Cambridge Early Music Baroque Program

Our Baroque course will focus on Purcell’s semi-opera Dioclesian. Premiered in 1690, the opera follows the story of Diocles, a footsoldier in the Roman army who has been prophesied to become Emperor after he kills a mighty boar… A reflection of the universal struggle between love and duty, the opera explores the power of prophecy and the corruption of ambition. Purcell’s music was composed for an adaptation by Thomas Betterton of the play Prophetess – which was co-written by John Fletcher and Phillip Massinger in the 1620s (published in 1647). Thomas Betterton was a leading actor and playwright during the Restoration and was a favourite of Charles II. Over the course of his long career, Betterton is responsible for many of the innovations that have helped to shape the tradition of English Theatre over the centuries, amid the chaos of William III’s invasion of England.