Henry Purcell
Life
Born: 10 September 1659
Died: 21 November 1695
Biography
The entry in Cathedral Music, Volume 2 (William Boyce) reads:
"Henry Purcell, was one of the Children of the Chapel Royal, and became Organist of the same in 1682. He was also Organist of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, which Place he resigned in 1693.
He died in 1695, aged 37, and was buried in the North Isle of the said Church. On the Stone erected to his Memory is inscribed
- Here lies Henry Purcell, Esq; who left this Place, and is gone to that Blessed Place where only his Harmony can be exceeded.
And on his Grave-stone, as follows:
- Applaud so great a Guest Celestial Pow'rs, / Who now resides with you, but once was ours:
- Yet let invidious Earth no more reclaim / Her short-liv'd Fav'rite, and her chiefest Fame,
- Complaining that so prematurely dy'd / Good Nature's Pleasure, and Devotion's Pride,
- Dy'd! No, he lives while yonder Organs sound, / And sacred Echoes to the Choir rebound.
The Poet Dryden wrote an Elegy on his Death, which was set to Music by Dr. John Blow, who had been his Master. He appears to have possessed a Genius superior to any of his Predecessors, together with a depth of Musical Knowledge not inferior to the most learned of them. His Talents were not confined to any particular Manner or Stile of Composition, for he was equally excellent in every thing he attempted; and it is doing but common Justice to his Memory to acknowledge, that his Works, in general, affect more powerfully, than those of almost any other Author."
View the Wikipedia article on Henry Purcell.
List of choral works
- For works at CPDL sorted alphabetically by title, see Henry Purcell compositions
Sacred works
Morning canticles |
Evening canticles |
Services
- Communion service in B flat
- Funeral Music for Queen Mary, Z 860
Anthems
- See also a sortable table of Purcell anthems.
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Hymns and sacred songs
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Secular works
Catches
Odes and Welcome Songs
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Songs (A-H)
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Songs (I-R)
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Songs (S-Z)
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Operas and semi-operas
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Other works not listed above (See Template:CheckMissing for possible reasons and solutions)
- Blessed city, heavenly Salem
- Lasst uns freudig Dankeslieder
- The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel
Click here to search for this composer on CPDL
Publications
External links
- Works by Henry Purcell in the Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP)
- Biography on HOASM
- The Last Renaissance Man - Fiction novel, based on Purcell's life
- Purcell on the Chainki wiki of links
- A scan of the original engraving of "Tis Nature's Voice" (PDF)
- A scan of the original engraving of "A song sung by the girl in The Tempest" (PDF)
- Complete list of works Another reference for works