History
Despite being designated as a masque, the work is sung throughout, and is in many respects reminiscent of a comic opera. It is set by Windsor Castle, and depicts satyrs and fairies who guard the castle and its inhabitants during ceremonial occasions. The masque concludes with a banquet with the King and Queen in attendance. Of particular note is the wood nymphs’ aria "Let us play and dance and sing", which has a large range of approximately 2 and a half octaves and has some impressive coloratura passages. The Act 1 choral finale, "Then all the air shall ring", is also particularly fine.
The Fairy Prince was very well received at its premiere and was performed 36 times during the 1771-1772 season. While critics and audiences praised both the music and the elaborate sets of the production, the work was strangely never revived. The masque's score was published in 1771 but without the dance music, recitatives, and some of the choruses.
Read more about this topic: The Fairy Prince
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)