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 autograph of Lord, how long wilt thou be
angry?, dating from the early 1680s, is contained in
Fitzwilliam Museum MS 88 and is a marvellous synthesis
of both old and new compositional styles. The
reflective, five-part opening choral section is
imitative, showing the influence on Purcell’s music
of composers such as Byrd and Gibbons, whose work he
admired and studied. Over this form Purcell imprints
his own angularly chromatic harmonic language, which
builds towards the anguished ‘Shall thy jealousy burn
like fire for ever’. The three-part verse ‘O
remember not our old sins’ is reflective, falling in
tessitura to ‘great misery’. The homophonic chorus
entry ‘Help us, O God’ is declamatory and ‘for
the glory of thy name’ impressively builds its close
entries before the opening imitative style returns for
‘O deliver us’, still coloured by chromatic lines
which rise through ‘and be merciful unto our sins’.
The anthem closes with a joyful triple-time
section.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell).
Although originally composed for Voices (SSATB) & Basso
Continuo, I created this interpretation of "Lord, how
long wilt thou be angry?" (Z.25) for Winds (Flute,
Oboe, English Horn, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
