Baroque Dance: Purcell's King Arthur

This year’s central work for the La Pellegrina Baroque Summer School is Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur. King Arthur will be performed ‘semi-staged’ in the Vokův sál, Bechyně castle's splendid historic hall. King Arthur is about the early history of the British Empire, namely the kings Arthur and Oswald vying for the Grail. In the famous stammer aria cold Oswald melts for the beautiful Emmeline, the guardian of the Grail. When she makes clear that her heart already belongs to King Arthur, Oswald decides to abduct her. The love battle of the two kings degenerates into a heart-stopping duel. Arthur meets Sirens bathing naked in a stream and trying to seduce him. In the fourth act Arthur finds himself in an enchanted forest with frozen people. It eventually comes to a reconciliation in the fifth act, and the opera ends with a festive masque. Romantic scenes are interspersed with fiery crowd scenes, in which there is an important role for dance.

Dorothée Wortelboer will provide new choreographies based on her extensive research of 17th-century theatrical dance.