Semi-opera

As a semi - opera (English semi -opera, from the Latin semi - semi and opera, see opus - work, work ) refers to the special form of the English Baroque Opera, linked in the spoken drama with sung, danced and instrumental musical scenes will. There are parallels to the French vaudeville.

The semi - opera emerged from the incidental music and the Masque. It had its heyday after the Stuart Restoration in England (1660 ). Her first big funding was Thomas Betterton (long -term director of the London theater system). He wrote, among other things, the libretto for Henry Purcell's First Semi- Opera " Dioclesian ", which was originally a pure spectacle. A first example of the semi-opera is the first version of The Enchanted Iceland based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, the libretto by Thomas Shadwell originated. The music of this work comes from several composers: Matthew Locke wrote the instrumental music that preceded each act; Giovanni Baptista Draghi wrote the dances; Pelham Humfrey, Pietro Reggio and James Hart wrote the vocal music. Many semi - operas were repeatedly put to music, such as The Enchanted Iceland and The Indian Queen. Henry Purcell wrote the music for five Semi- Operas:

• Dioclesian
• King Arthur
• The Fairy Queen
• Timon of Athens
• The Indian Queen

Purcell has long been attributed to a version of The Enchanted Iceland, but now has been proven that it only a sentence ( "Dear pretty youth " ) contributed. It is assumed that a student Purcell wrote the music rest.

With Purcell's early death, the glorious era of the English musical theater was coming to an end, and although many well-known English composers such as Purcell's brother Daniel and Jeremiah Clarke with works like "The Iceland Princess ' tried to stop the destruction, they did not succeed. The dominant Italian opera and its patron in England, Georg Friedrich Händel, displaced the once glorious British music theater for a long time.