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HENRY PURCELL

June/September 1659 --- 21stNovember 1695

Henry Purcell was born in Westminster,  London, his father Henry Purcell  senior was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal whose eldest son
Edward (1654-1717) became a gentleman usher to Charles II. Purcell studied under serveral composers of the time who were influence
by the French style,  which failed to  interest Purcell who  followed the Italian style.  The third and his  last master was the  distinguised
composer  and organist  Dr John Bow (1648-1708),  to whom Purcell's  great indeptedness  is not always sufficiently realized.  In  1673,
when his voice broke Purcell was dismissed with a ex-chorister's salary of £30 a year. In 1677 Purcell was then appointed  "composer in
ordinary for the violin" he succeeded Matthew Lock,  Purcell also became a  copyist at Westminster Abbey in the same year and  in 1680
he succeeded Dr Blow as organist.

From 1682 he  held the post of organist  to the chapel conjointly with his  appointment to the Abbey.  his first printed  composition was
the 12 Sonnatas of III parts: two violins and basse: to the organ or harpsichord. these though avowedly based on Italian models, show
great power and originality. Purcell had now become"composer in ordinary to the King"and his official life was a very full one. For each
public event he composed an ode "Swifter, Isis, Swifter Flow"  (1681): the "St Cecilia" odes Fly, Bold Rebellion,  (1683) (in celebrration
of the suppression of the Rye House Plot).

The opera Dido and Aeneas,  which above all Purcell  works inspires admiration and affection in equal degree,  was written to a libretto
furnished by Natum Tate at the request of Josiah Priest, a dancing master who kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen.

In 1690 Purcell wrote  the music to Betterton's  Dioclesian which  includes a masque.  He was associated with Dryden in  Tyrannic Love
(1687), Amphitryon (1690), and King Arthur (1691), in all of which the music consists of seperate numbers which form no integral part
of the drama. In King Arthur , Josiah Priest was responsible for the dances, This play, which contains the famous song Fairest Isle,  had
a great success and was revived on various occasions up to 1803, and once in 1842.

Purcell died at his house in Dean's Yard, Westminster,  November 21st 1695,  and was buried in Westminster Abbey on November 26th.
He left a widow  and three children,  three others having died before him. His widow died in 1706.  In 1682 and 1702 she had published
Orpheus Britannicus,  a collection of his works, in two parts.  A famous portrait of  the composer is that by Sir Godfrey Kneller,  that was
bequeathed to the National Portrait gallery London, by Barclay Squire. There is also an engraved portrait by R.White on the first edition
of his Sonatas (1683).

Copyright 1953 Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated on 2020
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

New (3069)"Ariel pipe and tabour". Sequenced by Austen Redman.

New (3070)"Stephano's Songs". Sequenced by Austen Redman.

New (3071)"What shall I do to show her I love her". Sequenced by Austen Redman.

Thank to Nigel Horne for the following music, email (njh@smsltd.demon.co.uk).

(2654)"Funeral Music to Queen Mary". Sequenced by Nigel Horne. .

Thanks to Tony Matthews for the following music, email(TonyM@absolutesolutions.co.uk)

"It is the Hornpipe in E minor". Sequenced by Tony Matthews.

"It is the Hornpipe in E minor, (this is the harpsichord version)". Sequenced by Tony Matthews.

Thanks Emily Gray for the following music, email (HappyMusician@opendiary.com)

(2465) "Dido's Lament". Sequenced by Emily Gray.

(2363) "Lillibullero". Sequenced by Emily Gray.

(2363) "Minuet in A Minor." Sequenced by Emily Gray.

(2363) "Trumpet Tune". Sequenced by Emily Gray.

(2362) "Rondeau". Sequenced by Emily Gray.

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