Words by John Milton
(adapted by John Dalton )
Music by Thomas Arne
(edited by Julian Herbage )
Narrator, Alan Gordon
Elsie Morison (soprano)
Margaret Ritchie (soprano)
John Kentish (tenor)
Alexander Young (tenor)
BBC Chorus
(Chorus-Master, Leslie Woodgate )
Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
The Boyd Neel Orchestra
(Leader, Maurice Clare )
Conducted by Anthony Lewis
Part 1
The version of Comus for which Arne wrote the music was made by John Dalton and first presented at Drury Lane Theatre in 1748, more than a hundred years after the original production of the masque at Ludlow Castle. On the whole Dalton kept to Milton's text, though he added some scenes and lines of his own, with a view to making the masque more stageworthy; he also provided opportunity for the introduction of over twenty-five musical numbers Arne, who shortly before had been appointed composer to Drury Lane Theatre, was inspired to write some of his most charming music. The result drew the town and the piece was frequently revived. Harold Rutland