Composer: Henry Purcell
From HymnsWithoutWords
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Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) was an English composer of secular and sacred music. Born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster, son of Henry Purcell Senior was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Henry had two brothers Edward and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry's death. The family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from 1659 and onward.
After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) who was also a musician and a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel. He arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672), Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor. Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, at which time he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King.
Purcell is said to have been composing from childhood, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670. After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School, and in 1676 he was appointed copyist at Westminster Abbey. Purcell became the assistant to Hingston, keeper of the royal instruments in 1677.
His earliest anthem Lord, who can tell was composed in 1678. It is a psalm that is prescribed for Christmas Day and also to regularly be read at Morning Prayer on the fourth day of each month.
In 1679, he wrote some songs for John Playford's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues, and also an anthem for the Chapel Royal. From a letter written by Thomas Purcell, and still extant, we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of the Rev. John Gostling. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for this extraordinary voice, a basso profondo, which is known to have had a range of at least two full octaves, from D below the bass staff to the D above it. The dates of very few of these sacred compositions are known; perhaps the most notable example is the anthem They that go down to the sea in ships, in thanks for a providential escape of the King from shipwreck, Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, opening with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.
In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned his office in Purcell's favour and he now devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music. However, during the early part of the year, probably before taking up his new office, he had produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius, and Thomas d'Urfey's Virtuous Wife.
Between 1680 and 1688 Purcell wrote music for seven plays. The composition of his chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, has also been attributed to this period.
Soon after Purcell's marriage, in 1682, on the death of Edward Lowe, he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, an office which he was able to hold simultaneously with his position at Westminster Abbey.
Henry Purcell fathered six children by his wife Frances, four of whom died in infancy. His wife, as well as his son Edward (1689–1740) and daughter Frances, survived him. Frances the elder died in 1706, having published a number of her husband's works, including the now famous collection called Orpheus Britannicus, in two volumes, printed in 1698 and 1702, respectively. Edward was appointed organist of St Clement Eastcheap, London, in 1711 and was succeeded by his son Edward Henry Purcell (d. 1765). Both men were buried in St Clement's near the organ gallery.
