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Knights at the Opera, Part 2 - Arthurian Knights

© Iris Bass

As noted in the introduction to this series, many operas were written about the Arthurian legends.

One early example is Purcell's 1691 King Arthur, which is considered a "semi-opera" -- a theatrical entertainment deliberately crafted to showcase fantastical scenes, and one that contains considerable spoken dialogue, à la singspiels like Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, which premiered a century later. King Arthur employs a libretto by the composer's contemporary, John Dryden, rather than relying upon existing texts. Both Dryden and Purcell, heavily influenced by the works of Lully and Rameau, seemed intent to out-French the French...by creating even more special effects and magical plot turns than their Gallic counterparts would have loaded into a single evening.

The opera concerns King Arthur and the Britons' desire to repel from their land the Saxons, led by King Oswald. Each side has a mortal army plus magical assistance from the essentially human wizards Merlin (Britons) and Osmond (Saxons); moreover the Saxons, depicted as pagans, have at their disposal a supernatural spirit, Grimbald. As Act I opens, we witness the Saxons' human and animal sacrifices to Woden, Thor, and Freya as they prepare for battle -- an important cue for 17th-century audiences to immediately tag these warriors as villainous non-Christians. The Saxons' ceremonies don't prevent the Britons from winning the battle, and the latter waste no time to eagerly scramble for what the fleeing enemy has left behind, singing, "To the plunder we run, We return to our lasses like fortunate traders, triumphant with spoils of the vanquish'd invaders."

In Act II, Merlin comes upon an AWOL evil spirit, Philidel, whom he convinces to switch sides. When Grimbald -- in the guise of a shepherd -- tries to throw the British soldiers off course, it is Philidel who saves them. However, King Arthur's blind fiancée, Emmeline (no, not Guinevere) has been kidnapped by Oswald, and Arthur himself kits up to go to battle against the Saxons in order to rescue her. Act III finds Merlin confounded by Saxon sorcery; the best he can do is cure Emmeline's blindness. Philidel (reared amidst evil ways) meanwhile knows how to disable Grimbald's powers and does so. This still leaves the magician Osmond, who has imprisoned Oswald (whose side we thought he was on) in order to try to seduce Emmeline himself. This is where a magnificent "frozen" scene occurs (in which a "Cold Genius" and his chorus performs with chattering teeth), a vision called up by Osmond. In Act IV, nymphs and sirens try to seduce Arthur, and Philidel sallies forth to save him. In Act V, King Arthur and Oswald fight a duel, which Arthur of course wins, as the Britons overtake the Saxon's castle. Merlin whips up a masques ecelbrating British history: we watch the island being formed, populated by its creatures, and made lush with greenery; and then its heroes (e.g., "Saint George") come forth to honor and defend this "Fairest isle, all isles excelling, seat of pleasure and love." The opera ends as Arthur vows to uphold his heritage. It is important to note that Arthur refuses to kill Oswald when he is in a secure position to spare him...a device we might recognize in the eleventh-hour pardon of Belmonte by Pasha Selim, in the 1782 Die Entführung aus dem Serail, where culturally speaking the pointed sandal is on the other foot.

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