The Indian Queen (opera)

The Indian Queen
Semi-opera by Henry Purcell
The composer, portrait by John Closterman, c. 1695
Based on	The Indian Queen (play) by Sir Robert Howard
Premiere	1695 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London

The Indian Queen (Z. 630) is a largely unfinished semi-opera with music by Henry Purcell, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, in 1695. The exact date is unknown, but Peter Holman surmises it may have been in June.^[1]

It was created as a revised version of the 1664 play The Indian Queen, in a prologue and five acts, by John Dryden and his brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. More specifically, in 1694, Thomas Betterton was given £50 to transform the play into an opera, and he commissioned Purcell to compose the music.^[2][3] Purcell, who died in November 1695, left music only for the Prologue and Acts II and III. His brother Daniel completed a masque for Act V.^[4]

The Indian Queen is one of Purcell's less often performed stage works. This is probably more a reflection of the incomplete state of the score than of its quality. ^{[citation needed]}

The 2013 Peter Sellars production of the Indian Queen with Tchaikovsky Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre (Perm), Teatro Real (Madrid), and English National Opera (London) rewrote Purcell and Dryden's to tell the story of the Spanish Conquista. Sellers drew on a book by the Nicaraguan writer Rosario Aguilar. ^{[citation needed]} Stage design was done by American Artist Gronk drawing on Mayan markings. The production received mixed responses from spectators. About these responses Sellars said, “[the spectators] don’t understand that a work like this is about trying to complete a journey together through difficult issues and history.” ^[5]

Some years before the Spanish Conquest in Mesoamerica—the court then war conflict between kings of Peru and Mexico.

• The Indian Queen Soloists, St. Anthony Singers, English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras (Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1966)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, Deller Singers, King's Musick, conducted by Alfred Deller (Harmonia Mundi)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Erato, 1980)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood (Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1995)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, The Purcell Simfony and the Purcell Simfony Voices (Linn, 1995)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, Scholars' Baroque Ensemble (Naxos, 1998)
• The Indian Queen Soloists, London Chamber Singers, London Chamber Orchestra. conducted by Anthony Bernard (Music Guild MS-124, 196x?)

Notes

Sources

• Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001 ISBN 0-14-029312-4
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera New York: OUP: 1992 ISBN 0-19-869164-5

• About plot
• Synopsis