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The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI, Plays: King Arthur, Cleomenes, Love Triumphant, and the Secular Masque by Vinton A. Dearing

1988; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/art.1988.0011

1934-1539

Jerome V. Reel,

Historical and Literary Studies

170ARTHURIANA two are from the nineteenth century and two from the twentieth (25), she offers no evidence for why these four are the bestrepresentatives. Why not Faulkner? Moreland's own observation that medievalism was of patticular interest to 'the New England intelligentsia and the southern aristocracy' (3) would lead one to suspect that these two areas would be the focus ofher interest. And ifthe intention is to demonstrate a scope for medievalism beyond New England and the South, would not Steinbeck, who is also mentioned in the introductory survey, be as good an example as Hemingway? These questions about the overall structure ofthe book are not answered. Though the questions nag, they do not diminish the fine analysis that is the norm in the chaptets on the fouf authots, nor do they minimize the importance ofone ofthe few booklength studies of medievalism in America. ALAN LUPACK University of Rochester Vinton a. dearing, ed., The Works offohn Dryden, Volume ys\. Plays: KingArthur, Cleomenes, Love Triumphant, andtheSecularMasque. Berkley, University ofCalifornia Press, 1996. Pp. xii, 551. isbn: 0-520-08766-6. $75. Vinton Dearing has served as the editor of The Works offohn Dryden based on the Dryden collection in theWilliam Andrews Clatk Libtary at the Univetsity ofCalifornia at Los Angeles. Twenty volumes in the 'California Edition' have covered or will cover Dryden's enormous output. The sixteenth volume, published in 1996, has four dramatic works, namely King Arthur, Cleomenes, Love Triumphant, and the Secular Masque. The fifteenth volume presented Albion andAlbanius, the prologue to King Arthur, with music by Louis Gtabu. While all the works of Dryden are worthy of reading and study, only King Arthur, because of Henry Purcell's music, remains performed with any regularity. Fittingly, the text, textual notes and commentaries, and an essay on the music occupy nearly half of the volume. Our focus is on King Arthur, which has been recorded in toto at least four times. As part of the scholatly apparatus, Dearing has reproduced the title page of the fitst edition with full comments. Also reproduced is the Act iv, Scene ii, meeting of Emmeline's false image and Arthur, taken from the 1735 Dramatick Works offohn Dryden, Esq. The essay on Purcell's music includes the original printed broadsides of two set pieces, namely 'Your hay it is mow'd' with its famous second stanza We've cheated the Parson, we'll cheat him agen Fot why shou'd a Blockhead have one in ten? One in ten, One in ten; For why shou'd a Blockhead have one in ten? and the incomparable 'Fairest Isle, all isles excelling.' Each ofthe parts is a model ofediting and ofscholarship. The text iswell presented with vatiants closely noted. Because the fitst printing omitted the prologue and the epilogue, the notes contain the details of differences among the early editions. It reviews171 should also be noted that there is not a complete musical score, the preferred edition being that of Margaret Laurie. Commentary on the text provides, among others, awell-drawn biography ofGeorge Savile, Marquis of Halifax, to whom King Arthur is dedicated. Also included is a histofy of publication and petformance. This last will hold the attention of many scholars, because it demonstrates that from its initial performance until the middle ofthe nineteenth century KingArthurwas frequently on the London stage with few lengthy periods of absence. Granted there were alterations. One of the variants was offered by William Gifford and Henry Gifford in 1735 as KingArthur, or Merlin the British Inchantor. Shortly afterwards, a pirated version appeared. More recently, David Garrick took a turn at the words and Thomas Arne added music, notably a new overture. The work continued to be performed in one version or another throughout the nineteenth century. Twentieth-century revivals have been marked by efforts to restore the opera to its 1692 glory. One was the complete production in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1968, the earliest complete and staged petformance in the United States. Produced by the renowned American mezzo-soprano, Blanche Thebom, King Arthur wis part of the inaugural season ofthe Atlanta Opera. Any who experienced the performance, which ran for a month, with the scene ofCold Genius rising in a gown...