Bellot Ensemble

Oxford early music day

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Oxford early music day
Continuo Foundation & Oxford Festival of the Arts,
Linarol Consort of Viols, Bellot Ensemble, Sir Nicholas Kenyon
Grove Auditorium, Magdalen College. 12 July 2025


As part of the Oxford Festival of the Arts, the Continuo Foundation promoted an Early Music Day, or more accurately, an afternoon, in the nether regions of Magdalen College. The three events included two concerts, contrasting more established musicians with a recently formed group, both recipients of Continuo Foundation grants, and concluded with a talk by Sir Nicholas Kenyon exploring “A Century of Revolution in Musical Taste”.

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The Dragon of Wantley

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Frederick Lampe: The Dragon of Wantley
New Sussex Opera, Bellot Ensemble, Toby Purser
Theatre Royal, Winchester. 28 April 2024


As part of a short tour of south-east England, the New Sussex Opera brought their production of Frederick Lampe’s 1737 opera The Dragon of Wantley (1737) to the splendid surroundings of the Theatre Royal, Winchester. It is a fascinating piece, full of political and musical allusions that would probably have been obvious to the London audience of the time but may evade the average 21st-century audience. It is based on a dragon-slaying legend at Wharncliffe Crags (aka Wantley), north-west of Sheffield. It was the subject of a 1685 broadside ballad and Lampe’s 1737 popular opera to a text by Henry Carey. The dragon causes havoc to the local community until the local squire, Moore of Moore Hall is persuaded to deal with it,. He demands a night (and more) from the 16-year-old Margery. The jealousy of his mistress Mauxalinda provides much of the plot. Eventually, a fatal kick to the dragon’s most vulnerable spot (pictured above) solves the dragon problem, if not the girlfriend issue.

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