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Music for a While was written for Dryden’s 1692 play Oedipus. It tells the story of the calming of Alecto, a spirit goddess - with snakes for hair, bats' wings and and blood dripping from her eyes - who was sent to torment the guilty. Listen out for the chromatic dissonance at ‘eternal’. It was so unusual Purcell’s editors ‘corrected’ it before the first performance.

Composer: Henry Purcell
Performer: Kitty Whately (Mezzo-Soprano)
Performer: James Baillieu (Piano)
Recording date: 30 September 2015
Date of broadcast: 12 November 2015