The Island Princess was an immediate success in 1699 and remained immensely popular for three decades. The importance of The Island Princess lies both in its stage history and in the unusual completeness with which its quite excellent music is preserved. Many readers will recognise the second entr’acte (f. 21) as ‘Purcell’s Trumpet Tune in D’.

This brilliant piece – here, in its earliest appearance, scored for strings alone and without the dotted rhythms acquired later – was long misattribut...