[5] An instrumental arrangement of "Fairest Isle" is preserved in Purcell's Ayres for the Theatre and presumably was intended to be played at some point in King Arthur, but precisely where is not known.
[6] In the general neglect which befell most of Purcell's secular music in the century after his death in 1695, "Fairest Isle" was one of a small number of patriotic songs by him – others include "Genius of England", "Britons, Strike Home!"
[8] In 1770, when David Garrick staged a version of King Arthur deprived of many of Purcell's songs, particularly those in the act 5 masques, "Fairest Isle" survived the cuts.
It was ushered in by a radio play, Steven Wyatt's Fairest Isle, a documentary drama about the writing and first production of King Arthur in which the eponymous song figured repeatedly.
[16] Singers who have recorded "Fairest Isle" include Nancy Argenta, Catherine Bott, James Bowman, April Cantelo, Alfred Deller, Paul Esswood, Heather Harper, Yvonne Kenny, Felicity Lott, Andreas Scholl, and Maggie Teyte.