Semi-opera in five acts

Libretto by Thomas Shadwell

Italy and France may be the undisputed heartlands of great opera in the 17th century, but the most unusual examples of musical theatre in this period may well be those from England. Matthew Locke, for instance, boldly experimented with new aesthetic approaches and daring harmonies that his contemporaries considered as ill-chosen as his lifestyle: in times of the strictest Puritanism, Locke converted to Catholicism, and when the Puritans made a great show of closing down the theatres, he made a point of composing theatre music. This air of defiance also characterises his semi-opera Psyche (1675) in which he masterfully interweaves spoken dialogue with arias and dance music. Actors and singers are given equal prominence. The beauty of the king’s daughter Psyche is so out of this world that even Amor, the god of love, courts her and makes her his lover. However, in order to keep his true identity secret he never shows himself by day – leading Psyche to wonder just who it is that she has stumbled into an affair with.

Concert performance in English with German surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 minutes before curtain-up