The Cold Genius in context

Since, sadly and it's their loss, very few people today will have seen and heard the opera King Arthuyu with music by arguably the greatest ever British born composer, Henry Purcell, (Britten and Elgar probably being his nearest rivals) here is the first part of Act II of the opera so you can see how funny the piece I posted for today's music spot is in context




There are eight pieces in this exerpt:

Prelude

What ho 
What Power art thou  (a. k. a. The Cold Genius)
Thou Doting Fool
Great Love, I know thee now
No part of my Dominium 
Prelude
See, see, we assemble

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