Mauricio Veliz Cartagena wrote:

>Bill, those rumors became real. "La purpura..." is now available through
>Deustch Harmonia Mundi label.
>
>La purpura de la rosa (1701)
>The Harp Consort/ Andrew Lawrence-King
>BMG/DHM 05472 77355 2 (2 CD)
>
>I got a copy on German Music Express.

Thanks for the heads-up Mauricio....I recently heard it was coming out,
but haven't seen it in the stores or my usual online sources as yet.

For those who came to this late, "La Purpura de la Rosa" is the oldest
known opera written in the Western Hemisphere, by the Peruvian composer
Torrejon de Velazquez.  It's the Venus and Adonis story, but with a
definite Latin flavor!

>...  IMHO, this version makes justice to this masterpiece.
>The booklet includes the complete libretto of Pedro Caldeon de la Barca
>with translations in English, Deutsch and French.  GO for it!

The Calderon libretto is the same one used for an opera composed to mark
the wedding of Louis XIV of France, some forty years earlier.

Bill H.