''The Comical History of Don Quixote'' is a three-part dramatization of

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

's celebrated novel''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

''. It was written in 1694, only seventy-eight years after the death of Cervantes, by Thomas D'Urfey. It is one of the first stage dramatizations of "Don Quixote" ever written. The piece featured many songs, most of them by

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

, but there were some by other noted Restoration composers. Composer John Eccles wrote the aria "I burn" for soprano Anne Bracegirdle which became a tremendous success for the actress and became a staple work in her stage repertoire. The complete work itself, according to writer-director Don Taylor, is actually three separate plays, and in total takes more than seven hours to perform.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000000UL1, "Don Quixote: The Musical" It is seldom, if ever, revived today, and was not a success at its premiere, although some of Purcell's compositions for it (''From rosy bow'rs'', for instance) have become fairly well known. A highly-abridged early revival of it (with full orchestral accompaniment) took place at the 1938 Bath Music Festival. In 1994, an attempt was made at "reconstructing" it, in a version entitled ''Don Quixote: The Musical''. This edition featured much of the play's original music, but used an entirely new libretto (in fairly modern English) written by Taylor, and setting the story as a play within a play, with D'Urfey and others appearing as characters in it. The production starred Paul Scofield as Don Quixote, and Roy Hudd as Sancho Panza.http://www.radiodramareviews.com/id370.html, Don Quixote: The Musical

References

External links

''The Comical History of Don Quixote'', full text of the first edition at ''Early English Books Online''.
* 1694 plays Plays based on Don Quixote {{17thC-play-stub