King Arthur, or The British Worthy (Z. 628), is a semi-opera in five acts with music by Henry Purcell and a libretto by John Dryden. It was first performed at the Queen’s Theatre, Dorset Garden, London, in late May or early June 1691. The plot is based on the battles between King Arthur’s Britons and the Saxons, rather than the legends of Camelot (although Merlin does make an appearance). It is a Restoration spectacular, including such supernatural characters as Cupid and Venus plus references to the Germanic gods of the Saxons, Woden, Thor, and Freya. The tale centres on Arthur’s endeavours to recover his fiancée, the blind Cornish Princess Emmeline, who has been abducted by his arch-enemy, the Saxon King Oswald of Kent.
King Arthur is a “dramatick opera” or semi-opera: the principal characters do not sing, except if they are supernatural, pastoral or, in the case of Comus and the popular Your hay it is mow’d, drunk. Secondary characters sing to them, usually as diegetic entertainment, but in Act 4 and parts of Act 2, as supernatural beckonings. The singing in Act 1 is religious observance by the Saxons, ending with their heroic afterlife in Valhalla. The protagonists’ parts are taken by actors, as a great deal of King Arthur consists of spoken text. This was normal practice in 17th century English opera. King Arthur contains some of Purcell’s most lyrical music, using adventurous harmonies for the day.
The Frost Scene in the third act has always attracted praise from critics. Edward J. Dent wrote, “The Frost Scene is one of Purcell’s most famous achievements” with “its bold contrasts of style, and the masterly piling up of the music to a climax at the end of the chorus ”Tis love that has warmed us'”. Thomas Gray, commenting on the 1736 production, described it as “excessive fine” and said that the Cold Genius’ solo was “the finest song in the play”. This aria (“What power art thou who from below”) is accompanied by shivering strings, probably influenced by a scene from Act IV of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera Isis (1677); but, as Peter Holman writes, Purcell’s “daring chromatic harmonies transform the Cold Genius from the picturesque figure of Lully (or Dryden, for that matter) into a genuinely awe-inspiring character — the more so because Cupid’s responses are set to such frothy and brilliant music”. It has been suggested that the whole scene was inspired by the frost fairs held on the Thames during the 1680s.
Magic and deception figure prominently as each side battles the other. The unfolding spells provide some of the occasions for Purcell’s musical interpolations (including the “Cold Song”). In fact, the supernatural figures are represented by singers, whereas the chief characters in the plot (including those of Arthur, his rival Oswald, Emmeline, and Merlin and his counterpart magician) are entirely spoken roles. In the late 17th century, thanks to England’s deeply sceptical attitude toward opera, actors ranked higher in status than singers. “King Arthur is very much a piece of extravagance and spectacle, the last work in magic,” Mealy said. “It was designed to be performed in one of the best-equipped theatres in all of Europe, which could present some of the best special effects around. Alice Tully is not a space that lends itself to trapdoors and flying machines, but we have commissioned the video artist Camilla Tassi to create real- time video projections, which will add an endlessly shifting series of evocative backdrops for the production”
King Arthur has been the source material for a number of artists. Venus’ act V air “Fairest Isle” achieved wide fame, inspiring Charles Wesley’s hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” to the same tune. “What power art thou who from below” was recorded by Klaus Nomi on his eponymous first album as “The Cold Song”. In his album Beacon released on 28 July 2021, Susumu Hirasawa recorded the same aria as “Cold Song” with lyrics rewritten in Japanese and included it in the album. The prelude to Act III serves as the basis for the piece Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds in Michael Nyman’s score for the 1982 movie The Draughtsman’s Contract. Nyman then reused it for his 1984 Memorial and again in 1989 in the score for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
