Toronto Masque Theatre Presents: The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell 27-29 May 2016

From a media release:

Toronto Masque Theatre Presents:
The Fairy Queen
by Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Come, let us leave the Town
And in some lonely place,
Where Crowds and Noise were never known,
Resolve to spend our days.

27-29 May 2016, 8:00 pm
Special pre-show chat at 7:15 each night

The Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm Street, Toronto
Steps from the Dundas St. subway station

• Tickets


TORONTO - The Great Hall of the Arts & Letters Club is the magnificent location for Toronto Masque Theatre’s new interpretation of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. A popular entertainment in its day, this 17th-century masterpiece is re-imagined by director and choreographer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière who casts the themes of the work into a contemporary setting, creating a new scenario that follows the fate of a number of lost souls in search of love, happiness and meaning. Lacoursière uses the precision of baroque dance to explore the passion that informs and drives Purcell’s stunning music.

The Fairy Queen by Edward Landseer

The production will feature an all-star baroque ensemble, led from the violin by Artistic Director Larry Beckwith, a company of some of our finest singers and, from the Montreal-based Les Jardins Chorégraphiques, dancers Stéphanie Brochard and Lacoursière.

Based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Purcell wrote the music for The Fairy Queen in 1692. Although we don’t know for sure who the librettist is, it has often been speculated that it was the actor and impresario, Thomas Betterton.

Soprano Juliet Beckwith

Our new production features a seamless scenario that focuses on the brilliant musical numbers, allowing us to present the compositions Purcell created for the original and that rank among his very best, including some of his most familiar solo songs such as:

• If love’s a sweet passion;
• Hark, the echoing air;
• Night;
• Ye gentle spirits of the air,
• Now the night is chas’d away; and
• One charming night.

As well as fantastic ensemble numbers:

• Come, let us leave the town;
• the dialogue of Corydon and Mopsa; and
• the brilliant final trio.

The first performances of The Fairy Queen were so successful that the production was brought back in 1693. After those shows, and following Purcell’s untimely death two years later, the full score was for a long time considered lost. Although efforts were made to locate the score – including, apparently, several ads in London papers in the early 1700s offering rewards for its safe return – it wasn’t until 1900 that the score was fully recovered.

After this discovery, the score was included in the Purcell Society’s editions of his complete works and, throughout the 20thcentury, it emerged as one of Purcell’s most beloved pieces. With the advent of the early music revival in the 1960s and 70s the quality of the products improved immensely and there have been many fine recordings of The Fairy Queen by leading early music companies.

Any production of The Fairy Queen has to grapple with what to do with the spoken text.  Despite coming almost a century after the original, the text featured in The Fairy Queen is somewhat more convoluted and antiquated-sounding than Shakespeare’s original.  In addition, a full production, using all the spoken text, would last as long as six hours.

With this production, Artistic Director Larry Beckwith and Artistic Associate Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière have decided to focus on the music and the splendid dances that they believe form the emotional heart of the work.

Here's a taste of the music: