Venus and Adonis

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Venus and Adonis is a late 17th-century English opera by John Blow, often regarded as one of the earliest surviving English operas and a precursor to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf English opera
baroque opera
opera
basedOn classical mythology
myth of Venus and Adonis
cataloguedAs Blow’s principal stage work
commissionedBy Charles II of England NERFINISHED
composer John Blow NERFINISHED
contains Act I
Act II
Act III
prologue
countryOfOrigin England
dedicatedTo Mary of Modena NERFINISHED
era Restoration period NERFINISHED
featuresCharacter Adonis NERFINISHED
Cupid NERFINISHED
Huntsmen
Shepherds
Venus NERFINISHED
firstPerformanceContext court entertainment
masque-like production
genre opera
tragic opera
historicalSignificance one of the earliest surviving English operas
precursor to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
influenced Dido and Aeneas NERFINISHED
influenceOn Henry Purcell NERFINISHED
language English
librettist Aphra Behn NERFINISHED
notableAria Hark, the echoing air NERFINISHED
performanceTradition often performed with period instruments
period late 17th century
premiereDate circa 1683
premierePlace Court of Charles II NERFINISHED
London NERFINISHED
relatedWork Dido and Aeneas NERFINISHED
scoring small baroque orchestra
voices and continuo
setting mythological world
structure prologue and three acts
style English Baroque
subject Adonis NERFINISHED
Cupid NERFINISHED
Venus NERFINISHED
theme death
fate
loss
love

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

John Blow composed Venus and Adonis