John Dryden’s King Arthur was among the most successful of his ‘Dramatick Operas’, where play, ballet and music were combined much as they are in present day West End musical theatre.

Purcell’s exquisite music, the work’s chief glory, heightens the plot’s depictions of Druid sacrifices, drunken farmers, Evil Spirits and, in the shivering frost scene, a very chilly Cupid!