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74-519: The Purcell Operatic Society was a short-lived but influential London opera company devoted to the production of stage works by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries. It was founded in 1899 by the composer Martin Shaw and folded in 1902. Its stage director and production designer was Gordon Craig whose productions for the company marked the beginning of his career as a theatre practitioner . Their debut production of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas in 1900

148-719: A dancing master and the choreographer for the Dorset Garden Theatre . Priest's wife kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen, first in Leicester Fields and afterwards at Chelsea , where the opera was performed. It is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera , though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis : as in Blow's work, the action does not progress in spoken dialogue but in Italian-style recitative . Each work runs to less than one hour. At

222-467: A familiar example. Spectators were invited to join in the dancing. At the end, the players would take off their masks to reveal their identities. In England, Tudor court masques developed from earlier guisings , where a masked allegorical figure would appear and address the assembled company—providing a theme for the occasion—with musical accompaniment. Costumes were designed by professionals, including Niccolo da Modena . Hall's Chronicle explained

296-723: A large room in Guyon House lent to them by William Boulting, and later at Lested Lodge in Well Walk . Dido and Aeneas opened at the Hampstead Conservatoire on 17 May 1900, to critical success but a financial loss of £ 180 for the three performance run. Friends made up the shortfall, and the company staged the work again the following year at the Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill . It ran there from 25 to 30 March 1901, along with

370-497: A libretto by John Dryden) is featured in The Crown . Masque The masque tradition developed from the elaborate pageants and courtly shows of ducal Burgundy in the late Middle Ages . Masques were typically a complimentary offering to the prince among his guests and might combine pastoral settings, mythological fables, and the dramatic elements of ethical debate. There would invariably be some political and social application of

444-635: A march and passepied called Quick-step , which became so popular that Lord Wharton adapted the latter to the verses of Lillibullero . In or before January 1688, Purcell composed his anthem Blessed are they that fear the Lord by the express command of the King. A few months later, he wrote the music for D'Urfey's play, The Fool's Preferment . In 1690, he composed the music for Betterton 's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger 's Prophetess (afterwards called Dioclesian ) and Dryden's Amphitryon . In 1691, he wrote

518-500: A masque of Solomon and Sheba at Theobalds . Harington was not so much concerned with the masque itself as with the notoriously heavy drinking at the Court of King James I; "the entertainment went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers". As far as we can ascertain the details of the masque, the Queen of Sheba was to bring gifts to

592-422: A masque was to indicate that the modern choreography typical when he wrote the piece would not be suitable. Vaughan Williams' protégé Elizabeth Maconchy composed a masque, The Birds (1967–68), an "extravaganza" after Aristophanes . Constant Lambert also wrote a piece he called a masque, Summer's Last Will and Testament , for orchestra, chorus and baritone. His title he took from Thomas Nash , whose masque

666-561: A masque-like interlude in The Tempest , understood by modern scholars to have been heavily influenced by the masques of Ben Jonson and the stagecraft of Inigo Jones. There is also a masque sequence in his Romeo and Juliet and Henry VIII . John Milton 's Comus (with music by Henry Lawes ) is described as a masque, though it is generally reckoned a pastoral play . There is a detailed, humorous, and malicious (and possibly completely fictitious) account by Sir John Harington in 1606 of

740-477: A musical influence on the young Purcell. Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673 when 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 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, when he

814-451: A new staging of the opera for the Society's debut production. Both men were in their mid-twenties at the time, and it was to be Craig's first major outing as a stage director. Craig and Shaw decided to rent lodgings closer to Nannie Dryhurst while they prepared their first production, and moved into a house at 8 Downshire Hill which was to serve as their living quarters, studio, and the offices of

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888-574: A popular wedding processional was incorrectly attributed to Purcell for many years. The so-called Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary was in fact written around 1700 by a British composer named Jeremiah Clarke as the Prince of Denmark's March . Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary was reworked by Wendy Carlos for the title music of the 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange . The 1973 Rolling Stone review of Jethro Tull 's A Passion Play compared

962-624: A procession, as in Thomas Kyd 's The Spanish Tragedy (1580s), or they might form a pictorial tableau, as one in the Shakespeare collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre (III.i)—a tableau that is immediately explicated at some length by the poet-narrator, Gower . Dumbshows were a Medieval element that continued to be popular in early Elizabethan drama , but by the time Pericles (c. 1607–08) or Hamlet (c. 1600–02) were staged, they were perhaps quaintly old-fashioned: "What means this, my lord?"

1036-471: A setting of the birthday ode for Queen Mary , Arise, my muse and four years later wrote one of his most elaborate, important and magnificent works – a setting for another birthday ode for the Queen, written by Nahum Tate, entitled Come Ye Sons of Art . In 1687, he resumed his connection with the theatre by furnishing the music for John Dryden 's tragedy Tyrannick Love . In this year, Purcell also composed

1110-676: A sustained musical setting of a dramatic text. It was his only opportunity to compose a work in which the music carried the entire drama. The story of Dido and Aeneas derives from the original source in Virgil's epic the Aeneid . During the early part of 1679, he produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee 's Theodosius , and Thomas d'Urfey 's Virtuous Wife . In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey 10 years before, resigned his office in favour of Purcell. Purcell now devoted himself almost entirely to

1184-420: A week. Nevertheless, the production's finances were precarious. The 1901 Dido and Aeneas revival had not made any profit, and Acis and Galatea had no working capital apart from two or three small donations from friends, including one of £10 from Walter Crane . With insufficient money to pay the stage hands and other creditors, the planned two-week run had to be curtailed to six performances. According to Craig,

1258-482: A while" from Purcell's incidental music to Oedipus , Z. 583 was included in the soundtrack of the 2018 film The Favourite , along with the second movement of his Trumpet Sonata in D major, Z. 850, performed by the English Baroque Soloists , conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner . "What Power Art Thou" (from King Arthur, or The British Worthy (Z. 628), a semi-opera in five acts with music by Purcell and

1332-447: Is Ophelia's reaction. In English masques, purely musical interludes might be accompanied by a dumbshow. The masque has its origins in a folk tradition where masked players would unexpectedly call on a nobleman in his hall, dancing and bringing gifts on certain nights of the year, or celebrating dynastic occasions. The rustic presentation of "Pyramus and Thisbe" as a wedding entertainment in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream offers

1406-502: Is a Henry Purcell Society of Boston, which performs his music in live concert. There is a Purcell Society in London, which collects and studies Purcell manuscripts and musical scores, concentrating on producing revised versions of the scores of all his music. Purcell's works have been catalogued by Franklin Zimmerman , who gave them a number preceded by Z. So strong was his reputation that

1480-628: Is a bronze monument to Purcell, sculpted by Glynn Williams and unveiled in 1995 to mark the 300th anniversary of his death. In 2009, Purcell was selected by the Royal Mail for their "Eminent Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue. A Purcell Club was founded in London in 1836 for promoting the performance of his music but was dissolved in 1863. In 1876 a Purcell Society was founded, which published new editions of his works. A modern-day Purcell Club has been created, and provides guided tours and concerts in support of Westminster Abbey. Today there

1554-565: Is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. The music that he had earlier composed for Queen Mary's funeral was performed during his funeral. Purcell was universally mourned as "a very great master of music".  Following his death, the officials at Westminster honoured him by unanimously voting that he be buried with no expense spared in the north aisle of the Abbey. His epitaph reads: "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and

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1628-450: Is gone to that Blessed Place where only His harmony can be exceeded." Purcell and his wife Frances had six children, four of whom died in infancy . His wife, as well as his son Edward (1689–1740) and daughter Frances, survived him. His wife Frances 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

1702-483: Is the anthem They that go down to the sea in ships. In gratitude for the providential escape of King Charles II 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 challenging work opens with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to

1776-524: The Harefield Entertainment . In Scotland, masques were performed at court, particularly at wedding celebrations, and the royal wardrobe provided costumes . Performers at a masque at Castle Campbell dressed as shepherds. Mary, Queen of Scots , Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley , and David Rizzio took part in a masque in February 1566. Mary attended the wedding of her servant Bastian Pagez , and it

1850-518: The soundtrack of the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice features a dance titled "A Postcard to Henry Purcell". This is a version by composer Dario Marianelli of Purcell's Abdelazar theme. In the German-language 2004 movie, Downfall , the music of Dido's Lament is used repeatedly as Nazi Germany collapses . The 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom contains Benjamin Britten 's version of

1924-514: The Burial Service was written in the style of "the great Master". Croft preserved Purcell's setting of "Thou knowest Lord" (Z 58) in his service, for reasons "obvious to any artist"; it has been sung at every British state funeral ever since. More recently, the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a famous sonnet entitled simply "Henry Purcell", with a headnote reading: "The poet wishes well to

1998-706: The Funeral of Queen Mary . Besides the operas and semi-operas already mentioned, Purcell wrote the music and songs for Thomas d'Urfey's The Comical History of Don Quixote , Bonduca , The Indian Queen and others, a vast quantity of sacred music, and numerous odes , cantatas , and other miscellaneous pieces. The quantity of his instrumental chamber music is minimal after his early career, and his keyboard music consists of an even more minimal number of harpsichord suites and organ pieces. In 1693, Purcell composed music for two comedies: The Old Bachelor , and The Double Dealer . Purcell also composed for five other plays within

2072-421: The King, representing Solomon, and was to be followed by the spirits of Faith, Hope, Charity, Victory and Peace. Unfortunately, as Harington reported, the actress playing the Queen tripped over the steps of the throne, sending her gifts flying; Hope and Faith were too drunk to speak a word, while Peace, annoyed at finding her way to the throne blocked, made good use of her symbolic olive branches to slap anyone who

2146-600: The Orchestra is based on a theme from Purcell's Abdelazar . Stylistically, the aria "I know a bank" from Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream is clearly inspired by Purcell's aria "Sweeter than Roses", which Purcell originally wrote as part of incidental music to Richard Norton's Pausanias , the Betrayer of His Country . In a 1940 interview Ignaz Friedman stated that he considered Purcell as great as Bach and Beethoven . In Victoria Street, Westminster, England, there

2220-546: The Purcell Operatic Society. To pay the initial rent on the Downshire Hill house, Shaw sold many of his books and Craig pawned the gold watch which Henry Irving had given him. From the outset, the Society was run on a shoe-string using gifted amateur musicians and singers (75 in all), recruited from Martin Shaw and Nannie Dryhurst's Hampstead friends, supplemented by two professionals for the leads. Shaw arranged

2294-510: The Puritans closed the English theatres in 1642, the masque was the highest art form in England. But because of its ephemeral nature, not a lot of documentation related to masques remains, and much of what is said about the production and enjoyment of masques is still part speculation. While the masque was no longer as popular as it was at its height in the 17th century, there are many later examples of

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2368-460: The Rev. John Gostling , then at Canterbury , but afterwards a gentleman of His Majesty's Chapel. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for Gostling's extraordinary basso profondo voice, 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

2442-595: The Rondeau in Purcell's Abdelazar created for his 1946 The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra . In 2013, the Pet Shop Boys released their single " Love Is a Bourgeois Construct " incorporating one of the same ground basses from King Arthur used by Michael Nyman in his The Draughtsman's Contract score. Olivia Chaney performs her adaptation of "There's Not a Swain" on her CD "The Longest River". The song "Music for

2516-553: The Society's fourth production, a masque entitled Harvest Home , which was to incorporate both English folk songs and songs by Purcell. However, the project was abandoned when the Society folded. After the Purcell Operatic Society's demise, Shaw and Craig went on to collaborate on three other productions, all with Craig as designer/stage director and Shaw as music director: The Vikings and Much Ado About Nothing , both of which starred Ellen Terry and had incidental music composed by Martin Shaw, were commercial disasters and proved to be

2590-463: The Society's new production of The Masque of Love from Purcell's semi-opera , Dioclesian . To help pull in audiences, Ellen Terry , Craig's mother, also performed Charles Reade 's one-act play Nance Oldfield as a curtain raiser . However, reviews criticised the addition of the play which had no obvious connection with the other two works and made the evening very long. Much of the audience had left before The Masque of Love even started. Despite

2664-491: The allegory. Such pageants often celebrated a birth, marriage, change of ruler or a royal entry and invariably ended with a tableau of bliss and concord. Masque imagery tended to be drawn from Classical rather than Christian sources, and the artifice was part of the Grand dance. Masque thus lent itself to Mannerist treatment in the hands of master designers like Giulio Romano or Inigo Jones . The New Historians , in works like

2738-403: The composition of sacred music, and for six years severed his connection with the theatre. He had probably written his two important stage works before taking up his new office. 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. His eldest son

2812-486: The compositions Hail! Bright Cecilia (1692), Come Ye Sons of Art (1694) and Funeral Sentences and Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (1695). After his death, Purcell was honoured by many of his contemporaries, including his old friend John Blow , who wrote An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell (Mark how the lark and linnet sing) with text by his old collaborator, John Dryden. William Croft 's 1724 setting for

2886-575: The concord and unity between Queen and Kingdom. A descriptive narrative of a processional masque is the masque of the Seven Deadly Sins in Edmund Spenser 's The Faerie Queene (Book i, Canto IV). A particularly elaborate masque, performed over the course of two weeks for Queen Elizabeth, is described in the 1821 novel Kenilworth , by Sir Walter Scott . Queen Elizabeth was entertained at country houses during her progresses with performances like

2960-413: The creditors' agents called at the theatre on the last night to ensure that no property was removed and even searched the bags of the chorus members as they left. Ellen Terry eventually paid the outstanding bills, but the Purcell Operatic Society was essentially bankrupt, and with no funds forthcoming for future productions, finally had to close down. In July 1902, Shaw and Craig had already started work on

3034-517: The criticism, Craig approached Lillie Langtry to provide a similar curtain raiser for their next production, but after showing initial interest in the proposal, she declined. The company's third and last production was Handel 's Acis and Galatea (performed with The Masque of Love ) which opened at the Great Queen Street Theatre on 10 March 1902. Shaw had convinced the theatre's owner, W. S. Penley , to let them rent it for only £40

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3108-622: The divine genius of Purcell and praises him that, whereas other musicians have given utterance to the moods of man's mind, he has, beyond that, uttered in notes the very make and species of man as created both in him and in all men generally." Purcell also had a strong influence on the composers of the English musical renaissance of the early 20th century, most notably Benjamin Britten , who arranged many of Purcell's vocal works for voice(s) and piano in Britten's Purcell Realizations , including from Dido and Aeneas , and whose The Young Person's Guide to

3182-529: The essays of Bevington and Holbrook's The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque (1998), have pointed out the political subtext of masques. At times, the political subtext was not far to seek: The Triumph of Peace , put on with a large amount of parliament-raised money by Charles I , caused great offence to the Puritans . Catherine de' Medici's court festivals , often even more overtly political, were among

3256-420: The first English Te Deum ever composed with orchestral accompaniment. This work was annually performed at St Paul's Cathedral until 1712, after which it was performed alternately with Handel 's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate until 1743, when both works were replaced by Handel's Dettingen Te Deum . He composed an anthem and two elegies for Queen Mary II 's funeral, his Funeral Sentences and Music for

3330-505: The first half of the 19th century. With the renaissance of English musical composition during the late 19th and early 20th century (the so-called English Musical Renaissance ), English composers turned to the masque as a way of connecting to a genuinely English musical-dramatic form in their attempts to build a historically informed national musical style for England. Examples include those by Arthur Sullivan , George Macfarren , and even Edward Elgar , whose imperialistic The Crown of India

3404-492: The last plays Craig ever directed in England. † The programme began with Nance Oldfield performed by Ellen Terry 's company The following were the Honorary and General committee members listed in the programme for the 1900 performance of Dido and Aeneas : Henry Purcell Henry Purcell ( / ˈ p ɜːr s əl / , rare: / p ər ˈ s ɛ l / ; c.  10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695)

3478-516: The latter part of the 17th century, a form in which John Dryden and Henry Purcell collaborated, borrows some elements from the masque and further elements from the contemporary courtly French opera of Jean-Baptiste Lully . In the 18th century, masques were even less frequently staged. " Rule, Britannia! " started out as part of Alfred , a masque about Alfred the Great co-written by James Thomson and David Mallet with music by Thomas Arne which

3552-445: The lower. 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 been attributed to this period, and its earliest production may well have predated the documented one of 1689. It was written to a libretto furnished by Nahum Tate , and performed in 1689 in cooperation with Josias Priest ,

3626-452: The masque at their court became more significant. Plots were often on classical or allegorical themes, glorifying the royal or noble sponsor. At the end, the audience would join with the actors in a final dance. Ben Jonson wrote a number of masques with stage design by Inigo Jones . Their works are usually thought of as the most significant in the form. Samuel Daniel and Sir Philip Sidney also wrote masques. William Shakespeare included

3700-450: The masque. During the late 17th century, English semi-operas by composers such as Henry Purcell had masque scenes inset between the acts of the play proper. In the 18th century, William Boyce and Thomas Arne , continued to utilize the masque genre mostly as an occasional piece, and the genre became increasingly associated with patriotic topics. Acis and Galatea (Handel) is another successful example. There are isolated examples throughout

3774-564: The most spectacular entertainments of her day, although the " intermezzi " of the Medici court in Florence could rival them. In English theatre tradition, a dumbshow is a masque-like interlude of silent mime usually with allegorical content that refers to the occasion of a play or its theme, the most famous being the dumbshow played out in Hamlet (III.ii). Dumbshows might be a moving spectacle, like

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3848-671: The music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur, or The British Worthy . In 1692, he composed The Fairy-Queen (an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream ), the score of which (his longest for theatre) was rediscovered in 1901 and published by the Purcell Society . The Indian Queen followed in 1695, in which year he also wrote songs for Dryden and Davenant's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (recently, this has been disputed by music scholars ), probably including "Full fathom five" and "Come unto these yellow sands". The Indian Queen

3922-470: The musical style of the album with that of Purcell. In 2009 Pete Townshend of The Who , an English rock band that established itself in the 1960s, identified Purcell's harmonies, particularly the use of suspension and resolution (Townshend has mentioned Chaconne from The Gordian Knot Untied) that he had learned from producer Kit Lambert , as an influence on the band's music (in songs such as " Won't Get Fooled Again " (1971), " I Can See for Miles " (1967) and

3996-501: The new fashion of Italian-style masque at the English court in 1512. The essential feature was the entry of disguised dancers and musicians to a banquet. They would appear in character and perform, and then dance with the guests, and then leave the venue. According to George Cavendish , Henry VIII came to Cardinal Wolsey's Hampton Court , by boat "in a masque with a dozen of other maskers all in garments like shepherds made of fine cloth of gold and fine crimson satin paned, and caps of

4070-429: The same with visors", wearing false beards, accompanied with torch bearers and drummers. Their arrival at the palace water gate was announced by cannon fire. Edward Hall described similar masques involving the king's disguised appearance. In the play Henry VIII , by Fletcher and Shakespeare , the masque was recalled when Henry in shepherd's disguise meets Anne Boleyn . Masques at Elizabeth I 's court emphasized

4144-530: The same year. In July 1695, Purcell composed an ode for the Duke of Gloucester for his sixth birthday. The ode is titled Who can from joy refrain? Purcell's four-part sonatas were issued in 1697. In the final six years of his life, Purcell wrote music for forty-two plays. Purcell died on 21 November 1695 at his home in Marsham Street, at the height of his career. He is believed to have been 35 or 36 years old at

4218-525: The scores, rehearsed and trained the singers and conducted all the productions. Craig not only designed and directed all the productions, he also produced and illustrated the programmes and designed the Society's stationery and posters. Neither of them took any pay. Craig's sister, Edith Craig , also worked on their productions as did the painter Jean Inglis and the scenic artist William Thompson Hemsley. Rehearsals took place in private houses in Hampstead, first in

4292-487: The tailor with all his strength buttoned on my doublet ". Reconstructions of Stuart masques have been few and far between. Part of the problem is that only texts survive complete; there is no complete music, only fragments, so no authoritative performance can be made without interpretive invention. By the time of the English Restoration in 1660, the masque was passé, but the English semi-opera which developed in

4366-619: The time, Dido and Aeneas never found its way to the theatre, though it appears to have been very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been extensively copied, but only one song was printed by Purcell's widow in Orpheus Britannicus , and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840 when it was printed by the Musical Antiquarian Society under the editorship of Sir George Macfarren . The composition of Dido and Aeneas gave Purcell his first chance to write

4440-744: The time. The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning home late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out. Another is that he succumbed to tuberculosis . The beginning of Purcell's will reads: In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the City of Westminster, gentleman, being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God) do by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my loving wife, Frances Purcell, all my estate both real and personal of what nature and kind soever... Purcell

4514-468: The very Purcellian intro to " Pinball Wizard "). Purcell's music was widely featured as background music in the Academy Award winning 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer , with a soundtrack on CBS Masterworks Records. The 1995 film, England, My England , tells the story of an actor who is himself writing a play about Purcell's life and music, and features many of his compositions. In the 21st century,

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4588-540: Was a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England . Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell , the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after his brother Henry's death. The family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from 1659 onwards. After his father's death in 1664, Purcell

4662-437: Was adapted from a tragedy by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard . In these semi-operas (another term for which at the time was "dramatic opera"), the main characters of the plays do not sing but speak their lines: the action moves in dialogue rather than recitative. The related songs are sung "for" them by singers, who have minor dramatic roles. Purcell's Te Deum and Jubilate Deo were written for Saint Cecilia 's Day, 1694,

4736-520: Was an English composer of Baroque music . Purcell's musical style was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest English opera composers, Purcell has been assessed with John Dunstaple and William Byrd as England's most important early music composer. Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster in 1659. Henry Purcell Senior, whose older brother Thomas Purcell

4810-626: Was appointed organist of St Clement's, Eastcheap , London, in 1711 and was succeeded by his son Edward Henry Purcell (died 1765). Both men were buried in St Clement's near the organ gallery. Purcell worked in many genres, both in works closely linked to the court, such as symphony song, to the Chapel Royal, such as the symphony anthem, and the theatre. Among Purcell's most notable works are his opera Dido and Aeneas (1688), his semi-operas Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691), The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Timon of Athens (1695), as well as

4884-421: Was born in this same year, but he was short-lived. His first printed composition, Twelve Sonatas , was published in 1683. For some years after this, he was busy in the production of sacred music, odes addressed to the king and royal family, and other similar works. In 1685, he wrote two of his finest anthems, I was glad and My heart is inditing, for the coronation of King James II . In 1690 he composed

4958-419: Was composed in 1678. It is a psalm that is prescribed for Christmas Day and also to be read at morning prayer on the fourth day of the month. In 1679, he wrote songs for John Playford 's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues and an anthem, the name of which is unknown, for the Chapel Royal. From an extant letter written by Thomas Purcell we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of

5032-419: Was eleven. The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research. It is assumed that the three-part song Sweet tyranness, I now resign was written by him as a child. After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under John Blow . He attended Westminster School and in 1676 was appointed copyist at Westminster Abbey. Henry Purcell's earliest anthem , Lord, who can tell ,

5106-492: Was first performed at Cliveden , country house of Frederick, Prince of Wales . Performed to celebrate the third birthday of Frederick's daughter Augusta , it remains among the best-known British patriotic songs up to the present, while the masque of which it was originally part is remembered by only specialist historians. The most outstanding humanists , poets and artists of the day, in the full intensity of their creative powers, devoted themselves to producing masques; and until

5180-424: Was in her way. Francis Bacon paid for The Masque of Flowers to celebrate the marriage of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset and Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset . James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle , was a performer and sponsor of court masques. He wrote about the tight-fitting costumes, that it was the fashion "to appear very small in the waist, I remember was drawn up from the ground by both hands whilst

5254-497: Was one of the earliest staged performances of the work in modern times. Martin Shaw founded the Purcell Operatic Society in 1899 on the suggestion of his Hampstead neighbour, Nannie Dryhurst, who became the Society's secretary. Interest in Purcell's long-neglected stage works had been revived four years earlier on the bicentenary of his death when Dido and Aeneas received its first major staging in almost two hundred years. Shaw recruited his close friend, Gordon Craig , to create

5328-533: Was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Thomas, who showed him great affection and kindness. Thomas arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke , Master of the Children , and afterwards under Cooke's successor Pelham Humfrey , who was a pupil of Lully . The composer Matthew Locke was a family friend and, particularly with his semi-operas , probably also had

5402-400: Was said she wore male costume for the masque, "which apparel she loved often times to be in, in dancings secretly with the King her husband, and going in masks by night through the streets". James VI and Anne of Denmark wore masque costumes to dance at weddings at Alloa Tower and Tullibardine Castle . After James and Anne became king and queen of England too, narrative elements of

5476-552: Was the central feature at the London Coliseum in 2005. Masques also became common as scenes in operettas and musical theatre works set during the Elizabethan period. In the 20th century, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote several masques, including his masterpiece in the genre, Job, a masque for dancing which premiered in 1930, although the work is closer to a ballet than a masque as it was originally understood. His designating it

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