Robert Johnson: Jacobean Masque & Stage Music (1600)
Matthew Locke: Music for “The Tempest” (1674)
Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen (1692)

In January 1606, King James I staged the first grand “Court Masque” of English baroque in Whitehall. These masterpieces of stage design, dance and singing soon used Shakespeare’s fantastic pieces and transformed them completely: The “Midsummer Night’s Dream” became Purcell’s “Fairy Queen”, “Tempest” became the “The Tempest” masque with music by Matthew Locke. For the finale of the 2019 styriarte, Jordi Savall orchestrates these Shakespeare metamorphoses in orchestral suites of outrageous splendour.