Читать книгу The Restoration of Nell Gwyn - Steve Trafford - Страница 7

Henry Purcell 1659-1695 Henry Purcell was born in Old Pye Street, a notorious slum area of Westminster, known as ‘The Devil’s Acre’. His father and uncle were both musicians and ‘Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal’. Purcell became a chorister of the Chapel under Pelham Humfrey, who had been sent to France by Charles II to learn the French style. The gifted Purcell was composing by the time he was eleven. He stayed on at the Chapel Royal, after his voice had broken, studying with John Blow and later succeeded Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey. Purcell was prodigious, composing songs and anthems, church music, music for plays, and odes for special occasions, his most famous being the three odes for St Cecilia’s day. Purcell wrote everything from incidental music, lively dance numbers, passionate arias, to rollicking choruses and comical catches. He also wrote the first English ‘opera’ Dido and Aeneas for the girls of Josiah Priest’s boarding school, in Chelsea. Its most famous aria ‘Dido’s Lament’’ remains one of the best beloved arias of all time. Purcell enriched the English Baroque style with Italian and French influences, to create powerfully expressive tonal music, with brilliant vocal settings. His influence on contemporary classical and popular music continues. He was a powerful influence on Benjamin Britten’s work; and Pete Townshend of the rock group ‘The Who’ identified Purcell as a key influence in the group’s music. Purcell is buried beneath the organ in Westminster Abbey. His memorial tablet states that he ‘… is gone to that Blessed Place where, only, his harmony can be exceeded’.

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