As England's greatest composer of the Baroque, Henry
Purcell was dubbed the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his
ability to combine pungent English counterpoint with
expressive, flexible, and dramatic word settings. While
he did write instrumental music, including the
important viol fantasias, the vast majority of his
output was in the vocal/choral realm. His only opera,
Dido and Aeneas, divulged his sheer mastery in the
handling of the work's vast expressive canvas, which
included lively dance numbers...(+)
As England's greatest composer of the Baroque, Henry
Purcell was dubbed the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his
ability to combine pungent English counterpoint with
expressive, flexible, and dramatic word settings. While
he did write instrumental music, including the
important viol fantasias, the vast majority of his
output was in the vocal/choral realm. His only opera,
Dido and Aeneas, divulged his sheer mastery in the
handling of the work's vast expressive canvas, which
included lively dance numbers, passionate arias and
rollicking choruses. Purcell also wrote much incidental
music for stage productions, including that for
Dryden's King Arthur. His church music includes many
anthems, devotional songs, and other sacred works, but
few items for Anglican services.
Purcell was born in 1659 to Henry Purcell, master of
choristers at Westminster Abbey, and his wife
Elizabeth. When he was five, his father died, forcing
his mother to resettle the family of six children into
a more modest house and lifestyle. In about 1668,
Purcell became a chorister in the Chapel Royal,
studying under chorus master Henry Cooke. He also took
keyboard lessons from Christopher Gibbons, son of the
composer Orlando Gibbons, and it is likely that he
studied with John Blow and Matthew Locke. In 1673,
Purcell was appointed assistant to John Hingeston, the
royal instrument keeper.
On September 10, 1677, Purcell was given the Court
position of composer-in-ordinary for the violins. It is
believed that many of his church works date from this
time. Purcell, a great keyboard virtuoso by his late
teens, received a second important post in 1679, this
one succeeding Blow as organist at Westminster Abbey, a
position he would retain all his life. That same year
saw the publication of five of the young composer's
songs in John Playford's Choice Ayres and Songs to Sing
to the Theorbo-lute or Bass-viol. Around the same time,
he began writing anthems with string accompaniment,
completing over a dozen before 1685, and welcome songs.
Purcell was appointed one of three organists at the
Chapel Royal in the summer of 1682, his most
prestigious post yet.
Purcell’s famous ‘Bell Anthem’, dating from his
prolific period for anthems with strings of 1682-5,
seems to have acquired its title early on in its
career, for an early eighteenth-century copy in the
British Museum (which is also the source for the second
violin and viola parts, missing from the autograph)
labels it ‘Rejoice in the Lord … with a Symphony
imitating Bells (it was originally call’d the Bell
Anthem)’. Tudway’s score of 1716 simply calls it
‘The Bell Anthem’.
In the glorious opening ‘Prelude’ (not given the
more usual label of ‘Symphony’) the pealing of
bells is everywhere, not only in the bass part where
Purcell’s ten-beat ground is repeated five times, but
also in the intertwining upper parts where the
juxtaposition of joyous scales with Purcell’s wistful
harmonies give the music a delicious bittersweet
quality. The use of the Chapel Royal’s high pitch
gives the string writing a wonderful sheen, and the two
theorbos colour the texture with their constantly
descending scales. Finally three solo voices break in
with the eight bars of triple-time they reiterate
throughout the anthem, and their new tune is quickly
taken up and extended by the strings, the more lyrical
middle section of Purcell’s Symphony contrasting with
the dancing opening. The trio repeat their eight bars
and the briefest of instrumental comments closes the
section. The soloists call that ‘your moderation be
known unto all men’ and the choir joyfully breaks in,
their rejoicing interspersed with the solo trio’s
exhortation ‘and again’. The instruments take the
instruction literally and we are treated to a complete
repetition of the Symphony.
The solo bass brings a more staid tone with his
instruction to prayer and supplication ‘Be careful
for nothing’, and the triple time is replaced by a
more thoughtful passage of homophony for ‘and the
peace of God which passeth all understanding’. The
strings develop the idea, but they are interrupted by
the return of the soloists’ triple section: eight
bars of this, repeats of both the instrumental
ritornello and the chorus (complete with the
soloists’ cries of ‘and again’) bring to a close
one of Purcell’s most enduringly popular anthems.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell).
Although originally composed for Voices (SSATB) & Basso
Continuo, I created this interpretation of "Rejoice in
the Lord alway" (Z.49) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English
Horn, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
