Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
A consensus exists that Henry Purcell was one of the greatest English composers of the baroque - or indeed any other - period.
Purcell was born in Westminster in the year Cromwell became Protector, placing him at an interesting tim in English history, his childhood encompassing the Restoration, the Plague and the Great Fire of London. His father was a choirmaster of the Chapel Royal from 1661 until his death in 1664, at which point the young Henry was taken under the wing of hin uncle Thomas - at that time Composer-in-Ordinary to the King's Violins. With this family it was hardly surprising that young Henry himself sang as a chorister in the Chapel Royal from around 1668. In June 1672 Henry was appointed assistant to his Godfather, John Hingeston, who had been organ maker and keeper of the king's instruments since the restoration in1660, and he maintained this post when he retired as chorister in December that year, when his voice broke; eventually in 1683 he became Hingeston's successor. During his period at the Chapel Royal he wrote his first compositions, the earliest of which is believed to be a birthday ode for Charles II composed in 1670. In 1677 he was appointed composer-in-ordinary for the king's violins on the death of Matthew Locke, and in 1679 he succeeded his teacher, John Blow, as organist of Westminster Abbey. At around this time he began writing sacred works, the first of which appeared in January or February 1679.
At around the time of his marriage in 1680 he began writing music for the theatre but he maintained his ecclesiastical background as well and in 1682 was appointed an organist of the Chapel Royal under Charles II. Some of his earliest published works, including the fantasias for viols and some masterpieces of counterpoint, date from 1680 and already demonstrate his mastery of composition. At around this time too, both his uncle and his second child died (his first four children all died in early infancy).
Purcell was more and more in demand as a composer, not least because of the popularity of his theatre music. This was known to a much wider audience than would have been aware of his ecclesiastical or court music. Much of the theatre music is made up of songs and instrumental pieces for spoken plays, but during the last five years of his life Purcell collaborated on five 'semi-operas' in which the music has a large share, with 'divertissements', songs, choral numbers and dances. His only true opera (i.e. with music throughout) was Dido and Aeneas, written for Josia Priest's School for Young Ladies at Chelsea; despite the limitations of Nahum Tate's libretto it is among the finest of 17th-century operas.
His court appointments were renewed by James II (1685) and by William III (1689), and on each occasion he had the duty of providing a second organ for the coronation, and the last royal occasion for which he wrote music was the funeral of Queen Mary 1695. Before the year ended Purcell himself was dead: he died in Westminster on 21 November and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 26 November 1695. At his funeral was played the very piece he had written for the death of his Queen.
Much of his work is well known still, but for the newcomer I recommend Dido and Aeneas; the Rondo from Abdelazer, familiar as the tune used by Britten in his "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra"; and the delightful "Come Ye Sons Of Art," first performed on 30 April 1694 for Queen Mary's birthday, a piece which is best sung by a male counter-tenor. Interestingly Purcell apparently had a fine bass voice but was also an accomplished counter-tenor himself.
