Blow: Venus & Adonis / Jacobs

Rosemary Joshua, soprano; Gerald Finley, baritone; Robin Blaze, counter-tenor Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment René Jacobs

John Blow: Venus & Adonis

First performed before the court at Oxford in 1681, Venus and Adonis was presented as a "masque for the entertainment of the King" (Charles II). Like Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, it is in fact a true opera, totally successful in concept, original in musical content and moving in the characterisation of the protagonists. Borrowing the notion of the overture, the prologue and the instrumental dances from the French opera and juxtaposing them with the language of Italian music, Blow here created his masterpiece and one of the summits of 17th century English music.

Price: $24.98