Psyche (Locke)
Encyclopedia
Psyche is a semi-opera
in five acts with music by Matthew Locke
to a libretto
by Thomas Shadwell
with dances by Giovanni Battista Draghi
. It was first performed at Dorset Garden Theatre
, London
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 Jean-Baptiste Lully
's 1671 tragédie-ballet Psyché
.
, 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:
Locke published his music from both The Tempest and Psyche under the title The English Opera, omitting Draghi's dances. For his recording of the work, Philip Pickett
orchestrated some of Draghi's harpsichord
pieces to fill in these gaps.
.
parodied the work in his play Psyche Debauch'd, performed at Drury Lane in 1675. It is also mentioned in Dryden
's satire on Shadwell, Mac Flecknoe
.
Semi-opera
The terms Semi-opera, dramatic[k] opera and English opera were all applied to Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included machines in the manner of the restoration spectacular...
in five acts with music by Matthew Locke
Matthew Locke (composer)
Matthew Locke was an English Baroque composer and music theorist.-Biography:As a boy, Locke was trained in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons...
to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...
with dances by Giovanni Battista Draghi
Giovanni Battista Draghi (composer)
Giovanni Battista Draghi was an Italian composer and keyboard player. He may have been the brother of the composer Antonio Draghi....
. It was first performed at Dorset Garden Theatre
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 Duke became King, the theatre became the Queen's Theatre in...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 27 February, 1675 by the Duke's Company with choreography the French dancing-master Saint-André. Stage machinery was by Thomas Betterton
Thomas Betterton
Thomas Patrick Betterton , English actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London.-Apprentice and actor:...
and the scenery by Stephenson. The work is loosely based on Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
's 1671 tragédie-ballet Psyché
Psyché (play)
Psyché is a Tragédie et ballet of 1671, composed by Molière and versified in collaboration with Pierre Corneille and Philippe Quinault with musical intermèdes by Jean-Baptiste Lully.-History:...
.
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 CambertRobert Cambert
Robert Cambert was a French composer principally of opera. His opera Pomone was the first actual opera in French.Born in Paris in 1628, he studied music under Chambonnières, His first position was as organist at the church of St. Honor in Paris...
, which performed the opera Ariane, ou le mariage de Bacchus at the Drury Lane Theatre
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
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. [i.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 the work, Philip Pickett
Philip Pickett
Philip Pickett is an English musician, recorder player and director of early music ensembles, notably The New London Consort.- Student days :...
orchestrated some of Draghi's harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
pieces to fill in these gaps.
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 PsycheCupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche , is a legend that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century CE. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.It has...
.
Cultural references to Psyche
Thomas DuffetThomas Duffet
Thomas Duffet , or Duffett, was an Irish playwright and songwriter active in England in the 1670s. He is remembered for his popular songs and his burlesques of the serious plays of John Dryden, Thomas Shadwell, Elkanah Settle, and Sir William Davenant.By profession, Duffet was a milliner; he...
parodied the work in his play Psyche Debauch'd, performed at Drury Lane in 1675. It is also mentioned in Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
's satire on Shadwell, Mac Flecknoe
MacFlecknoe
Mac Flecknoe is a verse mock-heroic satire written by John Dryden. It is a direct attack on Thomas Shadwell, another prominent poet of the time...
.
Recordings
- Psyche Catherine BottCatherine BottCatherine Bott is a British soprano and a baroque specialist.Following her studies at The King's High School For Girls, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Arthur Reckless, she began her career as a member of the English baroque-jazz crossover group, The Swingle Singers...
, Christopher Robson, Paul AgnewPaul AgnewPaul Agnew is a Scottish operatic tenor.Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the Consort of Musicke, the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen and the Gothic Voices, before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s.Closely associated with William...
, Michael George, New London Consort conducted by Philip PickettPhilip PickettPhilip Pickett is an English musician, recorder player and director of early music ensembles, notably The New London Consort.- Student days :...
(Decca L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1995)
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)