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Major Baroque Composers

Italy
Claudio Monteverdi (15671643): A student of MarcAntonio Ingegneri in Cremona, Claudio
Monteverdi quickly established himself as one of the most significant composers of his time. In 1592 he
was appointed suonatore di vivuola (viol and/or violin player) to Duke Vincenzo I of Mantua; his third
book of madrigals, published in 1592, shows the strong influence of Giaches de Wert, the maestro di
cappella in Mantua. Although the several journeys Monteverdi made with the duke in the 1590s seem
to suggest that his importance at court was growing, Benedetto Pallavicino was offered de Werts post
upon its vacancy in 1596. Increasingly dissatisfied with the his situation in Mantua, Monteverdi left the
court after the Dukes death, accepting the position of maestro di cappella of St. Marks in Venice in
1613. Monteverdi wrote some of the most influential compositions of the early baroque, including the
famous 1610 Vespro della Beate Vergine (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin) and nine books of secular
madrigals published between 1587 and 1651. Monteverdi also composed the earliest operas still
performed today, including Orfeo (1607) and L'incoronazione di Poppea.
In addition to writing some of the most important music of his day, Monteverdi unwittingly elucidated
perhaps the most critical tenet of the baroque era during the so-called Monteverdi-Artusi controversy.
In 1600, Giovanni Maria Artusi published his L'Artusi, ovvero, Delle imperfezioni della moderna
musica, which attacked the crudities and license of some of Monteverdis then-unpublished
madrigals (including the well known Cruda Amarilli). Monteverdi responded to Artusi in the preface to
his Fifth Book of Madrigals (1605), dividing musical practice into prima prattica (first practice), in
which rules of harmony and counterpoint took precedence over the text, and seconda
prattica (second practice), in which the meaning of the words drove the harmony.
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Girolamo Frescobaldi (15831643): Born in Ferrara, Girolamo Frescobaldi was a student of the
organist and madrigalist Luzzasco Luzzaschi; he was also likely influenced by the maverick composer
Carlo Gesualdo, who was also in Ferrara at the time. Frescobaldi was a famous keyboardist, and served
as the organist at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome before assuming the same post at St
Peter's in 1608, which he held until his death. During this time he also held several other influential
positions, including that of organist at the Medici court in Florence from 1628 to 1634. Frescobaldi
composed a small amount of vocal music, but it was his compositions for the keyboardwhich included
a number of toccatas, canzonas, ricercars and capricciosthat influenced composers well into the 18th
centuryparticularly J. S. Bach, who owned his collection of organ works for performance during
Mass entitled Fiori musicali (1635).
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Arcangelo Corelli (16531713): Born in Fusignano, Arcangelo Corelli studied composition and
violin in nearby Bologna. After 1675 Corelli worked for some of the most important musical patrons in
Rome, including Queen Christina of Sweden, for whom he directed concerts. He also formed a close
bond not typical between patron and composer with Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (later Pope Alexander VIII),
at whose palace he lived for some time. Corelli enjoyed a stellar reputation both in Rome, where he was
accepted in the highest aristocratic circles, and in much of Europe. His six published collections of
concertos, sonatas and other works for violin were extremely popular, and made him the first composer
to gain an international reputation solely on the basis of his instrumental music. Because his music uses
many of the harmonic progressions that came to form the basis of modern tonality, his works are
sometimes used as early examples of this newly emergent tonal system.
Along with his stature as a composer, Corelli was considered to be one of the preeminent violin virtuosos
of his day. As one of his contemporaries rhapsodized after hearing him play, I never met with any man
that suffered his passions to hurry him away so much whilst he was playing on the violin as the famous
Arcangelo Corelli, whose eyes will sometimes turn as red as fire; his countenance will be distorted, his
eyeballs roll as in an agony, and he gives in so much to what he is doing that he doth not look like the
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same man. Corellis style of playing influenced violin technique for centuries, and he instructed many of
the leading violinist-composers of the 18th century, including the Italian Francesco Geminiani.
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Antonio Vivaldi (16781741): Born in Venice, Antonio Vivaldi was trained in music as a child, but
was ordained as a priest in 1703. Although his vocation and striking red hair earned him the moniker Il
Prete Rosso (the Red Priest), his picturesque nickname soon became the only vestige of his priestly
duties. Within a year of his ordination, Vivaldi stated that he no longer wished to celebrate the mass
because of tightness of the chest, a condition some have attributed to angina pectoris, asthmatic
bronchitisor simply to the fact that music was the Red Priests true calling.
Around 1704, Vivaldi began his association with the Ospedale della Piet, an institution with which he
was connected for most of his life. Although the Ospedale was usually called an orphanage, it was in
reality a home for the illegitimate daughters of Venetian noblemen, and was well financed by its
anonymous benefactors. In addition to room, board, and an excellent education in music, the Piet
offered a creative outlet for women at a time when professional opportunities for female musicians were
uncertain. The students of the Piet played many different instruments (as one eighteenth-century
writer observed, [They] play the violin, the recorder, the organ, the oboe, the cello, the bassoon; in fact,
there is no instrument large enough to frighten them) and were considered to be among the most
accomplished performers of their time. Because they were constantly in need of new music, the bulk of
Vivaldis outputincluding almost 500 concertos, 46 sinfonias, 73 sonatas, chamber music and a small
number of sacred compositions was likely intended for these talented performers.
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Alessandro Scarlatti (16601725): A student of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, Alessandro Scarlatti

became the maestro di cappella of the viceroy of Naples in 1684 perhaps by way of his sister, an
opera singer and the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Scarlatti wrote over 100 operas, and his
works are thought to represent the change in approach to the genreincluding the standardization of
forms, embellishment of arias and minimization of recitativesthat took place at the end of the 17th
century, ultimately leading to the subgenre opera seria. In addition to opera, Scarlatti composed more
than 600 cantatas and a number of oratorios. His fame today rests primarily on his vocal music, but
Scarlatti received frequent commissions for instrumental music during his career as well.
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Domenico Scarlatti (16851757): The sixth son of Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti likely
received the best musical education Naples had to offer. Around 1708, the elder Scarlatti took his son to
Venice to study with Francesco Gasparini (16681727), who had been a pupil of Corelli. From Venice the
younger Scarlatti journeyed to Romereportedly with Handelwhere the two men performed before
Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. About 1720 Scarlatti moved to Lisbon, and some ten years later to Madrid. He
is known today primarily for his keyboard sonatas, in which his frequent borrowings from Hispanic folk
tunes and rhythms create a unique sound that is sometimes called Iberian Baroque.
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Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (17101736): Born in Jesi in 1710, Pergolesi studied under
Francesco Sartini. He moved to Naples in 1725, where he spent his brief career working in the
Neapolitan courts. While in Naples, Pergolesi joined Alessandro Scarlatti in pioneering the changes
underway in the genre of opera, particularly in the new opera buffa (comic opera). In 1733, he
included within his opera Il prigioner superbo the two act buffa intermezzo La serva
padrona (The Landlady Servant), which immediately became popular in its own right. Its premiere in
Paris in 1752 sparked the so-called querelle des bouffons (quarrel of the comedians), a debate
between devotees of serious French opera in the style of Lully and Rameau and fans of the new style of
Italian comic opera. During the course of the two-year dispute, Pergolesis work became the figurehead
of the Italian style.
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In addition to numerous operas, Pergolesi composed a number of secular instrumental works and sacred
pieces. His best known sacred composition is the Stabat Mater (1736), commissioned to replace a similar
piece by Alessandro Scarlatti which had been performed for years on Good Friday in Naples. Reprinted
more often than any other composition in the 18th century, the Stabat Mater was an inspiration to
many, including J. S. Bach. Pergolesis instrumental compositions include a concerto and sonata for the
violin. Many pieces believed to have been composed by Pergolesi were later shown to be falsely
attributed, including the music on which Igor Stravinsky based the 1920 ballet Pulcinella.
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France
Franois Couperin (16681733): Born in Paris in 1668, Franois Couperin was the son of Charles
Couperin (163879), the organist at St Gervais in Paris. After inheriting his father's position at the age of
18, Couperin eventually became the harpsichordist at Versailles as well. From the start of his career,
Couperin was something of a nonconformist. In his publications of harpsichord music Couperin grouped
his works into ordres rather than the more typical suites, and often eschewed the usual dance
movements in favor of evocative pices de caractre. In order to ensure that his music was properly
performed, Couperin published L'art de toucher le clavecin (1716), which included fingerings,
instructions for ornamentation and playing dotted rhythms and eight preludes that could serve as
introductions to the eight ordres of his first and second books.
In addition to his keyboard music, Couperin composed a number of sacred vocal works that were heavily
influenced by Italian cantatas and sonatas, and his interest in the juxtaposition of French and Italian
styles continued throughout his lifetime. His publications in his final decade offer striking illustrations of
this preoccupation, including the Concert instrumental la mmoire de Monsieur de
Lully (1725) in which Lully and Corelli are received by Apollo on Mount Parnassus and together
compose La paix du Parnasse in the form of a trio sonata. An even more direct fusing of the two styles
occurs in Les nations (1726) and in his suites for bass viols (1728), of which the first is a
French ordre and the second an Italian sonata da chiesa. Couperin remained somewhat
controversial for much of his career. While some critics dismissed him as a dedicated servant of Italy,
others viewed the quality of his playing and compositions as the epitome of the French classical
tradition.
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Jean-Baptiste Lully (16321687): One of the most dominant figures of the French baroque,
Giovanni Battista Lulli (later Jean-Baptiste Lully) was actually an Italian of noble birth who arrived in Paris
in 1646. In 1653, he began work at the Court of Louis XIV as an instrumental composer and dancer. Upon
securing the position of superintendent of music in 1661, Lully started writing comdies-ballets with
the playwright Molire, fusing the tradition of Italian pastoral opera with the French ballet du cour. In
1672 he acquired the license for the Acadmie de musique, and a series of highly restrictive patents gave
him a total monopoly on the use of music on the French stage. Lully even persuaded the king to limit the
number of singers and instrumentalists that could perform with other Parisian theater troupes.
The apotheosis of Lullys style was the tragdie-lyrique, a French opera in five acts incorporating
ballet, chorus and lavish sets. The magnificence of these productions reflected the way of life in Louis
XIVs court perfectly. Machines that made angels fly and ships tackle the stormy seas transformed the
performances unparalleled spectacles, and Philippe Quinaults librettos disseminated the latest currents
in royal thought and praise for the French nation.
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Marc-Antoine Charpentier (16451704): Believed to be from a family of royal painters,
Charpentier studied with Carissimi in Rome in the 1660s before returning to Paris around 1670. In
addition to his position as matre de musique at the residence of Marie de Lorraine, Mademoiselle
de Guise, which lasted until her death in 1688, he became Molire's musical collaborator when the
dramatist broke with Lully in 1672. Although Molire's death in 1673 put a premature end to their
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partnership, Charpentier continued working with the Comdie-franaise. Louis XIV liked his theater
music so much that he granted him a pension in 1683.
In addition to his employment in the secular realm, Charpentier held several posts in the church during
the final decades of his life. After serving as the matre of the Jesuits' St. Louis church, Charpentier
became the matre de musique des enfants at the Sainte Chapelle in 1698. As a result of these
positions, Charpentiers repertoire includes 11 Mass settings; a large number of Psalms, antiphons,
sequences and lessons; more than 200 motets; and many instrumental works intended for performance
in church. His best known works for the stage are La couronne de fleurs (1685), David et
Jonathas (1688), and Mde (1693), and he also wrote three unpublished treatises.
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Jean-Phillippe Rameau (16831764): Born in Dijon in 1683, Rameau spent the first 40 years of
his life working in the relative obscurity of the provinces. His move to Paris and the publication of his
famous Trait de l'harmonie in 1722 brought him into the limelight, although he was still unable to
secure employment. In 1726, he published his second and more contentious treatise, Nouveau
systme de musique thorique, which led him into rancorous public disputes in the pages of
the Mercure de France (1729-30). Rameaus early operas, including Hippolyte and Aricie(1733),
were also the subject of controversy, sparking a lengthy debate between the old-fashioned Lullists and
the avant-garde Ramists over the identity of French opera.
In addition to serving as the matre de musique at the home of the financier La Poupliniere from
about 1735 until 1753, Rameau began work at court as the Kings compositeur de la musique in
1745 and collaborated on several projects with Voltaire. In the final decade of his life, Rameau focused
more on theory than on actual composition, corresponding with other important music theorists
including Johann Mattheson. His ideas about harmony, particularly the notion that every chord has
a basse fondamentale (root note) that preserves the identity of the chord even when its notes are
reordered, form the basis of modern theories of tonality. Upon Rameaus death in 1764, over 1500
people attended his memorial service, which featured over 180 musicians performing excerpts from his
operas.
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Germany
Michael Praetorius (15711621): A student of Martin Luther, Praetorius was theorganist at the
Marienkirche in Frankfurt before he became the organist (1603) and Kapellmeister (1604) at the court
in Wolfenbttel. His post necessitated a great deal of travel, which allowed him to advertise his talents as
a conductor, organist and knowledgeable expert on practical music and on musical instruments. An
extremely prolific composer of Lutheran church music, Praetoriuss magnum opus is the 9-
volume Musae Sioniae, which contains over a thousand chorale and song settings. His only surviving
secular work is Terpsichore, a set of 312 dances. In addition to his music, Praetorius provided an
invaluable reference for researchers in the form of his three volume Syntagma Musicum (1619), a
detailed compendium of observations on contemporary German music, musical instruments and
performance.
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Johann Hermann Schein (15861630): After studies in music and in law, Schein held positions
as house music director at Schloss Weissenfels and Kapellmeister to Duke Johann Ernst the Younger at
Weimar before succeeding Calvisius in 1616 as music director and cantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig,
a position J. S. Bach was to hold over a century later. Schein was one of the major figures in the
development of the sacred concerto, one of the genres that fueled Bachs Lutheran cantatas, and also
composed many spiritual madrigals, motets, songs, dance suites and chorale harmonizations. Although
his early compositions favor the complex polyphony of the sixteenth century, he quickly abandoned this
style in favor of the more modern trend toward emotional declamation and dramatic contrast, using
them to great advantage in many of his sacred works. Schein is also known for his friendships with
Scheidt and Schtz.
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Samuel Scheidt (15871653): Born in Halle, Scheidt studied music in Amsterdam with the
famous composer Sweelinck. Upon returning to Halle, he became court organist and
them Kapellmeister to the Margrave of Brandenburg. Unlike many other composers including Schtz,
Scheidt stayed in Halle during the Thirty Years War, taking a series of smaller posts until the situation
permitted him to return to his position as Kapellmeister. Scheidt worked with a number of other
famous composers throughout his career, such as Praetorius and Schtz, and composed many volumes
of sacred music that include sacred concertos and madrigals. He was also well known among his
contemporaries for his instrumental music, particularly his chorale preludes and fantasias for keyboard.
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Heinrich Schtz (15851672): Born in Kstritz, Schtz first studied music with his father, who was
an innkeeper. In 1598, a guest at the innthe Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kasselheard the young
boy sing, and was so taken with his talent that he asked Schtzs father if he could be in charge of his
music education. In addition to his studies with the landgraves Kapellmeister, Schtz studied law at
the University of Marburg, graduating with honors in 1608. In 1609, the landgrave gave Schtz a grant to
travel to Venice, where he studied composition with Giovanni Gabrieli until 1613. After a short stint as
the landgraves organist, Schtz became the court composer for the Elector of Saxony in Dresden in
1615, where Praetorius was also occasionally employed. Schtz held this position for the rest of his
career. During the Thirty Years War, however, he studied briefly with Claudio Monteverdi in Venice and
served as Kapellmeisterto King Christian IV of Denmark for several years.
Perhaps as a result of his studies in Italy, Schtz is sometimes credited with bringing the Italianate style
to Germany. Like Monteverdi, Schtz often made use of pungent dissonances to express the meaning of
the text, and even employed special technical figures in analogy to or taken from classical rhetoric. His
two trips to Italy yielded collections of music that show his assimilation of the Italian style, especially
his Il primo libro de madrigali (1611), dedicated to the landgrave and displaying the results of his
studies with Gabrieli, and the Symphoniae sacrae (1629), which were published at the end of his
time in Venice. In 1627 Schtz also produced the first German opera, Dafne, the music of which no
longer exists. He is best known for his sacred vocal music, however, particularly his three books
of Symphoniae sacrae, the Psalms of David, the Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz (the
Seven Last Words on the Cross) and his three Passion settings, which were composed shortly before the
end of his life.
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Georg Philipp Telemann (16811767): Born in Magdeburg in 1681, Telemann came from a
family long connected with the Lutheran church: his father was a clergyman, his mother the daughter of
a clergyman and his elder brother also followed in the familys footsteps. Telemanns destiny lay
elsewhere, however. By the age of 10, he was proficient on the violin, flute, keyboard and zither, and
even wrote an opera, Sigismundus, at twelve. Her sons ever-increasing interest in music worried his
mother, who confiscated his instruments and forced him to take up the study of jurisprudence.
According to Telemann, however, on the way to Leipzig University he met none other than Herr Georg
Friedrich Handel, who was already of some importance even in those days. This encounter was the start
of a long friendship between the two men, who exchanged letters throughout their lifetimes. (On several
occasions, Handel even sent Telemann, an amateur botanist, botanical curiosities from London).
Telemann tried to keep his passion for music a secret, but he was sorely tempted to drink Musics
philtre, as he put itand drink he finally did. One day, his roommate accidentally came across the
score of Telemann's setting of the Sixth Psalm and arranged for a performance in St. Thomas's Church
the following Sunday. The work was so successful that the Burgomaster of Leipzig commissioned him to
write a new piece for the choir of St. Thomas every fortnight. Telemann the composer was born.
In 1702, Telemann took his first official job in music as the director of Leipzigs opera house and one of its
churches. His growing reputation in Leipzig angered Kuhnau, the citys music director and Bachs
predecessor, who was particularly unhappy that student musicians seemed more interested in working
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with Telemann on opera productions than in participating in church music. In 1705, Telemann left Leipzig
to become Kapellmeister to the cosmopolitan court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau), where
the vogue for the French and Italian style broadened Telemanns musical horizons. He became well
acquainted with the music of Lully and Campra, composing close to 200 ouvertures and suites during
his sixteen years in the position. After briefly overlapping with Bach in Eisenach and working in several
other cities, Telemann was offered the Hamburg Johanneum in 1721, a post that entailed the
directorship of the citys five principal churches as well as teaching responsibilities. He remained at
Hamburg for the rest of his life, and was succeeded in the post by his godson, Carl Phillipp Emmanuel
Bach.
During his lifetime, Telemann enjoyed a fame that far surpassed that of his contemporary, J. S. Bach. Not
only was he considered to be the better musicianand was compensated accordingly with a salary in
Hamburg at least three times larger than Bachs in Leipzig but by all accounts he was well liked,
admired for his driving ambition, impressive talent and excellent sense of humor. Often called the most
prolific composer in history, Telemanns surviving repertoire is massive, including 1043 church cantatas,
46 Passions and many operas. He also composed a large amount of instrumental music; in an
autobiographical article from 1740, Telemann estimated that he had written 600 suites, about a quarter
of which are extant today. One of his most ambitious was the three-installment Tafelmusik(Table
Music), on whose list of subscribers was Mr. Hendel, Docteur en Musique, Londres.
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George Frideric Handel (16851759): Like his friend Telemann, George Frideric Handel showed
a great deal of musical promise during his childhood in Halle, but was initially encouraged to study law
instead. Although he entered the University of Halle in 1702, he left a year later to become a violinist in
the opera house at Hamburg. It was in this city that his first two operas, Almira and Nero, were
produced in 1705, followed by Daphne and Florindo in 1708. Handel then traveled to Italy,
premiering Rodrigo (1707) in Florence and Agrippina (1708) in Venice, where he may also have met
Vivaldi. In Rome he studied with Corelli, and performed La Resurrezione (1709) and Il Trionfo del
Tempo (1710). Early in 1710, Handel left Italy to become Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover,
George Louis, who became King George I of England in 1714. Handel moved to London in 1712, where
he remained for the rest of his life.
Handel arrived in London as a famous opera composer, but English audiences proved resistant to the
genres charms. By the early 1730s, the assaults of critics and the notoriously lascivious lifestyles of the
singers had worn down London audiences, and Handel needed to find a new medium for his art. The
oratorio was the perfect solution. English oratorios were similar to opera in their use of recitative and
aria, but were rarely staged, and were based on stories from the Bible in the vernacular. Handels
addition of the chorus also resonated with London audiences, who were steeped in the English tradition
of anthem-singing. Ultimately, the English oratorio cemented Handels reputation foreverand works
such as Messiah, Judas Maccabeus and Israel in Egypt are still tremendously popular today.
In addition to his operas, oratorios and well known Coronation Anthems, written for the coronation of
George II, Handel composed a great deal of instrumental music still performed today. Some of the most
famous were composed for royal occasions, including Water Music, written for concerts on the
Thames, and Music for Royal Fireworks. Others were published for purchase by subscription, like
the Op. 6 Concerti Grossi, based on the Op. 6 collection of Corelli. After becoming blind in 1751, Handel
died eight years later in London. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
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Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750):
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Like many composers born into a musical family, Johann Sebastian Bach received his earliest instruction
from his father in Eisenach. After his fathers death in 1695, Bach studied in Ohrdruf with his brother,
Johann Christoph, and also attended schools in Eisenach, Ohrdruf, and Lneburg. In 1703, Bach attained
his first post as organist in Arnstadt, where he stayed until 1707, followed by a year as organist in
Mhlhausen. From 1708 to 1717 Bach worked for Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, first as court organist,
and after 1714, as Kapellmeister. Many of his organ compositions were written during this period,
including the Orgelbchlein, as well as some of his cantatas. While in Weimar, Bach also came into
contact with a great deal of Italian music, and was particularly influenced by Vivaldis concertos.
Bach embarked on the next phase of his career in 1717, when he became the Music Director for the
Prince Leopold of Cthen (17171723). Since the court chapel was Calvinist (a religion that did not use
elaborate music in its services), Bach composed a great deal of instrumental music during this time,
including the Brandenburg Concertos, the Suites for solo cello, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin,
the first volume of Das wohltemperirte Clavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier) and the Orchestral
Suites. While there was no need for sacred vocal music, Bach also composed a few cantatas to
commemorate special events at court.
In 1723, Bach was appointed music director and cantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, a position he was
to hold for the rest of his career. (Bach was actually the second choice for the position, as the more
famous Telemann had already refused the job). His official duties were immense, requiring him to
oversee the music in the citys four main churches, teach and provide music for municipal occasions.
During his first six years in Leipzig, Bach composed four cycles of cantatas and the St. John and St.
Matthew Passions. By 1729, Bach had amassed a large repertoire of music for services in Leipzig, and
was able to turn his attentions elsewhere. From 1729 to 1737 (and again from 1739 to 1741), Bach
served as the director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, a group of professional musicians and
university students founded by Telemann in 1704. In addition to reviving many compositions from
Cthen for the Collegiums weekly concerts, many of Bachs secular cantatas from this time were
probably composed for the group. Bach also published a number of more abstract, erudite works for
publication, particuarly the four volumes entitled Clavier-bung (Keyboard Practice), which hold the Six
Partitas for Keyboard (Vol. I), the Italian Concerto, the French Overture (Vol. II) and the
*Goldberg *Variations (Vol. IV); another late work along similar lines is the unfinished Die Kunst der
Fuge ( The Art of Fugue).
Although he was famous during his lifetime, Bachs contemporaries had all but dismissed him as old-
fashioned by the time of his death in 1750. According to anecdotal evidence, his music was still
respected; Mozart and Beethoven both reportedly studied his compositions. The true revival of Bachs
works began in 1829, however, when Felix Mendelssohn conducted a famous performance of the St.
Matthew Passion in Berlin. After hearing the performance, Hegel called Bach a grand, truly Protestant,
robust and, so to speak, erudite genius which we have only recently learned again to appreciate at its full
value. Mendelssohns efforts to promote Bachs music continued, and eventually led to the founding of
the Bach Gesellschaft (Bach Society), an organization devoted exclusively to promoting his works.
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England
Henry Purcell (16591695): As the son of a musician at court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal and
a composer for three different kings, Henry Purcell spent his entire life in Westminster. After showing a
proclivity for music at a young age, Purcell may have studied with John Blow in the Chapel Royal. 18th
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century historian Charles Burney questioned the extent of the tutelage, however, writing that he had
a few lessons from Dr. Blow, which were sufficient to cancel all the instructions he had received from
other masters, and to occasion the boast inscribed on the tomb-stone of Blow, that he had been Master
to the famous Mr. Henry Purcell.
As part of his royal duties, Purcell was expected to write music to celebrate special occasions, such as the
birthday ode for Queen Mary entitled Come Ye Sons of Art, Away. Although Italian opera had not yet
caught on in England, Purcell composed a number of semi-operas, such as King Arthur (1691) and
*The Fairy Queen *(1692), and the only through-sung English opera of the seventeenth century, *Dido
and Aeneas *(1689). Purcell also wrote a large amount of incidental music for the theater, which his
widow published posthumously as A Collection of Ayres, Compos'd for the Theatre, and upon
Other Occasions(1697).
In addition to his activities at court and in the theater, Purcell was also involved with the advent of public
concerts in London, and composed harpsichord suites and trio sonatas for performance at these events.
In 1683, a group of amateur and professional musicians started a Musical Society to celebrate the
Festival of St. Cecilia, a great patroness of music, on November 22. Purcell composed three odes for
the Society. Upon his premature passing in 1695, the English Orpheus was buried adjacent to the
organ in Westminster Abbey.