Hessischer Rundfunk

Henry Purcell took the liberty of transforming Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” into a lively semi-opera—with the emphasis on “liberty,” since the original classic doesn’t exactly contain hymns of praise to the Garden of Eden set in China. Let anyone say the British couldn’t come up with anything musically! That was, after all, the oft-repeated accusation: that England was a country without music. Sure, Purcell was highly regarded as the “Orpheus Britannicus,” and works like his famous “Fairy Queen” are brimming with ingenuity and spirit. But it took others—George Frideric Handel, for example—to provide London with music of the highest quality.
But conductor and harpsichordist Richard Egarr can demonstrate what else there is to discover below the radar of mainland Europe: in Cipriani Potter, even a fully-fledged classical symphonist. He was in contact with Beethoven and Rossini, wrote nine symphonies like the former, and did so with a wit and sense for charming melodic turns of phrase like the latter. Potter was nothing less than the first composer of note on the island to draw inspiration from Mozart’s dramatic late works and Beethoven’s symphonic milestones in order to create symphonies of his own that were at the cutting edge of their time.

Rowan Pierce | Soprano
Richard Egarr | Conductor/Harpsichord
Cipriani Potter | Symphony No. 1 in G minor
Georg Friedrich Händel | Concerto grosso in B-flat major, Op. 6 No. 7, HWV 325
Henry Purcell | Suite from *The Fairy-Queen*

Concert duration: approx. 100 minutes – including intermission

Photo: Hessischer Rundfunk

October 2, 8:00 p.m.

hr-Sendesaal, Bertramstr. 8, Frankfurt

50% off, Price Category 3: €25 for 2 tickets

Please book here. CITY CARD holders will receive a personal link and promotional code by e-mail no later than the next working day after booking to order and pay for tickets directly at hr-ticketcenter.de