Purcell’s Dioclesian on the Dorset Garden Stage

Abstract The original title for Henry Purcell’s first semi-opera, written in 1690, was The Prophetess: or, The History of Dioclesian (Z627), It was adapted ‘after the manner of an opera’ from the Fletcher and Massinger play The Prophetess of 1622 by Thomas Betterton, actor-manager of Dorset Garden Theatre, and a full score was printed by Heptinstall the following year. After Gottfried Finger’s The Virgin Prophetess appeared in 1701, the Purcell opera was often referred to as Dioclesian, which title has also been used by the Purcell Society. A full discussion of its provenance can be found in Henry Purcell’s First SemiOpera Dioclesian which was written with the intention of contributing to a scrupulous production of this neglected work. However, it soon became clear that to stage an early opera properly, far more research would have to be done on the non-musical and non-verbal aspects of the work, including the theatre architecture, stage design, costume, gesture, choreography, and their contemporaneous connotations. Technical research into the construction of Dorset Garden Theatre, where the semi-operas were first staged, has led to new insights, and contemporary illustrations have contributed to a reconstruction of the original stage picture.