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Arne - Artaxerxes: An English Opera | Hyperion - Dyad CDD22073

Arne - Artaxerxes: An English Opera

Label: Hyperion - Dyad

Cat No: CDD22073

Barcode: 0034571120737

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 26th October 2009

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Contents

Artists

Christopher Robson (countertenor)
Ian Partridge (tenor)
Patricia Spence (mezzo-soprano)
Richard Edgar-Wilson (tenor)
Catherine Bott (soprano)
Philippa Hyde (soprano)
Parley of Instruments

Conductor

Roy Goodman

Works

Arne, Thomas

Artaxerxes

Artists

Christopher Robson (countertenor)
Ian Partridge (tenor)
Patricia Spence (mezzo-soprano)
Richard Edgar-Wilson (tenor)
Catherine Bott (soprano)
Philippa Hyde (soprano)
Parley of Instruments

Conductor

Roy Goodman

About

Thomas Arne was one of the great survivors of eighteenth-century theatrical life: in his early twenties he put on an unauthorized production of Acis and Galatea that prodded Handel into taking English seriously as a language for theatrical works. It should therefore come as no surprise that in the three years from 1759 he had three smash hits of his own, each an original masterpiece that effectively created a new genre.

Artaxerxes, the second of these, was the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria libretto in English. The story of the rebellious captain of the guard’s attempts to usurp the Persian throne in the fifth century BC had captured the attention of several composers, but Arne’s opera was particularly successful because it was an excellent vehicle for great singing. Mandane’s spectacular aria ‘The Soldier, tir’d of War’s Alarms’ remained a show-piece for sopranos through much of the nineteenth century and has never entirely dropped out of the repertory.

When Haydn saw Artaxerxes in 1791 he was delighted with it and reportedly said he ‘had no idea we had such an opera in the English language’.

Cast:
- Artaxerxes: Christopher Robson (countertenor)
- Artabanes: Ian Partridge (tenor)
- Arbaces: Patricia Spence (mezzo-soprano)
- Rimenes: Richard Edgar-Wilson (tenor)
- Mandane: Catherine Bott (soprano)
- Semira: Philippa Hyde (soprano)

[from CDA67051/2]

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