwell
    Thomas Shadwell
    Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...

     after John Dryden
    John Dryden
    John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...

     and William Davenant's adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest
    The Tempest
    The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...

    ; music by Matthew Locke, Giovanni Battista Draghi
    Giovanni Battista Draghi (composer)
    Giovanni Battista Draghi was an Italian composer and keyboard player. He may have been the brother of the composer Antonio Draghi....

     and Pelham Humfrey
    Pelham Humfrey
    Pelham Humfrey was the first to prominence of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration....

  • Calisto, or The Chaste Nymph (1675) libretto by John Crowne
    John Crowne
    John Crowne was a British dramatist and a native of Nova Scotia.His father "Colonel" William Crowne, accompanied the earl of Arundel on a diplomatic mission to Vienna in 1637, and wrote an account of his journey...

    ; music by Nathaniel Staggins
  • Psyche
    Psyche (Locke)
    Psyche is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Matthew Locke to a libretto by Thomas Shadwell with dances by Giovanni Battista Draghi. It was first performed at Dorset Garden Theatre, London on 27 February, 1675 by the Duke's Company with choreography the French dancing-master Saint-André. Stage...

    (1675) libretto by Thomas Shadwell; music by Matthew Locke
  • Circe (1677) libretto by Charles Davenant; music by John Banister
    John Banister (composer)
    John Banister was an English musical composer and violinist.-Early life:Banister was the son of one of the waits of the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and that profession he at first followed...

  • The Lancashire Witches and Tegue O'Divelly the Irish Priest (1681) libretto by Thomas Shadwell; music by John Eccles
  • Albion and Albanius
    Albion and Albanius
    Albion and Albanius is an opera, closely resembling a French tragédie en musique, by Louis Grabu with an English text by John Dryden.The words were written by Dryden in 1680...

    (1685) libretto by John Dryden; music by Louis Grabu
    Louis Grabu
    Louis Grabu, Grabut, Grabue, or Grebus was a Catalan-born, French-trained composer and violinist who was mainly active in England....

  • Dioclesian
    Dioclesian
    Dioclesian is a tragicomic semi-opera in five acts by Henry Purcell to a libretto by Thomas Betterton based on the play The Prophetess, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, which in turn was based very loosely on the life of the Emperor Diocletian. It was premiered in late May 1690 at the...

    (1690) libretto by Thomas Betterton
    Thomas Betterton
    Thomas Patrick Betterton , English actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London.-Apprentice and actor:...

     after the play The Prophetess, by John Fletcher
    John Fletcher (playwright)
    John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...

     and Philip Massinger
    Philip Massinger
    Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....

    ; music by Henry Purcell
    Henry Purcell
    Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...

  • King Arthur
    King Arthur
    King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

    (1691) libretto by John Dryden; music by Henry Purcell
  • The Fairy Queen (1692) libretto by an anonymous author after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream
    A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

    ; music by Henry Purcell
  • Macbeth (1695) libretto by William Davenant
    William Davenant
    Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...

     after Shakespeare's Macbeth
    Macbeth
    The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

    ; music by John Eccles and Godfrey Finger
  • The Indian Queen
    The Indian Queen (opera)
    The Indian Queen , is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in 1695. The exact date is unknown but Peter Holman surmises it may have been performed in June, without the Masque in Act 5, which had to be completed after...

    (1695) libretto adapted version of the play by Sir Robert Howard
    Robert Howard (playwright)
    Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician, born to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Elizabeth.-Life:...

     and John Dryden; music by Henry Purcell
  • Brutus of Alba (1696) anonymous libretto; music by Daniel Purcell
    Daniel Purcell
    Daniel Purcell was an English composer, the younger brother of Henry Purcell.As a teenager, Daniel Purcell joined the choir of the Chapel Royal, and in his mid-twenties he became organist of Magdalen College, Oxford. He began to compose while at Oxford, but in 1695 he moved to London to compose...

  • Cinthia and Endimion, or The Loves of the Deities (1696) libretto by Thomas Durfey; music by Daniel Purcell, Richard Leveridge
    Richard Leveridge
    Richard Leveridge was an English bass singer of the London stage and a composer of baroque music, including many popular songs....

    , Jeremiah Clarke, Henry Purcell and David Underwood
  • The World in the Moon (1697) libretto by Elkanah Settle
    Elkanah Settle
    Elkanah Settle was an English poet and playwright.He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, Cambyses, King of Persia, was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667...

    ; music by Daniel Purcell, Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell
  • Rinaldo and Armida (1698) libretto by John Dennis; music by John Eccles
  • The Island Princess (1699) libretto by Peter Motteux, adapted from plays by John Fletcher and Nahum Tate; music by Daniel Purcell, Richard Leveridge and Jeremiah Clarke
  • The Grove, or Love's Paradise (1700) libretto by John Oldmixon
    John Oldmixon
    John Oldmixon was an English historian.He was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. His first writings were poetry and dramas, among them being Amores Britannici; Epistles historical and gallant ; and a tragedy, The Governor of Cyprus...

    ; music by Daniel Purcell
  • The Mad Lover (1700) libretto by Peter Motteux after the play by John Fletcher; music by John Eccles and Daniel Purcell
  • Alexander the Great (1701) anonymous libretto after The Rival Queens by Nathaniel Lee
    Nathaniel Lee
    Nathaniel Lee was an English dramatist.He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth...

    ; music by Godfrey Finger and Daniel Purcell
  • The Virgin Prophetess, or The Fate of Troy (1701) libretto by Elkanah Settle; music by Godfrey Finger
  • The British Enchanters, or No Magic Like Love (1706) libretto by George Granville, Lord Lansdowne; music by John Eccles, Bartholomew Issack and William Corbett
  • Wonders in the Sun, or The Kingdom of the Birds (1706) libretto by Thomas Durfey; music by John Smith, Samuel Akeroyde, John Eccles, Giovanni Battista Draghi, Lully
    Jean-Baptiste Lully
    Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

     and Durfey
  • The Tempest (1712) libretto adapted by Thomas Shadwell from the Dryden-Davenant version of Shakespeare's play; music possibly by John Weldon
    John Weldon (musician)
    John Weldon was an English composer.Born at Chichester in the south of England, he was educated at Eton, where he was a chorister, and later received musical instruction from Henry Purcell...

    (long attributed to Henry Purcell)
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