London theatres during the Restoration period were vital centers for music, drawing audiences for the spectacle, including music, as much as for the play itself.
Composition History
During the Commonwealth period, entertainments that were wholly or partly set to music, like the masque Cupid and Death, could escape the ban on plays imposed by the Puritans.
Composer Biography
Giovanni Battista Draghi, an important figure in London's musical scene, served as organist in Catherine of Braganza's chapel and taught Princess Anne (later Queen) to play the keyboard.
Compositional Technique
Henry Purcell was a master of the ground bass, a short repeating bass line, which he used extensively in vocal works like 'O Solitude'.
Compositional Technique
Matthew Locke, a leading theatre composer, often wrote incidental music for plays, but many of his tunes are preserved in manuscripts arranged by key rather than by specific play.
Composition History
The first dramatic opera, The Tempest, staged in 1674, featured James Hart's 'Adieu to the Pleasures' and significant contributions from Matthew Locke.
Critical Reception
The opera Albion and Albanius, with music by Louis Grabu and libretto by John Dryden, was an ill-fated work, closing after six performances due to the death of Charles II and the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion.
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