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Opera

Juicy solution to the Purcell problem: Opera North’s Masque of Might reviewed

21 October 2023

9:00 AM

21 October 2023

9:00 AM

Masque of Might

Leeds Grand Theatre, until 27 October, and touring until 16 November

Iolanthe

London Coliseum, in rep until 25 October

Another week, another attempt to solve the Purcell problem. There’s a problem? Well, yes, if you consider that a composer universally agreed (on the strength of Dido and Aeneas) to be a great musical dramatist left only one stageable opera (that’d be Dido and Aeneas), but hour upon hour of theatre music that’s effectively unperformable in anything like its original context: i.e.,

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