Performing Matters November 2005
November 2005 issue of Early Music (pp.667-682), Frans and Julie Muller's article for Performing Matters ('Completing the picture: the importance of reconstructing early opera').
Animated reconstruction of Henry Purcell's, The Fairy Queen, Act V, masque (abridged) (PPT file) (76 MB file size). Reconstruction of the 1692 Dorset Garden staging.
© Frans Muller, 2005
Instructions for downloading files
1. Download the PPS and MP3 files to your computer. If you do not have PowerPoint or you have a pre-2002 PowerPoint on your computer, you will need to download the Microsoft's free PP-viewer. Make sure the PPS and MP3 files go to the same place (either your desktop or a directory of your own choice).
2. Double click the PPS file and it will open in the PP viewer. Wait until all the parts are properly loaded, which may be several minutes after the opening picture appears on screen, depending on the speed of your computer.
3. Start the animation with the right arrow key. The credits screen should start fading down right away. If it does not, push the left arrow key, wait a little longer, and try again (starting too soon will result in sound and picture not being synchronous).
4. If you don’t hear music right away, don’t worry. It is meant to start 16 seconds after you push the right arrow key.
5. Make sure full hardware acceleration on your computer is enabled (go to start > settings > control panel > display > settings > advanced > performance).
6. Movements should be smooth. If they are not, you could try changing your computers display settings (16 bit color instead of 32 or 24 bit) and setting your screen resolution to a lower value. If all this does not help, find somebody with a more powerful computer.
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