Henry Purcell

“ It is very interesting, as it shows that Blow, like Purcell, had a leaning to dramatic music and this Masque is specially noticeable as it consists of musical dialogue—not spoken—thus coming very near to a little Opera.
Blow also contributed to some Choice Lessons for the Harpsichord, a collection published by Playford, to which also Henry Purcell contributed. There are also interesting specimens of organ music, among which is a curious arrangement of the Hundredth Psalm Tune "as they are played in Churches and Chapels." I have also a copy of a MS. Lesson on the Hundredth Psalm. ”

“ It is scarcely possible to estimate the loss to English art by the early death of Henry Purcell. Had his life been prolonged for him to have witnessed the introduction into England of the Italian opera and the early career in this country of Handel, what might not have been expected from him? ”

“ The air, we must say, bears no marks whatever of being the composition of Henry Lawes: his style is essentially different in every respect. It has always been given to Purcell, and in a volume published by Walsh more than a century ago, under the title of MR. HENRY PURCELL’s Favourite Songs, out of his most celebrated ORPHEUS BRITANNICUS, and the rest of his works, this very air, called ‘Tom a’ Bedlam,’ is included. We never before heard that the added part is by Hayden,—whose name, by the way, was George, not Thomas—but very probably our correspondent is right. ”

“ He was educated for the law, but abandoned that profession for poetry and the drama. Between 1676 and his death he produced upwards of thirty plays, which were at first very popular, but were in the course of a few years afterwards banished from the stage on account of their licentiousness and indecency. The songs in a few of them still survive, being preserved through having had the good fortune to be allied to the music of Henry Purcell. ”

“ He died between 1706 and 1721, when his will was proved. He left a legacy to Henry Purcell, and the bulk of his property to his wife Ann, daughter of Thomas Baker of Oxford, whom he married in December 1688. ”

“ The first appointment Purcell held was that of copyist to Westminster Abbey (1676) , a post which his father had held before him. We know little for certain as to his compositions for the Church in his early days. As a matter of fact, he seems to have been drawn (like Henry Lawes) more to the secular side, writing for the theatre. It has been suggested that he was introduced to this kind of work by Locke, who we know was a prominent composer for the stage. We must also remember that Humfrey would, very likely, have helped to influence the mind of the young Purcell in that direction. ”

“ I am inclined to think it is a little severe on us. I have always found that great interest is taken in the 17th century music and musicians of England.
Surely the century which began with the great Madrigal school at its highest point, which saw the Masque at its best in Milton's Comus, which witnessed the supersession of the viol by the violin, and which, at the close, had to its credit the complete works of our greatest composer, Henry Purcell, ought not to be in any sense "almost a blank," to English students at least. ”

“ Henry Purcell, sung by Mr. Reading [44] and (Mr. Pate in Woman's habit) , and exactly engrav'd by Tho. Cross."
The Fairy Queen seems to have shared the fate of much other music of Purcell's, for the London Gazette, Oct. 13th, 1700, has the following advertisement:—"The score of the musick for the Fairy Queen set by the late Mr. Henry Purcell, and belonging to the Patentees of the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, London, being lost by his death, whosoever brings the said score, or a copy thereof, to Mr. Zackary Baggs, Treasurer of the said Theatre, shall have 20 guineas reward." ”

“ A music book intituled Harmonia Sacra will shortly be printed for Mr. Playford. I need not say anything more to recommend it to you, than that you will find in it many of Mr. Henry Purcell's admirable composures. As they charm all men, they are universally extolled, and even those who know him no otherwise than by his Notes are fond of expressing their sense of his merit. ”

“ When Henry Purcell, the younger, became a chorister in the Chapel Royal at six years of age, the master of the boys was Captain Henry Cooke, an old musician, who had belonged to the chapel of Charles I., but who, on the breaking out of civil war, had laid aside the peaceful art of music to engage in the rough dissonances of battle and strife, and changed his service from that of a Royal musician to become a Royalist soldier. ”

“ Daniel Purcell, brother of the memorable Mr. Henry Purcell, will exhibit an entertainment of Vocal and Instrumental Musick entirely new, and all parts to be performed with the greatest excellence."
Amongst his compositions, printed and manuscript; not already mentioned, are Anthems, Songs for the plays [Pg 102] "The Careless Husband," "The Humor of the Age," and "Magbeth." [64] "Sonatas or Solos for the violin with a thorough bass for the harpsichord, or bass-violin." "Sonatas for flute and bass," and "A Lamentation for the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell." ”

“ The next year, 1683, a second son died, and in 1687 a third boy two months old was buried in the cloisters of the abbey. This monotonous return of the hand of death must have embittered the life of these two, who seem to have remained lovers always. But in May, 1688, a daughter was born, named Frances after her mother; and she outlived both parents. She married a poet, when she and her lover were each nineteen, and named a child Frances after the grandmother. On Sept. 6th, 1689, Henry Purcell's son Edward was baptised, and he also lived to attain some distinction as an organist. ”

“ What killing looks and graceful motions! How the faces of the whole ring are dressed in smiles! How the repartee goes round; how wit and folly, elegance, and awkward imitation of it, set one another off!" These are the days when young Henry Purcell bends for hours-320- over the Westminster Abbey organ, alone; and Child, Locke, Lawes, and Gibbons are setting ballads to entrancing cadences, and conveying them to Master W. Thackeray, the music-printer, at The Angel, in Duck Lane ”

“ Edward Purcell, an elder brother of the composer, was a distinguished officer, who took part in the Siege of Gibraltar, and ended his days in honourable retirement at the seat of the Earl of Abingdon, at Wytham, near Oxford, in the chancel of which Church he is interred. Another small point is the fact that Purcell's first published work, the Sonatas, was issued with a portrait of the composer and with a coat-of-arms. All this looks as if "Roger Purcell, the 'Bayliffe' of Mr. Giles," (see p. 120) is not so likely to have been an ancestor of the musician as one of the Irish Purcells. ”

“ Anecdotes, Biographical Sketches, by Letitia Matilda Hawkins.
[53] "The English affect more the Italian than the French music, and their own compositions are between the gravity of the first and the levity of the other. They have had several great masters of their own. Henry Purcell's works in that kind are esteemed beyond Lully's everywhere, and they have now a good many very eminent masters; but the taste of the town being at this day all Italian, it is a great discouragement to them."—Mackay's Journey Through England, 1722-3. ”

“ This great advance in our music was carried on by the immortal Purcell, who, as a choir-boy under Humfrey, was, no doubt, an eager listener to the "new effects" which his master introduced. The pupil is so great, one is in danger of forgetting the master. At least here we have endeavoured to do some justice to the short-lived genius Pelham Humfrey. ”

“ This is the first notice we get of the Purcell family, about whom I hope to say more in a later Lecture. It is an interesting fact that the composer of the music to the last important Masque (Milton's Comus) should have helped also in what was apparently the first English Opera. [4]
Lawes at the Restoration was re-appointed to his Chapel Royal post, and composed the {83} Anthem Zadok the Priest for the Coronation of Charles II. He did not long survive the revival of his fortunes. He lived in the little Almonry at Westminster, the block of ancient buildings in which the Purcell family lived. ”

“ In 1695 the funeral of Queen Mary took place {137} in the Abbey, Purcell contributing an Anthem and other music. The solemn March for "flat mournful trumpets" has lately been recovered and published; this is a beautiful specimen of Purcell's art, and, it is said, was played at his own funeral.
Purcell died on November 21st, 1695, and Dr Cummings, in his Life of Purcell, draws a moving picture of the death of the composer "in a house on the west side of Dean's Yard." But—Purcell never lived in Dean's Yard. Rate Books are not romantic, but generally trustworthy. ”

“ Purcell composed another set of Sonatas, which was published after his death. One of them, generally called The Golden Sonata, is, perhaps, the best known of any in either of the issues. But it is inferior to others, particularly No. 4 of the first set, and altogether I do not think the second is at all on a level with the first. I may add that I have in my library the parts of the original publication of the first set. The Continuo contains an immense number of additional figures, and there are a few corrections in the other parts, which I have never found in any other copy. ”

“ In Henry Lawes we have a subject of particular interest. No musician of the 17th or probably of any century, has been so praised by the poets, and few musicians of reputation have been so disdainfully treated by the old musical historians. I think we shall find Henry Lawes worthy of inclusion amongst the Twelve Good Musicians with whom I am dealing. ”

“ However this may be, Humfrey succeeded him as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and later, jointly with Thomas Purcell, he was appointed Composer in Ordinary for the Violins to His Majesty.
It was in this year, 1672, that he wrote a charming little song called Wherever I am and Whatever I do. It was written for Dryden's Conquest of Granada, produced in that year.
Nothing of any importance is chronicled of him for the last two years of his all too short life. He died at Windsor on July 13th, 1674, and was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near the south east door. ”

“ Again I have discovered in MS. parts in the Bodleian Library, and had performed at a Lecture at the Royal Institution, a Sonata in A by Matteis, in the exact Sonata form used by Purcell in 1683; and, though the date of this MS. composition cannot be traced, it is at least as likely to have been composed before 1683 as after. However, I am not asserting that a composer like Purcell copied Matteis's works. I am only saying that it was Matteis who made the Italian chamber-music prevalent in London, and that but for him Purcell would possibly never have thought or written in that style. ”

“ To the Gentlemen of the Musical Society, and particularly the Stewards for the year ensuing, William Bridgman, Esq., Nicholas Staggins, Doctor in Music, Gilbert Dolben, Esq., and Mr. Francis Forcer. Gentlemen, your kind Approbation and benign Reception of the performance of these Musical Compositions on St. Cecilia's Day, by way of Gratitude, claim this Dedication; which likewise furnishes the Author with an [Pg 41] opportunity of letting the World know the Obligations he lies under to you; and that he is to all Lovers of Music, a real Friend and Servant.—Henry Purcell. ”

“ He goes on to explain the meaning of certain Italian "terms of Art perhaps unusual," such as Adagio, Grave, Presto, Largo, etc., and concludes with a wish that his book may fall into no other hands but those who carry musical souls about them; for he is willing to flatter himself into a belief that with such his labours will seem neither unpleasant nor unprofitable."
The question of the models that Purcell had in writing these fine Sonatas and what famous Italian Masters he imitated has been often debated. ”

“ This is a very interesting entry. It shows Locke associated with Purcell's father; it gives another instance of Mr Pepys never missing the opportunity of cultivating the friendship of good musicians, and, apart from the musical side, as an historical matter of interest the words of the Canon Domine Salvum fac Regem show the feeling of loyalty towards the Crown which ended in the Restoration; words which ten years before it would have been a heresy to utter. ”

“ In the domain of Sacred Music Orlando Gibbons certainly holds the foremost place amongst the English composers of the contrapuntal school. No name is better known in our Cathedrals. In great gatherings of Cathedral Choirs in my young days (alas! we do not now have such gatherings to any great extent) Gibbons' splendid Service in F was always an item to which we looked forward. And he has left us almost as great a collection of anthems as {42} Purcell did in later years. Many of them were composed for special occasions. One was a wedding Anthem "for my Lord Somerset" ”

“ Although a splendid piece of work it is that of a man of experience and not of a youth.
One of the composer's best Operas is Dioclesian, an adaption from Beaumont and Fletcher by {133} Betterton. It is scored for strings, flutes, hautboys (3) , bassoons and trumpets. It is very interesting music, and there is a "Masque" included in it, containing some of the host of Purcell's operatic work. Purcell corrected the copies of the first issue by his own hand. ”