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Henry Purcell: Westminster Abbey
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Henry Purcell (born Westminster, London, 1659; died Westminster, November 21, 1695) was an English composer. Most musicians think he is the greatest English composer of all times. Although he only lived until he was 36 he wrote a very large amount of music. His compositions include church music, instrumental music, music for the theatre, even popular drinking songs. He wrote the first English opera. He lived in the time called the Baroque period.
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Henry Purcell died on 21 November, 1695, not long after the funeral of Queen Mary, and was buried five days later at Westminster Abbey. At his funeral was played the very piece he had written for the death of his Queen.
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Purcell is said to have been composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670. (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School, and in 1676 he was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey, and in the same year he composed the music to John Dryden's Aureng-Zebe and Thomas Shadwell's Epsom Wells and The Libertine. These were followed in 1677 by the music to Aphra Behn's tragedy, Abdelazar, and in 1678 by an overture and masque for Shadwell's new version of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. The chorus "In these delightful pleasant groves" from The Libertine is still performed.
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As if to show that his dramatic labors had in no way impaired his powers in the domain of sacred music, Purcell produced, in the last year of his life, a composition of a singularly solemn and impressive character. This was the music for the funeral service of Queen Mary. Perhaps the most eloquent tribute to its excellence is the fact that the anthem "Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts," has been used at every choral funeral service that has taken place at Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's since its first production. Dr. Croft, whose Burial Office has in great measure superseded Purcell's, refrained from composing to these words, on the ground that, "Purcell's music was unapproachable," and incorporated the anthem in question into his own work.
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Purcell is said to have been composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670. (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School, and in 1676 he was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey, and in the same year he composed the music to John Dryden's
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Purcell's constitution was delicate by inheritance, and had become further weakened by the strain of late hours necessitated by his professional duties. After a short illness, he died on November 21, 1695. In Westminster Abbey is a tablet to his memory; the inscription, whose authorship has been ascribed, perhaps wrongly, to Dryden, runs: "Here lyes Henry Purcell, Esq., who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded."
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