# Henry Purcell



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

How popular is he today? Does he cound as Baroque? I listened to King Arthur by Purcell and I must say it was wonderful; could you reccomend me something else (either from him or another composer) that sounds similar?


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Purcell is a personal favorite of mine. He was Baroque, but came before JS Bach and Handel (Purcell died when they were adolescents). Purcell had an irresistible combination of melodic sweetness with melancholic undertones, often with unusual harmonies and chromatic coloring. He has a handful of the most beautiful compositions ever. Sadly, like Mozart and Schubert he died at a very young age. There isn't much from him I wouldn't recommend. I have the Hyperion collections of his Complete Sacred Music, Songs, Odes, and Ayres; as well as Brilliant Classic's Complete Chamber Music collections; and Decca's Complete Theater Music. I wouldn't want to be without any of it, but if I had to select, the Sacred Music and Chamber Music are his best. Finally, there are his operas and semi-operas, of which King Arthur belongs. His masterpiece in this realm is Dido & Aeneas, which features one of the most heartrending arias ever written in Dido's Lament. Of the others, King Arthur and The Fairy-Queen are both sparkling, beautiful works.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Great composer, one of my very favorites.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Very great composer, especially as he only lived 36 years.

Get a load of this!


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

He's not among my favorites but I would never want to be without the Funeral Music for Queen Mary as performed by the Geraint Jones Singers and Orchestra. Modern versions of the music such as that by John Gardiner eviscerate it, in my opinion.

Another great piece, not by Purcell but about him, is John Blow's Ode On the Death of Henry Purcell.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Nothing like the theater works, but remarkable, are the fantasias for viols. They were late specimens of a type of consort music popular among English composers of the preceding generation, but their rich and startling chromatic polyphony makes them, I think, the ultimate representatives of the form.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Nothing like the theater works, but remarkable, are the fantasias for viols. They were late specimens of a type of consort music popular among English composers of the preceding generation, but their rich and startling chromatic polyphony makes them, I think, the ultimate representatives of the form.


No argument here. Those are beautiful works.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

From what I know, I would also recommend his odes, particularly the _Ode for St. Cecilia's Day_, and the famous _Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary_, one of his last completed works. It was played in his own funeral.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Nothing new to share here, only that Dido & Aeneas is a killer opera. Definitely my favorite of the few baroque operas I have heard (its short length being a benefit in my case). And the Viol Fantasias are also great. Jordi Savall & Hèsperion XX have a great recording of some (maybe all? not sure how many he wrote) of them. He was a very underrated composer and (to me, anyway) one of the most important composers between the early baroque of Monteverdi and the late baroque of Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. 

Additionally, I'm just remembering that the Queen Mary Funeral Music is also great. He was ahead of his time.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

No love for the 3 and 4 part sonatas? 

(I don't but I'm not a great lover of baroque anyway. They smack too much of Corelli for me.)


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

My over all impression of Purcell is he was an excellent composer. A touch more melancholy in his sound perhaps than most Baroque and also above average in terms of his harmonic adventurousness. In general I enjoy Baroque music, and I quite like Purcell. I was listening to some of his harpsichord pieces the other day, and found them quite good. Performed here by Kenneth Gilbert:


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Purcell: Abdelazer (Z 570) - The Complete Incidental Music


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Widely considered to be the last English conposer of international stature until Elgar. No argument here.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

MarkW said:


> Widely considered to be the last English conposer of international stature until Elgar. No argument here.


Does anyone know what it could be that might account for that? There was a long time between the two...


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

flamencosketches said:


> Does anyone know what it could be that might account for that? There was a long time between the two...


Weird Taste. Handel used up all the oxygen in the room for the remainder of the Baroque (and insisted on using Italianate settings of English, which didn't suit the language at all), the classical era skipped GB entirely (but the Philharmonic society lauded Haydn's visit and actually sent money to Beethoven to commission his Ninth.) In the nineteenth c., there was a taste for Mendelssohn style oratorios, which they tried to write lots of -- but no one but Mendelssohn could do it (or would even try, they being what they were ). The British academicians (Hamilton Harty et al) had examples but not the talent. Sullivan had immense talent for light opera, but little else that could compete.


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## AeolianStrains (Apr 4, 2018)

MarkW said:


> Weird Taste. Handel used up all the oxygen in the room for the remainder of the Baroque (and insisted on using Italianate settings of English, which didn't suit the language at all), the classical era skipped GB entirely (but the Philharmonic society lauded Haydn's visit and actually sent money to Beethoven to commission his Ninth.) In the nineteenth c., there was a taste for Mendelssohn style oratorios, which they tried to write lots of -- but no one but Mendelssohn could do it (or would even try, they being what they were ). The British academicians (Hamilton Harty et al) had examples but not the talent. Sullivan had immense talent for light opera, but little else that could compete.


The society, mind you, that Muzio Clementi helped found after he moved to England permanently. From age 14 to 23, Clementi lived, trained, and performed solely in the UK, and then moved back there when he was in his 30s, where he lived out the rest of his days. From that background, he'd be pretty English. I haven't looked into what he considered himself or anything like that, but it's a major Classical/early Romantic presence in England.

Back to Purcell, two questions:

1. What's everyone's favorite King Arthur? I've listened to Pinnock, Gardiner, and Christie these past couple days. Hard to pick a favorite as they're all different. But it's good to get others' opinions.

2. Did Purcell in his What Power Art Thou influence Vivaldi's "Winter" from Le Quattro Stagioni? If not Purcell directly, what route of transmission would the works take to get to Vivaldi?


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

MarkW said:


> Weird Taste. Handel used up all the oxygen in the room for the remainder of the Baroque (and insisted on using Italianate settings of English, which didn't suit the language at all), the classical era skipped GB entirely (but the Philharmonic society lauded Haydn's visit and actually sent money to Beethoven to commission his Ninth.) In the nineteenth c., there was a taste for Mendelssohn style oratorios, which they tried to write lots of -- but no one but Mendelssohn could do it (or would even try, they being what they were ). The British academicians (Hamilton Harty et al) had examples but not the talent. Sullivan had immense talent for light opera, but little else that could compete.


I must have missed this earlier. I agree with most but wonder what you refer to as Handel's "Italianate settings of English". His operas (aside from Acis & Galatea) were in Italian. Do you feel that the later dramatic oratorios - or even Messiah - are using Italianate settings? I had certainly not heard them in that way. Without a specific focus on his use of English I think it is striking how well Handel wrote for the voice. As the singers were the stars that drew the crowds he probably had to be.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> I must have missed this earlier. I agree with most but wonder what you refer to as Handel's "Italianate settings of English". His operas (aside from Acis & Galatea) were in Italian. Do you feel that the later dramatic oratorios - or even Messiah - *are using Italianate settings? *I had certainly not heard them in that way. Without a specific focus on his use of English I think it is striking how well Handel wrote for the voice. As the singers were the stars that drew the crowds he probably had to be.


I am not an expert but I believe Handel is writing in the Italian style in his oratorios.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^^ I'll listen again - it has been a while - but it hadn't struck me that the _style _failed to suit the language. Wouldn't that be merely a matter of using a language that is unfamiliar for the style.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Enthusiast said:


> ^^^ I'll listen again - it has been a while - but it hadn't struck me that the _style _failed to suit the language. Wouldn't that be merely a matter of using a language that is unfamiliar for the style.


I would suggest that the best example is not from Handel at all, but the PDQ Bach parody of it, Iphigenia in Brooklyn


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^^ A parody that has enough truth to be mildly funny. I'm not sure it supports quite a strong statement about Handel's setting of English, though.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Anyone think Louis Couperin (1626 - 1661) influenced Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) ?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

regenmusic said:


> Anyone think Louis Couperin (1626 - 1661) influenced Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) ?


Froberger more likely I would have thought since the suites have a similar structure - P A G C S in Froberger and often P A C S in Purcell. But whether the influence was direct or by way of someone else I don't know (I don't know much about Purcell's period of music)

Frescobaldi an influence too maybe, listen to this, it sounds pretty Italian to me (and rather good!)


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