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PUUCELL, HENRY. 



PURCELL, HEN It V. 



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luentariM, from which we may infer, SAJS Delambre, that the work 

 iUelf wait not wht it ought to bare been, but that it (erred at the 

 text-book to most of the professors of the day. 



A faithful translation of the 'Almagest' was itill a desideratum 

 among astronomers. Besaarion, who Brat introduced into Europe the 

 text of PtolouiKui aud that of hia oommeotator Tbeon, bad himnelf 

 commenced a new version, bat unable to proceed with it, in conse- 

 quence of his numerous political missions, be addreued himself to 

 1'urbach, whom he persuaded to undertake the task. Uur authority 

 (Dclambre), who doea not say how Purbach qualified himself to trans- 

 late from the Greek, adda, that when he had completed the earlier 

 books, he died, confiding the revision and further prosecution of the 

 work to his friend and pupil Miiller. According to Moutucla, Purbach 

 waa advised by Beaaarion to acquaint himself with the language of 

 Creece by revisiting Italy, where the literature of Greece was at that 

 tiuio much cultivated, and that his death took place suddenly when 

 on the point of taking his departuie from Vienna for that purpose. 

 Tiiis work, which after all was but an abridgment of the original, 

 was completed by Miiller, under the title of ' JohanuU de Honteregio 

 et Geor^ii Purbachii Kpitomc in Cl. Ptolemxi Magnam Constrtictio- 

 ncu>,' to., and publish- d by him at Basel in 1543 : au analysis of its 

 conteuU will be found in the 'llistoire de 1'Astrouomie du Moyen 

 Age,' pp. 262-292 ; but any further notice of it belongs to the article 



Purbach died at Vienna, on the 8th of April 1461, in the thirty- 

 eighth year of hia age. His remains were interred in the cathedral of 

 that city, where a Latin epitaph indicates his tomb. His published 

 works not already mentioned are 1, ' Tabula! Eclipsium,' fol., Vien , 

 1514, in which is given a list of bis unedited manuscripts; 2, 'Klementa 

 Arithmetices,' 4to, Viteb , 1536 ; 3, 'De Siuibus,' Nurnb., 1541 ; 4, 'De 

 Quadrato Geometrico,' Nurnb., 1544. 



(Gtorgii Peurbachii et Joannii Afiittcrii liajiomontani Vita ; A uthore 

 Petro Gauendo, 4to, Hagtc, 1655; Montucla, lint, det Malh. ; Biog. 

 L'nireri., article J'turbach, by Delambre ; Hutton, Dictionary, <f'c ) 



PURCELL, HENRY, was born in the year 1658, in the city of 

 Westminster, as is generally supposed. His father Henry, and also 

 hit uncle Thomas Purcell, were appointed gentlemen of the chapel- 

 royal at the Restoration, and are named, in the archives of the heralds' 

 college, among the persons who officiated at the coronation of 

 Charles II. The young Henry lost his father when but six years of 

 age, about which time he appears to have entered as one of the 

 children of the chapel under Captain Cook, then master, to whom 

 therefore it is rather more than probable he was indebted not only 

 for hi- initiation in the principles of music, but for much of his know- 

 ledge of its practice, and of its theory as applicable to composition. 

 It is true that on Dr. Blow's monumental tablet in Westminster 

 Abbey, it is triumphantly recorded that ho was "master to the famous 

 Mr. Henry Purcell;" and no doubt the youthful musician, when he 

 qiiitte 1 the chapel on bis voice changing, received some instructions 

 from Blow, a master then in high repute, aud from whom a few 

 lettons were enough to recommend to public notice a young man on 

 his entrance into the world ; but to Cook the credit is due for the 

 right guidance of 1'urcellV inborn genius, and for its early cultivation. 



I'urccll was remarkable for precocity of talent, and seconded the 

 liberality of nature by bis zeal and diligence. While yet a boy- 

 chorister he composed more than one anthem; and in 1676, though 

 only eighteen yean of age, was chosen to succeed Dr. Christopher 

 Gibbons at organist of Westminster Abbey, an appointment of high 

 professional rank. Six years after, in 1682, he became one of the 

 organists of the royal chapel, and there, aa well OB at the Abbey, pro- 

 duced his numerous anthem*, many of which appear in different 

 c nlU ctions. and nearly all of them have recently been published in 

 one complete work. These were eagerly sought, almost as soon 

 as written, for the use of the various cathedrals, and thus his fame 

 quickly travelled to the remotest parts of England and Ireland. 11 

 I 'ni >i'll confined himself to church music only, he would have stood 

 on very lofty ground as compared with either bis predecessors or con- 

 temporaries, and his works would have been transmitted with honour 

 to after-ages; but the greatno-s of his genius is most conspicuous in 

 his compositions for the chamber and the stage. In these the vivid 

 Dest of his imagination and the fertility of hit invention appear in all 

 their aflliiMice, because unn strained by the character of the poetry 

 to which h gave musical expression, and unincumbered by what is 

 termed musical erudition, a kind of learning which time (even a 

 century and a half ago) and a laudable feeling of veneration hail 

 rendered an almost necea-ary attribute of cathedral harmony. 



Purcell's firt cway in dramatic music, when only nineteen years ol 

 age, was his netting the tongs, ftc. in Nahum Tale's ' Dido and .Knens, 

 on operetta written for a boarding tmhool of celebrity. In this is the 

 simple and beautiful duet, ' Fear no danger,' once sung everywhere 

 siii'l by everybody, but now nlmo t forgotten. The nr-nic in Nut. 

 Lee's ' Theodosiuf, or the Force of Love,' performed at the Duke's 

 theatre, in 1690, was hia first work for the public sing.-. In the tame 

 year he set new mu-ic to 'The Tempest,' at altered by Dryden, whict 

 is itill l.eard with delight, and also the ' Prophetess, or Diocletian, 

 altered by Dryden and Betterton from Beaumont and Fletcher. In 

 1691 he composed the tonga, tie. in Dryden's ' King Arthur,' amonj 

 which are the inimitable frost-scon- 1 , thi- \ery original aud lovely air 



' Fairest Islo,' and the charming duet, < Two daughters of thin aged 

 stream are we.' In 1692 appeared Sir R. Howard's and Dryden'a 

 ' Indian Queen,' with Purcell's music. The fine incantation scene in 

 this, ' Ye twice ten hundred deities,' is yet often heard in good 

 concerts. The duet and chorus, ' To arms,' and the air, ' Britons, 

 strike home 1 ' in Dryden's alteration of ' Bonduca,' are national pro- 

 pertyare our war-songs, always received with acclamations when we 

 are engaged iu or menaced by hostilities, and frequently performed 

 during peace on account of their beauty, musically considereil. These 

 alone will suffice to carry Purcell's name to distant a;es. His music 

 in D'Urfey's 'Don Quixote' i remarkably appropriate and clever: 

 the song, 'Genius of England,' boa few rivals, and the cantata, 'Let 

 the dreadful engines of eternal will,' sung in the character of the love- 

 distracted Cardenio, it, with the exception of the latter part (now 

 very wisely omitted in the performance), one of the composer's finest 

 creations. He also wrote airs, overtures, and act-tunes for many 

 dramas, among which may b mentioned Dryden and Lee's '(EdiposV 

 ' Timon of Atlienn,' 'The Fairy Queen,' altered from 'A Mid-ummer- 

 night's Dream,' and Dryden's ' Tyrannic Love, or the lioy.il Martyr.' 



The three detached cantatas by Purcell are undeniable proofs of his 

 fancy, energy, and deep feeling. It is sufficient to name ' Mad Beat,' 

 Old Tom of Bedlam,' or ' Mod Tom ' (the words by Mr. William 

 ksse, Walton tells u>, in his 'Angler'), and 'From rosie bowers, 

 written by Tom D'Urfoy, all well known and highly valued by true 

 connoisseurs and lovers of uiu-io. Our limits will not allow us to 

 enter into any account of, or even to name, hU many single songs and 

 duets. After the composer's death they were collected by his widow, 

 and published in two folio volumes, under the title of 'Orpheus 

 iritanuicus,' the second aud best edition of which is now very rare. 

 rlis odes, glees, catches, and rounds are numerous, and several of them 

 amiliar to the admirers of vocal harmony. In 1683 he published 

 ;wi'lve sonatas for two violins and a bass. In the preface he says that 

 1 he has faithfully endeavoured a just imitation of the most famed 

 Italian masters, principally to bring the seriousness and gravity of 

 that sort of music into vogue and reputation among our countrymen, 

 whose humour 'tis time now should begin to loathe the levity aud 

 balladry of our neighbours." Purcell's esteem for the Italian uia-ters 

 :iad been before confessed in the dedication of his 'Diocletian ' to tho 

 Duke of Somerset, wherein he modestly remarks, "Poetry and painting 

 bave arrived to their perfection in our country : music is yet but in 

 its nonage, a forward child, which gives hope of what it may be here- 

 after in England, w hen the masters of it shall find more encouragement. 

 'Tis now learning Italian, which is its best master, and studying a little 

 of the French air to give it somewhat more of gayety aud fashion. 

 Thus being farther from the sun, we are of later growth than our 

 neighbouring countries, aud must be content to shake off our barbarity 

 by degrees." Here he does justice to the French school, by which he 

 had certainly profited, though in a perfectly fair manner. 



Two years after his decease his widow print- il the overtures, act- 

 tunes, &C-, before mentioned, under the title of ' A Collection of Ayn M 

 composed for the Theatre, and ou other occasions,' &o. They are in 

 four parts, and continued in use iu Dr. Burney's time, till superseded 

 by Handel's concertos and other newer compositions. 



We have above alluded to Purcell's compositions for tho church, 

 and as regards these must add a few remarks. His published anthems 

 amount in number to upwards of fifty ; and to these are to be added 

 a 'Te Deum' and 'Jubilate' with orchestral accompaniments, a 

 complete Service, several hymns, motets, and sacred song*. Some of 

 his anthems, especially those in Dr. Boyce's Collection, are still iu use 

 in our cathedrals and other choirs, aud never can be allowed to fall 

 into neglect while the influential persons in those venerable establish- 

 ments possess any musical discernment. HU ' Te Dtum ' aud 'Jubilate,' 

 to which the epithet ' grand ' is tho usual prefix, i a work that has 

 seldom if ever been spoken of but in terms of unqualified panegyric. 

 That it evinces many traits of originality that it displays a vast deal 

 of scientific skill that an easy, pleasing melody runs through portions 

 of it and that it has also the merit of being the first of the kind ever 

 produced in this country, cannot be denied : but, on the other hand, 

 there is in its general structure a want of suitable grandeur, mainly 

 arising from the frequent occurrence of mean passages of pointed, 

 jerking notes in the vocal part*, that take from it much of the solemnity 

 which tho subject demands ; and these, together with certain divisions 

 that disconnect the words and obscure the sense, produce an effect 

 not only undignified, but nearly bordering on the ridiculous. Besides 

 these greater defects, there are iu the work some others of less im- 

 portance, such as a few conceit*, some harsh notes, aud occasional 

 errors in accentuation and emphasis. The best excuse for the composer 

 is, that moht of the errors we have ventured to point out were 

 common at the time they were committed. Still they ore errors, aud 

 of magnitude, and should bave kept within moderate bounds that 

 warmth of feeling which ha led to inch unreserved encomiums on 

 what, in our opinion, is by no means to be reckoned among tho best 

 of tho composer's works. 



Purcell died in November 1695, of consumption. The remains of 



this great musician lie in the north transept of Westminster Ablicy : 



on a pillar near the spot is a tablet, placed there by the Lady Elizabeth 



Howard, on which is an inscription, commonly attributed to Dryden. 



Wo shall conclude this notice by repeating the substance of some 



