Versifier performed in recital (5)
I believe the answer is:
donne
'versifier' is the definition.
(John Donne was a poet)
'performed in recital' is the wordplay.
'performed' becomes 'done' (done can mean performed or accomplished).
'in recital' shows a homophone (sound like).
'done' is a homophone of 'DONNE'.
(Other definitions for donne that I've seen before include "Writer of poetry" , "English preacher and metaphysical poet, d. 1631" , "John -, English poet" , "basic assumption" .)