Purcell began writing for the stage in 1680. His work for the two London theatre companies (which merged in 1682, but which in 1695 split once more into two competing factions) constituted an increasingly important aspect of his creative activities in the late 1680s, and became exceptionally fruitful in the last six years of his life, encompassing not merely his four great dramatic operas but also a prodigious quantity of music for more modest stage pieces.

The productions for which the music is included in this volume are: Oedipus (1692), Oroonoko (1695), Pausanias (1696), Regulus (1692), Rule a wife and have a wife (1693), Sir Anthony Love (1690), Sir Barnaby Whigg (1681), Sophonisba (?1685), The Old Batchelour (1693), The Richmond Heiress (1693), The Rival Sisters (1695), The Spanish Fryar (1695), The Tempest (1695), The Virtuous Wife (1695), The Wives Excuse (1691), Theodosius (1680), and Tyrannick Love (1694).

The original Purcell Society edition of this volume, edited by Alan Gray and published in 1917, has long been out of print. This comprehensive new edition – the only one available of most of the music – is based on a fresh examination of all the surviving materials, including newly discovered manuscript sources, carried out by one of the greatest living authorities on Purcell’s dramatic music.