Henry Purcell

1 Pages 355 Words

Henry Purcell


Born in 1659, Henry Purcell was the finest and most original composer of his day. He lived a very short life; he died in 1695. Though his life was short he was able to enjoy and make full use of the transformed flowering of music after the Restoration of the Monarchy. As the son of a musician at Court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal, Henry Purcell worked in Westminster for three different kings over twenty-five years. In the Chapel Royal young Henry Purcell studied with Dr. John Blow. Legend has is that when, in 1679, Purcell succeeded Dr. Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey, the elder musician stepped aside in recognition of the greater genius. It is true that on Purcell’s death in 1695 Blow returned to the place of duty, and would write a dignified Ode on the Death of Purcell.
In addition to his majestic duties Henry Purcell also dedicated much of his talent to writing operas, or rather melodious dramas, and incidental stage music. He would also write chamber music in the form of harpsichord suites and trio sonatas, and became occupied with the escalating London public concert scene. One of the most important musical developments in Restoration London was the continuing establishment of regular public concerts.
In 1683 a group of gentlemen amateurs, and professional musicians started a “Musical Society” in London to celebrate the “Festival of St. Cecilia. They asked Henry Purcell, he was only 24 years old, to be the first to write an Ode for their festivals. Henry Purcell was to compose two more such Odes for the Society.
Most of Purcell’s theatre music was written between 1690 and 1695, and within that comparatively brief period he supplied music for more than forty plays. Much of the instrumental music was published in 1697, when the composer’s widow compiled A Collection of Ayres; Compos’d for the Theatre, and upon Other Occasions. This body of music, viewed as a whole, shows that Henry ...