HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)
The Fairy Queen

CD I

First Music
01 (no 1) Prelude
02 (no 2) Hornpipe

Second Music
03 (no 3) Air
04 (no 4) Rondeau

05 (no 5) Overture

First Act
06 (no 6) Prelude & Duet: “Come, come, let us leave the Town”
07 (no 7) Scene of the Drunken Poet: “Fill up the Bowl”
08 (no 8) First Act Tune: Jig

Second Act
09 (no 9) Prelude
10 Song: “Come all ye Songsters of the Sky
11 (no 10) Prelude: Birds fly down, singing
12 (no 11) Trio: “May the God of Wit inspire”
13 (no 13) Chorus: “Now join your Warbling Voices all”
14 Song & Chorus: “Sing while we trip it on the Green”
15 (no 14) Song (Night): “See, even Night herself is here”
16 (no 15) Song (Mystery): “I am come to lock all fast”
17 (no 16) Song (Secresy): “One charming Night”
18 (no 17) Song (Sleep) & Chorus: “Hush, no more, be silent all”
19 (no 18) A Dance for the Followers of Night
20 (no 19) Second Act Tune: Air

Third Act
21 (no 20) Prelude & Chorus: “If Love’s a Sweet Passion”
22 (no 21) Overture: Symphony while the Swans come forward
23 (no 22) Dance for the Fairies
24 (no 24) Song: “Ye Gentle Spirits of the Air, appear”
25 (no 25) Dialogue between Coridon & Mopsa: “Now the Maids and the Men”
26 (no 27) Dance for the Haymakers
27 (no 26) A Song by a Nymph: “When I have often heard”
28 (no 28) Duet: “A Thousand, Thousand ways we’ll find”
29 (no 29) Third Act Tune: Hornpipe

CD II

Fourth Act
01 (no 30) Symphony
02 (no 31) Solo (An Attendant) & Chorus: “Now the Night is chas’d away”
03 (no 32) Duet: “Let the Fifes, and the Clarions”
04 (no 33) Entry of Phoebus
05 (no 34) Prelude & Song (Phoebus): “When a cruel long Winter”
06 (no 35) Chorus: “Hail! Great Parent of us all”
07 (no 36) Song (Spring): “Thus the ever Grateful Spring”
08 (no 37) Song (Summer): “Here’s the Summer, Sprightly, Gay”
09 (no 38) Song (Autumn): “See, see my many Colour’d Fields”
10 (no 39) Song (Winter): “Next, Winter comes Slowly”
Chorus: “Hail! Great Parent of us all”
11 (no 40) Fourth Act Tune: Air

Fifth Act
12 (no 41) Prelude to Juno’s Song
(no 42) An Epithalamium (Juno): “Thrice happy Lovers”
13 (no 43) The Plaint: “O let me weep”
14 (no 44) Entry Dance
15 (no 45) Symphony
16 (no 46) Song (A Chinese Man): “Thus the gloomy World”
17 (no 47) Symphony & Solo (A Chinese Woman) & Chorus: “Thus Happy and Free”
18 (no 48) Song (A Chinese Man): “Yes, Daphne, in your Looks I find”
19 (no 49) Monkeys’ Dance
20 (no 50) Prelude & Song (1st Woman): “Hark! How all things in one sound agree”
21 (no 51) Song (2nd Woman) & Chorus: “Hark! The Echoing Air”
22 (no 52) Duet (Both Women) & Chorus: “Sure, the dull God of Marriage”
23 (no 53) Prelude
(no 54) Solo (Hymen): “See, see, I obey”
(no 55) Duet (Both Women): “Turn then thine Eyes”
(no 56) Solo (Hymen): “My torch, indeed will from such brightness shine”
24 (no 58) Chorus: “They shall be as happy”
25 (no 57) Chaconne: Dance for the Chinese Man & Woman

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About this album

With The Fairy Queen, Sébastien d’Hérin and Les Nouveaux Caractères set down on record their musical vision of one of Henry Purcell’s most compelling dramatic works. The 1692/1693 work dates from around half a century before two other Baroque scores which Les Nouveaux Caractères has tackled recently and received significant critical approval: Leclair’s Scylla et Glaucus and Rameau’s Les Surprises de l’Amour (the latter, like The Fairy Queen, appearing on Glossa). Being a semi-opera, the music of The Fairy Queen doesn’t need to follow a narrative methodically from start to finish and, indeed, what we get is essentially a series of selfcontained masques. Purcell channels the spirit of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream rather than using the text of that comedy; many characters appear across the work but yet Purcell’s music is of great coherence.

Not unlike Purcell himself, Sébastien d’Hérin has opted not to use a formal chorus but to have a long established team of musical partners singing the choral parts as well as the solo roles. Among the modern-day singers are to be found Anders Dahlin, Samuel Boden, Caitlin Hulcup (who sings “An Epithalamium”), Virginie Pochon, Guillaume Andrieux, Hjördis Thébault and Caroline Mutel (to whom is entrusted “The Plaint”). Alongside the typical instruments of the string, wind and continuo departments of d’Hérin’s orchestra are to be found a serpent, a cornett and a regal. In the booklet essay, the conductor himself explains how this new production of The Fairy Queen has taken shape over a period of ten years.