HENRY PURCELL

Chaconne in G minor, transcribed by Benjamin Britten

Born: September 10, 1659, in London
Died: November 21, 1695, in London
Work composed: 1692

During the 16th and 17th centuries, English music of the first magnitude flowed from such
worthies as John Dowland, John Bull, Matthew Locke, Pelham Cooke and Henry Purcell.
Coming at the end of this fertile era, Purcell summed up the music of his countrymen, revealing
a mastery of both Renaissance polyphony and the newer Baroque sensibilities. After his
premature death at 36 years, his music enjoyed currency for another twenty years or so until a
passion for Italian opera swept Handel — trained in Italy — into pre-eminence, while Purcell
and his “English” compatriots fell into rapid decline.

Very little is known about the composer. Two different Henry Purcells — musicians both —
have been fingered as his father and uncle, but without knowing which was which. The young
Henry showed great talent as a chorister at the Chapel Royal. His rise to fame came quickly
among fellow composers and noble patrons at the highest levels of royalty. No surprise that he
was accorded a burial in Westminster Abbey. The solemn music he had written for Queen
Mary’s funeral in 1694 was used again for his own memorial service, scarcely a year later. His
early death caused widespread grief.

A chacony or chaconne, to use the more familiar French term, is a variation scheme with roots in
the early Baroque era. It is almost identical to a passacaglia (as in J.S. Bach’s celebrated set of
variations for solo organ in C minor). A theme is presented in toto followed by variations
superimposed over the basically unchanging series of chords (chaconne) or melody
(passacaglia). By the late 17th century instrumental chaconnes were quite popular and remained
so until around 1750. With popularity came standardization of phrase length, and Purcell’s
Chaconne in G minor shares with many of its brethren an eight-bar “ground bass” or ostinato
theme.

Purcell was a superb master of variation technique as evidenced in this brief work from his
theatre piece, The Fairy Queen. He adds harmonic interest by subtly altering subsequent
repetitions of the “ground bass” tune, modulating to different keys and thereby deviating
somewhat from the standard chaconne format. Rhythmic, melodic and textural changes
throughout the variations further display his genius.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) drew inspiration and actual music from Henry Purcell in such
works as Variations and Fugue on a theme by Henry Purcell, otherwise known as “The Young
Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” Britten transcribed his predecessor’s Chaconne (aka Chacony
in the 17th century) in 1945.

Program Notes © 2015 Steven Lowe