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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

Henry Purcell

1659 - 1695 AD

Born in the Commonwealth of England, native Londoner Henry Purcell began his musical training as a small child and was already composing by the age of eleven. He studied at Westminster School in the center of the city, and took his first job transcribing music at Westminster Abbey, where he became the organist in 1679.

From this point on, he devoted himself to composition. Most of his works, befitting his position, were sacred, but he also composed operas and secular works. Some of his famous operas include Dido and Aeneas, with a theme taken from Virgil's Aeneid; King Arthur, and The Fairy-Queen, with a theme taken from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Sometimes, Purcell also authored "semi-operas," which use spoken dialogue instead of recitative.

Purcell also wrote music for the British Crown, including a number of odes and anthems, and notably the Funeral Music for Queen Mary.

Purcell had a habit of staying out late, to the point that his wife instructed the servants not to let him in if he arrived home after midnight. At the age of 36, he came home after a night of drinking at a local tavern, found himself locked out of his own house, caught a cold, and died.

He is buried next to the organ in Westminster Abbey, under an epitaph that says, "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that Blessed Place where only His harmony can be exceeded." He would be remembered as the greatest English composer for the next several centuries.

Compositions

Fairest Isle (from King Arthur)

The Cold Song (from King Arthur)

Overture (from Dido and Aeneas)

Dido's Lament (from Dido and Aeneas)

Funeral Music for Queen Mary