PURCELL. 



Purcell was fo little acquainted with the unlimited power of 

 the violin, that we have fcarcely ever feen a becoming paffage 

 for that inftrument in any one of his works ; the (ymphonies 

 and ritornels to his anthems and fongs being equally deficient 

 in force, invention, and effeft. And though his fonatas con- 

 tain many ingenious, and, at the time they were compofed, 

 new traits of melody and modulation, if they are compared 

 with the produftions of his contemporary, Corelli, they will 

 be called barbarous. But Corelli wrote for an inftrument of 

 which he was a great matter : and who ever entirely fuc- 

 ceeded in compofing for one of which he was ignorant ? 

 When a o-reat performer on keyed inftruments condefcends 

 to compofe for the violin, upon which he has never been a 

 good player, or the voice, without knowing in what good 

 finging confills, the pafl'ages all come from the head, and 

 none from the hand, except the hand of a harpfichord player, 

 which is ever unfit to Cuggeft ideas jither for a voice, or 

 for any other inftrument than his own. Such a compofer for 

 the violin muft inevitably embarrafs the player with perpe- 

 tual aukwardneffes and difficulties without effeft, which dif- 

 cover an utter ignorance of the finger-board. 



If Purcell, by travelling, or by living longer at home, 

 had heard the great inftrumental performers, as well as great 

 fmo-ers, that arrived in this country foon after his deceafe, 

 and had fuch to compofe for, his produftions would have 

 been more regular, elegant, and graceful ; and he would cer- 

 tainly have fet Enghfti words better than it was poillble for 

 any foreigner to do, for our feelings, however great his ge- 

 nius, or excellent, in other refpefts, his produftions. But 

 Purcell, like his fucced'or, Arne, and others who have com- 

 pofed for the playhoufe, had always an inferior band to the 

 Italian opera compofers, as well as inferior fingers, and an 

 inferior audience to write for. 



The diligent and candid Walther, by not having affigned 

 to Purcell a niche in his Mufical Diftionary, feems never to 

 have heard of his exiftence ; but Purcell was fo truly a na- 

 tional compofer, that his name was not likely to be wafted 

 to the continent ; and the narrow limits of his fame may be 

 fairly afcribed, not only to the paucity and poverty of his 

 compofitions for inftruments, for which the mufical produc- 

 tions are an intelligible language to every country, but to his 

 vocal compofitions being folely adapted to Englifh words, 

 which render it unlikely for their influence to extend beyond 

 the foil that produced them. 



We fiiould, however, have known as little of LuUi, as the 

 French or Italians of Purcell, but for the partiality which 

 Charles II. acquired, by his long refidence on the continent, 

 for the arts and amufements of France. The firft attempts 

 at operas here, after the Reftoration, were either in French, 

 or on the model of thofe that were then in high favour at 

 Verfailles. And whoever is equally acquainted with the re- 

 citative, we had almoft faid the general melody of LuUi and 

 Purcell, muft perceive a ftrong refemblance. 



Purcell, however, having infinitely more fancy, and, in- 

 deed, harmonical refources, than the Frenchified Tufcan, 

 his produftions now afford far greater pleafure and amufe- 

 ment to a liberal lover of mufic, than can be found, not only 

 in the produftions of Cambert and Grabu, whom Charles 11. 

 and to flatter his majefty, Dryden, patronized in preference 

 to Purcell, but in all the noify monotony of the rhapfodift 

 of Quinaut. 



Let thofe who ftiall think Purcell has facrificed the na- 

 tional honour by confefling his reverence for the produftions 

 of Italy, compare the fecular produftions of Euglifli mufi- 

 cians, from the deatli of queen Elizabeth to the year 1683, 

 with thofe of CarifGmi, Cefti, Stradclla, and innumerable 

 others of great abilities, and if they do not equally hate 



mufic and truth, they will admire Purcell's probity, as well 

 as his genius. 



Indeed, mufic was maniteftly on the decline, in England, 

 during the leventeenth century, till it was revived and invi- 

 gorated by Purcell, whofe genius, though lefs cultivated 

 and ptiliflied, was equal to that of the greatell mailers on the 

 continent. And though his dramatic ftyle and recitative 

 were formed in a great meafure on French models, there is 

 a latent power and force in his exprelfion of Englifii words, 

 whatever be the fubjeft, that will make an unprejudiced na- 

 tive of this ifland feel, more than all the elegance, grace, and 

 refinement of modern mufic lefs happily applied, can do. 

 And this pleafure is communicated to us, not by the fym- 

 metry or rhythm of modern melody, but by his having for- 

 tified, lengthened, and tuned, the true accents of our mo- 

 ther-tongue ; thofe notes of pallion, which an inhabitant of 

 this ifland would breathe, in fucli fituations as the words he 

 has to fet defcribe. And thefe indigenous exprefllons of paf- 

 fion Purcell had the power to enforce by the energy of mo- 

 dulation, which, on fome occafions, was bold, affefting, 

 and fublime. 



Thefe remarks are addrefled to none but Engliftimen : for 

 the expreffion of words can be felt only by the natives of 

 any country, who ieldom extend their admiration of foreign 

 I'ocal mufic, farther than to the general effeft of its melody 

 and harmony on the ear ; nor has it any other advantage 

 over iri/lrumeiita/, than that of being executed by the human 

 voice, likffo/feggi.. And if the Itahans themfelves did not 

 come hither to give us the true cxpreilion of their fo'gs, we 

 Ihould never difcovcr it by ftudy and praftice. 



It has been extremely unfortunate for our national taftc 

 and our national honour, that Orlando Gibbons, Pclham 

 Humphrey, and Henry Purcell, our three beft compofers 

 during the, laft century, were not bleft with fufficient longe- 

 vity tor their genius to expand in all its branches, or to form 

 a fchool, which would have enabled us to proceed in the cul- 

 tivation of mufic without foreign affiftance. 



Orlando Gibbons died 1625, at forty-four. 



Pelham Humphrey died 1674, at twenty-feven. 



And Henry Purcell died 1695, at thirty-feven. 



If thefe admirable compofers had been bleft with long 

 life, we might have had a mufic of our own, at leaft as good 

 as that of France or Germany ; which, without the affiftance 

 of the Italians, has long been admired and preferred to all 

 others by the natives at large, though their princes have 

 ufually foreigners in their fervice. As it is, we have no 

 fchool for compofition, no well-digefted method of ftudy, 

 nor, indeed, models of our own. Inftrumental mufic, there- 

 fore, has never gained much by our own abilities ; for though 

 fome natives of England have had hands fufficient to execute 

 the produftions of the greateft mafters on the continent, 

 they have produced but little of their own that has been 

 much efteemed. Handel's compofitions for the organ and 

 harpfichord, with thofe of Scarlatti and Alberti, were our 

 chief praftice and delight for more than fifty years ; while 

 thofe of Corelli, Geminiani, Albinoni, Vivaldi, Teffarini, 

 Veracini, and Tartini, till the arrival of Giardini, fupplied 

 all our wants on the violin, during a ftill longer period. 

 And as for the hautbois. Martini and Fiftier, with their fcho- 

 lars and imitators, are all that we have liftened to with 

 pleafure. 



If a parallel were to be drawn between Purcell and any 

 popular compofer of a different country, reafons might be 

 affigned for fuppofing him fuperior to every great and fa- 

 vourite contemporary muCcian in Europe. 



Cariffimi and Stradella, if more poliftied in their ftyle, 

 were certainly lefs varied, and knew ftill lefs of inftruments, 



than 



