In 1700 a group of music-loving noblemen, with Lord Halifax as the prime mover, devised a contest for an all-sung opera based on the libretto The Judgement of Paris. There were four contestants – John Eccles, Gottfried Finger, Daniel Purcell and John Weldon. Weldon’s setting was awarded the first prize, Eccles’s the second, Purcell’s the third and Finger’s the fourth, although only the settings of Eccles and Purcell were published.

The occasion allowed for lavish scoring, and the composers em...