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A PURCELL COLLECTION A PURCELL COLLECTION sumptuous instrumental symphony, the anthem’s HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695) five-part vocal texture offers great richness, It is said that Henry Purcell never set foot alternating imitative and contrasting material. 1 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem [7.25] outside England, in the same way that Johann 2 To the Hills and the Vales [2.30] Sebastian Bach hardly left his native Saxony. A change of scenery comes with To the Hills 3 By Beauteous Softness Mix’d with Majesty [3.34] Yet, both have become pinnacles of our Western and the Vales, a great favourite from Purcell’s Barnaby Smith countertenor music culture to an extent they could have only opera, Dido and Aeneas. Based on Book IV 4 O God, Thou Art my God [3.51] little imagined in their own lifetime. In terms of of Virgil’s Aeneid, the plot recounts the love style, they were well-versed in their respective story of the Carthaginian queen Dido and the 5 How Happy the Lover [6.19] Andrea Haines soprano, Samuel Dressel tenor, Dingle Yandell bass native traditions while being permanently on Trojan hero Aeneas, as well as her despair at the lookout for all that was foreign. Bach his abandonment of her. The chorus celebrates 6 ‘Cold Song’ (What Power Art Thou…) [4.26] Dingle Yandell bass emulated Vivaldi and admired Couperin. Purcell their meeting, and urges them to enjoy fed on Italian models and drew inspiration their romance. 7 Behold, O Mightiest of Gods [3.22] from the courtly manner of Lully. The corpus 8 My Heart is Inditing of a Good Matter [15.03] of Purcell’s music, although not as large as One of the most tender and touching pieces, 9 Bid the Virtues [3.17] Bach’s, easily rivals it in terms of diversity. By Beauteous Softness Mix’d with Majesty, Emily Dickens soprano There is hardly a genre in which he did not is an excerpt from the birthday ode for Queen 0 Hail! Bright Cecilia [4.20] express himself: anthems, odes, funeral music, Mary Now Does the Glorious Day Appear, q Strike the Viol [3.55] semi-operas, masques, sonatas, consort-music, composed in 1689. Based on a ground, the Barnaby Smith countertenor songs and catches populate his extraordinarily vocal solo leads into an instrumental section w Second Dirge Anthem (Morley) / Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts [5.09] multifaceted œuvre. It is this astonishing of great meditative gentleness. e Fairest Isle [4.40] diversity that we wish to celebrate by inviting Andrea Haines soprano the listener for a stroll through the world of one An early work dating from around 1680, the r Full Fathom Five [2.24] of England’s greatest composers. full anthem O God, Thou Art my God is widely known in Britain, appearing in an abundant Total timings: [70.18] Our perambulation starts with Praise the Lord, number of manuscripts. Its final ‘Hallelujah’ O Jerusalem, an anthem composed for the even gave birth to a separate hymn-tune known VOCES8 / LES INVENTIONS coronation of William and Mary at Westminster to churchgoers as ‘Westminster Abbey’. The ARTISTIC DIRECTION PATRICK AYRTON & BARNABY SMITH Abbey in 1689. Opening with a sober yet composition, in archaic style, brings to light www.signumrecords.com - 3 - the composer’s debt to his precursors Tallis, sheet of ice. The chilling effect of the piece is The splendour of the ceremony clearly appealed Strike the Viol is another well-known song Byrd and Gibbons, whose music he was enhanced by the composer’s indications to use to Purcell’s imagination, as he opted for an from the ode Come ye sons of Art. The familiar with from his youth. Those influences tremolo in the vocal part and in the strings. It eight-part choir with string accompaniment. text delightfully summons various musical are obvious in the first homophonic phrase is likely that Purcell was alluding to a similar A joyful and majestic instrumental ‘Symphony’ instruments usually associated with sentiments of the anthem, as well as the imitative scene from the Lully-Quinault lyric-tragedy alternates with impressive choral developments, of tenderness and devotion: ‘Strike the viol, sections which unfold with great melodic and Isis from 1677. whilst dance-like dotted figurations and rich touch the lute; wake the harp, inspire the harmonic inventiveness. harmonies evoke a sense of magnificence. flute…’ and invites them to play in praise of The chorus Behold O Mightiest of Gods comes their ‘patroness’, Queen Mary – diplomatically The chorus How Happy the Lover is from from the semi-opera The Prophetess, or The Bid the Virtues is an air from the ode Come ye making an appreciative reference to the queen’s the semi-opera King Arthur, or The British History of Dioclesian (1690), on a libretto by sons of Art, away, the last of the six odes generous patronage of Purcell himself. Again Worthy (1691) setting a libretto by John Dryden. Thomas Betterton, actor-manager of the Queen’s that Purcell composed for Queen Mary’s birthday the whole structure reposes on a ground bass In Act IV, the sirens tempt Arthur into the theatre at Dorset Garden. The opera closes on a (April 30th 1694) as she died of smallpox with episodic transitions during which the stream, but to no avail. Then a group of nymphs Masque of Cupid, a tribute to King William III, that December, aged only 32. The piece is recorders (‘flutes’), and violins playfully converse. and sylvans appear from behind the trees as indicated by symbols and metaphors in the written as a trio, in which the vocal line and – according to original stage directions – surviving staging instructions.* A ‘masque’ interlaces sensually with the oboe above a Purcell wrote Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets ‘sing and dance the following song, all with was an allegorical insertion into a play or smoothly unfolding bass-line. of Our Hearts for the funeral of Queen Branches in their Hands.’ Purcell weaves into opera, commenting on the action through Mary II in March 1695. This took place at this wonderfully sensual passacaille an array music and lavish choreography. This particular The chorus Hail! Bright Cecilia comes from Westminster Abbey, where Purcell had been of diverse vocal settings: tutti, 3 female and 3 masque ends with a stately and resplendent Purcell’s Ode to St. Cecilia – his delightful work organist since 1679 and where, in less than male voices, duets, etc. The influence of Lully section in which oboes and strings dialogue in honour of the patron saint of music. This a year’s time, the same anthem would be and his Passacaille d’Armide is unmistakeable. before the voices solemnly celebrate the God was composed in 1692, on a text by Nicholas sung again at his own burial. The text consists of Love’s incontestable superiority. Brady and performed at Stationers’ Hall. The of a prayer for mercy recited at the graveside, Amongst many examples of French influence chorus contains the immortal words ‘great before the body is interred. It had previously on opera in England, usually involving staging, The anthem My Heart is Inditing of a Good patroness of us – and harmony’, where ‘us’ been customary at royal funerals to perform costume and dance, the Cold Song stands out Matter was specially composed for the coronation refers to the Gentlemen of the Musical Society, the Burial Music by the Tudor composer Thomas as a bestseller. From Act III of the semi-opera of James II (April 23rd, 1685). According to a founded in the early 1680s. In the grave Morley (1557-1602). However, for reasons King Arthur, (libretto by Dryden), it is sung by contemporary source, it was ‘performed by the key of D minor, homophonic choral ‘blocks’ that are unclear, part of the Second Dirge the Genie of the Isle (of Britain) whom Cupid whole Consort of Voices and Instruments’ after alternate with mighty fugal sections and a Anthem got lost and so Purcell undertook has woken from his frosty slumber beneath a the coronation of his consort, Mary of Modena. pair of amorous duets in recitative style. the composition of a replacement setting of - 4 - - 5 - the final sentence of the text. Whilst Thou is represented by mysterious bells chiming in TEXTS 3 By Beauteous Softness Mix’d with Majesty Knowest Lord is not typical of Purcell’s the continuo. choral music, this intensely emotional work 1 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem By beauteous softness mix’d with majesty, offers unexpected and dissonant harmonies As our journey through Purcell’s extraordinary An empire over every heart she gains; whilst still sitting well alongside Morley’s more diversity comes to an end, and having witnessed Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion. And from her awful power none would be free, conservative style. his outstanding originality and creative power, For kings shall be thy nursing fathers, She with such sweetness and such justice reigns. it is hard to disagree with John Playford, a and queens thy nursing mothers. The semi-opera King Arthur, like Dioclesian, prominent music publisher of the time, who As we have heard, so have we seen: From ‘Now Does the Glorious Day Appear’ Z.332, ended with a masque. In the case of King wrote in 1698, three years after Purcell’s death, In the city of our God. Text: Thomas Shadwell (1642-1692) Arthur the masque depicts a celebration of that the composer was ‘especially admired God upholdeth the same for ever. 4 peace between Britons and Saxons, and the for having a peculiar genius to express the O God, Thou Art my God prediction of a bright future for Britain.
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