A London theatre-goer, attending the first performance of Purcell's opera in May 1692, may have expected to see a new and exciting production, in which he was promised that the composer, 'Mr Purcell [...] joyns Delicacy and Beauty of the Italian way [with] the Graces and Gayety of the French'. Not only would there have been music to attract the ear, but the eye too would have been entertained as each successive scene unfolds with a brilliant theatrical transformation. The present edition of Purc...