''Psyche'' is a

semi-opera The terms "semi-opera", "dramatic opera" and "English opera" were all applied to Restoration literature#Theatre, Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usua ...

in five acts with music by Matthew Locke to a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Thomas Shadwell Thomas Shadwell ( – 19 November 1692) was an English poet and playwright who was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate in 1689. Life Shadwell was born at either Bromehill Farm, Weeting-with-Broomhill or Santon House, Ly ...

with dances (now lost) by Giovanni Battista Draghi. It was first performed at

Dorset Garden Theatre The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the Du ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 27 February 1675 by the Duke's Company with choreography the French dancing-master Saint-André. Stage machinery was by Thomas Betterton and the scenery by Stephenson. The work is loosely based on Molière's 1671 ''tragédie-ballet'' '' Psyché'' with incidental music by Lully (which Lully would develop into an opera three years after Locke).

Composition, performance and publication

According to Peter Holman, ''Psyche'' was "the first semi-opera written from scratch." It has over a dozen musical episodes and requires a large orchestra. Holman believes Locke composed it in response to the visit to Britain of a French opera company under the direction of Robert Cambert, which performed the opera ''Ariane, ou le mariage de Bacchus'' at the Drury Lane Theatre in March, 1674. Locke had produced his first semi-opera, ''The Tempest'', in the same year and was eager to follow up its success with ''Psyche''. Despite the theatre charging treble the price for tickets and the lavish staging, it was not as great a financial triumph. As a contemporary, John Downes, wrote:

The long expected Opera of ''Psyche'' came forth in all her Ornaments; new Scenes, new Machines, new Cloaths, new ''French'' Dances. This opera was also splendidly set out, especially in Scenes; the Charge of which amounted to some 800l. .e. £800 It had a Continuance of Performance about 8 Days together, it prov'd very beneficial to the Company; yet the ''Tempest'' got them more Money.

Nevertheless, ''Psyche'' helped establish the genre of semi-opera in England. Locke published his music from both ''The Tempest'' and ''Psyche'' under the title ''The English Opera'', omitting Draghi's dances. (For his recording of ''Psyche'' Philip Pickett orchestrated some

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

pieces by Draghi to fill in the gaps resulting from the loss of his original dances.)

Roles

Singing roles include: Venus, Proserpine, Pyracmon, River God, Apollo, Chief Priest, Praesul, Mars, Vulcan, Pan, Brontes, Pluto, Envy, Bacchus, Steropes, Nymphs.

Synopsis

The plot, which is extremely complicated, follows the Classical legend of Cupid and Psyche.

Cultural references to ''Psyche''

Thomas Duffet parodied the work in his play '' Psyche Debauch'd'', performed at Drury Lane in 1675.Allardyce Nicoll ''Restoration Drama: 1600-1700'' (Cambridge University Press, 1923) pp. 125 and 237 It is also mentioned in Dryden's satire on Shadwell, '' Mac Flecknoe''.

Recordings

*''Psyche'' Catherine Bott, Christopher Robson,

Paul Agnew Paul Agnew (born 11 April 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor. Biography Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathe ...

, Michael George, New London Consort conducted by Philip Pickett (Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1995)

References

Sources

* Shirley Strum Kenny (editor) ''The British Theatre and the Other Arts: 1660-1800'' (Associated University Presses, 1984) *''The Viking Opera Guide'' ed. Amanda Holden (1993) *''Gramophone'' magazine: review of Pickett's recording by Jonathan Freeman-Attwood (February, 1996) {{Cupid and Psyche Semi-operas 1675 operas Works by Thomas Shadwell Cupid and Psyche Works based on The Golden Ass