John Weldon's The Judgement of Paris

The Judgement of Paris recounts the story of a beauty contest between three goddesses that led in part to the Trojan War. With a libretto by William Congreve, John Weldon's version won first place in the celebrated Musick Prize competition of 1701, triumphing over the more conservative submissions by three older and more experienced composers, John Eccles, Daniel Purcell and Gottfried Finger. Weldon's opera is a seminal work in the Italian style that celebrates the dramatic power of English music in the years following Purcell's death. Weldon was Purcell's pupil as a choirboy at Eton College, and was one of his most talented followers able to combine the most attractive features of modern Italian opera with the Purcell style.