Aeneas owes its ancestry to Italian and French operatic influences. Although the recitatives follow the rhythms and inflexions of the English language, they were clearly modelled on Italian monody. Purcell followed the already established tradition of taking the plots of operas from ancient myth and legend. This one came from ancient Rome, as the hero, the Trojan prince ...
1659–95, English Henry Purcell was one of the greatest Baroque composers and, as the diarist John Evelyn put it after his death, was ‘esteemed the best composer of any Englishman hitherto’. Often compared to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91), Purcell exercised a similar mastery over many different types of composition – dramatic, sacred, vocal and instrumental. Tragically ...
1659–95 English composer Henry Purcell was, without doubt, the most distinguished English composer of the seventeenth century. Equally at home writing for the church, the theatre or the court, he also set a number of bawdy catches for which it is likely he also wrote the words. Unfortunately, little is known about Purcell’s private life. His ...
Baroque orchestra. It was quickly accepted as a standard instrument, being written for by Vivaldi, Handel and Telemann, and acting as soloist in some Baroque concerti grossi. Purcell wrote the oboe into all his larger works after 1690. The Baroque Oboe The Baroque oboe was first built with two hinged levers called ‘keys’. These stopped the holes at ...
the recorder was one of the most popular instruments in Europe. It was used in instrumental and vocal music by Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1645–1704), Henry Purcell (1659–95), George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Perhaps more significant, though, was its use among amateurs. The ease with which the recorder could be played ...
heavier than the cello, with a gruffer sound and a lower tuning, it can be heard today in some historically informed (early music) performances of the music of Purcell and Couperin. Few words in the musical lexicon are more confusing than ‘violone’. Meaning simply a double-bass viol, the direct ancestor of the modern double bass, the term ...
Bagpipe Somewhere, perhaps in Mesopotamia, about 7,000 years ago, a shepherd may well have looked at a goat skin and some hollow bones and had an idea for a new musical instrument: the bagpipe. In the early Christian era, the instrument spread from the Middle East eastward into India and westward to Europe. By the seventeenth ...
b. 1933 English mezzo-soprano Baker studied in London, and made her debut in Smetana’s The Secret in Oxford in 1956. She sang Handel roles early in her career, and made a particular impression as Purcell’s Dido, a role she recorded several times. At Covent Garden, where she first appeared as Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream ...
1913–76 English composer The finest English composer of his generation, Britten reacted against the folksong-derived pastoralism of his elder compatriots, finding inspiration in Purcell and influences as various as Mahler and Stravinsky. The international success of his opera Peter Grimes (1945) brought financial security, but he continued to appear as a pianist, accompanying his partner and outstanding ...
was an orchestral masterpiece, however, the ‘Enigma’ Variations, dedicated to ‘my Friends pictured within’, that launched the international career of the most significant British composer since Henry Purcell (1659–95). Edwardian Laureate His fame as a great choral composer was consolidated by The Dream of Gerontius (1900) to text by Cardinal Newman, and by two oratorios of a ...
b. 1949 English soprano Kirkby was known early in her career primarily as a member of the early music group the Consort of Musicke and as a recitalist with the lutenist Anthony Rooley. She has subsequently performed music from all eras up to the time of Mozart and beyond. Her many recordings include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Orlando, ...
writing these, together with the Te Deum and Jubilate composed to celebrate the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, brought Handel into contact with the Anglican choral tradition of Purcell and John Blow (1649–1708). Significant use of the chorus was also made in two dramatic works written with the help of poets in Chandos’s circle, including Alexander Pope and ...
1685). Siface became so identified with the part that ‘Syphax’ became his nickname. Siface was taken up by many important personalities, including ex-Queen Christina of Sweden and by Henry Purcell in England; Purcell wrote a piece for harpsichord entitled ‘Sefauci’s Farewell’ when the singer left England in 1687. Siface, praised as the finest living musician, received an almost ...
to Maria de’ Medici. Published in 1601, Euridice is the earliest opera for which the complete score survives. Introduction | Early & Middle Baroque | Opera Personalities | Henry Purcell | Early & Middle Baroque | Opera ...
reflected the previous experiments demonstrated by the Camerata members. Recommended Recording: Euridice, Ensemble Arpeggio (dir) Roberto de Caro (Arts Music) Introduction | Early Baroque | Classical Personalities | Henry Purcell | Early Baroque | Classical ...
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