PU lie ELL. 



After this, he produced I'o many admirable compofitions 

 for the church and chapel of which he was organift, and 

 where he was fure of having tliem better performed than 

 elfewhere, that his fame was foon extended to the remotelt 

 parts of the kingdom. 



From this time, his anthems were eagerly procured, and 

 Iieard with pious rapture w-herever they could be performed ; 

 nor was he iuffered long to devote himfelf totally to tlie fer- 

 vice of the church. He was, very early in life, folicited to 

 compofe for the ftage, and chamber, in both which un- 

 dertakings he was fo fuperior to all his predeccilors, that 

 his compofitions feemed to fpeak a new language ; yet, 

 however different from that to which the public had been 

 long accuftomed, it was univerfally underftood. His fongs 

 feem to contain whatever the ear could then wrirti, or heart 

 could feel. 



We have been affured by a very good judge of mufic, who 

 was nineteen years of age when Purcell died, and remembered 

 not only his perfon very well, but the effcft which his longs 

 had on himfelf and the public at that time, when many of 

 them were fird heard ; and uied to fay, that " no other vo- 

 cal mulic was liftened to with pleafure, for near thirty years 

 after Pui-cell's death ; when they gave way only to the 

 favourite opera fongs of Handel." , 



The unlimited powers of this mufician's genius embraced 

 every fpecies of compofition that w'as then known, with 

 equal felicity. In writing for the church, whether he ad- 

 hered to the elaborate and learned ftyle of his great prede- 

 cedors !rallis. Bird, and Gibbons, in which no inftrument is 

 employed but the organ, and the feveral parts are conllantly 

 moving in fugue, nnitation, or plain counterpoint ; or, 

 giving way to feeling and imaginatioi), adopted the new and 

 more expreflive ilyle of which he was himfelf one of the 

 principal inventors, accompanying the voice-parts with in- 

 ftruments, to enrich the harmony, and enforce the melody 

 and meaning of the words, he maiiifefted equal abilities and 

 refources. In compofitions for the theatre, though the co- 

 louring and efFe£ls of an orcheftra were then but little known, 

 yet as he employed them more than his predeceffors, and 

 gave to the voice a melody more interefting and impaflioned 

 than, daring the feventeenth century, had been heard in this 

 country, or perhaps in Italy itfelf, he foon became the dar- 

 ling and deligiit of the nation. And in the feveral fpecies 

 of chamber mufic which he attempted, whether fonatas for 

 inftruments, or odes, cantatas, fongs, ballads, and catches, 

 for the voice, he fo far fiirpatfed whatever our country had 

 produced or imported before, that all other mufical produc- 

 tions feem to have been inllantly configned to contempt or 

 oblivion. 



As many of his numerous compofitions for tlie church, 

 particularlv thofe printed in the fecond and third volumes of 

 Dr. Boyce's CoUeftion, are ftiil retained in the king's cha- 

 pel, and m our cathedrals, we (hall here acquaint the mufical 

 reader in what manner we have been affctled by fome of 

 thefe produftions. in a late attentive perufal of them. 



It appears by Dr. Bayky's " CoUettion of the Words of 

 Anthcn.s ufed i.i his Majefty's Chapel Royal," that ten of 

 Purcell's are il;ill perfurmed triere ; and in the late Rev. Mr. 

 Mafon's " Copious Collsftion of the Words of fuch An- 

 thems as are ufed in the Cathedral of York," that nearly 

 twenty of his choral compofitions are ftiil fung in that 

 choir. 



Pureell's four-part anthem, " O God, thou art my God," 

 (Boyce's CoUeftion, vcl. ii. p. 148.) muft certainly have 

 been one of his juvenile produdlions, before he had fufficiently 

 refined liis car, or exercifed his judgment ; as there are many 



crude harmonies, and falfe accents in it, which in riper years 

 he would not have tolerated. 



Of his fix-part anthem, "O God thou haft call us out," 

 the firft movement, in which tiiere are many bold harmonies, 

 is extremely elaborate, yet ipirited and pleafing. The verfe, 

 " O be thou our help," is not only full of new and fine ef- 

 fedts, but touching. By thofe who object not to the confu- 

 fion in the words which arifcs from fugue and imitation, whilc 

 the feveral parts are finging diflerent portions of the fame 

 fentence, at the fame time, the words will appear perfectly 

 well accented and expreftcd. 



The firft movement of his full anthem in eight parts, 

 " O Lord God of hofts," is a noble compofition, alia Pa- 

 lejlr'tna, in whicli all the laws of fugue upon two, and fome- 

 times more, fubjedts, are preferved inviolable ; the harmony, 

 though bold, is, m general, chafte, and the effect of the 

 whole fpirited and majeltic. The fecond movement is ex- 

 tremely pathetic and exprcffive ; but, both in that and the 

 laft movement, he feems trying experiments in harmony ; 

 and, in hazarding new^ combinations, he feems now and then 

 to give the ear more pam than pleafure. 



The two-part anthem, " Thy way, O God, is holy," 

 continues to be excellent mufic ItiU, in the flow movements ; 

 the quick, however, feems fomewhat antiquated, and the 

 melody to thefe words, " the air thundered," &c. feem too 

 light and dramatic for the church at any period. 



The three-part anthem, " Be merciful unto me, O God," 

 is admirable throughout. Indeed, to our conceptions, there 

 feems no better mufic exifting, ot the kind, than the open- 

 ing of this anthem, in which the verfe, " I will praife God," 

 and the laft movement, in C natural, are in melody, har- 

 mo.iy, and modulation, truly divine mufic. 



The complete fervice of Purcell, in B flat, printed by 

 Boyce, is a rtioft agreeable and excellent piece of counter- 

 point, of which the modulation frequently Simulates atten- 

 tion by unexpected tranfitions, yet of fo fober a kind as 

 never to give the ear the leaft uneafinefs, till we come to 

 the bottom of p. no, and then the fame crudities of the 

 fharp 3d and flat 6th, and flat 3d, '4th, and 5th, which 

 we have already cenfured in the works of Dr. Blow, occur ; 

 whicli we hope, in fpite of our partiality for Purcell, the or- 

 ganifts of our cathedrals fcruple not to change for better 

 harmony. 



Thefe two or three combinations, like fome words and 

 phrafes which Shakfpeare tried unfuccefsfully to render cur- 

 rent, have been rejected by pofterity ; and it is in vain to 

 attempt at forcing them upon the public by the mere weight 

 of authority. The ear will patiently bear very rough ulage 

 from an artift who in general makes it inch ample amends ; 

 however, there are limits, beyond which it is uiifafe to ex- 

 ercife cruelty of all kinds ;_and the auricular fenfe will be 

 deadened, difgulted, or rendered indifterent to mufic's 

 powers, by too harfli treatment. 



The " Bene^iftus," as well as " Te Deum," and all the 

 reft of the iervice, muft be extremely pleafing, in all other 

 refpefts, to every ear fenfible to harmony. The words are, 

 in general, accented with great accuracy (except the con- 

 trafting highejl into a monofyllable, to which only one note is 

 given) ; and the few points of imitation are fragments of agree- 

 able melody. In p. 121 of Boyce, the A b and A q, at 

 the word befeech, in the Kyrie, are peculiarly beautiful, as 

 are the 7th with the 9th at " before all worlds," in the creed, 

 and the clofe at " by whom all things were made." The 

 point at " throughout all generations," in the Magnificat, is 

 what the Italians call hen tirato, well-worked. In the laft 

 line, however, of page 132, fo many exceptionable combi- 

 nations 



