Back in 1700, London was a hive of musical activity with much ado about the fledgling concept of opera in English. With Purcell’s death in 1695, the field, indeed the very genre was up for grabs, and although ten years or so hence it would yield to its Italian cousin, opera in the vernacular was clearly considered the next big thing. 

With that in mind, “Several Persons of Quality” – in fact they were the well-heeled founders of the Whiggish Kit-cat Club led by Lord Halifax – put up 200 guineas for a contest to set William Congreve’s masque, The Judgment of Paris. Four composers made the cut: John Eccles, the distinguished Master of the King’s Music, Gottfried Finger, an itinerant Moravian bass viol virtuoso, Daniel Purcell, Henry’s younger brother, and the 24-year-old John Weldon, organist of New College, Oxford and, it would seem, the least experienced musical dramatist.

To cut a long story short, Eccles, the hot favourite came second, Purcell placed third, Finger, who was awarded the wooden spoon, got the hump and departed for the Continent, while Weldon upset the...