HENRY PURCELL

GROUP 1
PRESENTED BY
ABDUL RAZIQ MUQRI
MUHAMMAD RAZIQ
HAZREEN AMREENA

BIODATA & ACHIEVEMENTS

Henry Purcell (1659 1695), called the GREATEST of ENGLISH COMPOSER.

He was born in ST. ANNS LANE, OLD PYE STREET WESTMINSTER, LONDON.

His father was a MUSICIAN in the KINGS SERVICE.

At about age 10, Purcell became a CHOIRBOY in the CHAPEL ROYAL.

By the time he was in his late teens, his extraordinary talents winning him
important musical positions.
1677, at about 18, he became a COMPOSER to the KINGS STRING ORCHESTRA.

2 years later, he was appointed organist of Westminster Abbey.

1682, he became an organist of the Chapel Royal.

During the last few years of his short life, Purcell who died at 36, was BURRIED
BENEATH THE ORGAN IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

He was the last native English composer of international rank until the twentieth
century.

Purcell MASTERED ALL THE MUSICAL FORMS OF LATE SEVENTEENTH century

England.

He wrote CHURCH MUSIC, SECULAR CHORD MUSIC, MUSIC FOR SMALL GROUPS OF
INSTRUMENTS, SONGS AND MUSIC for the stage.

His only true opera is DIDO AND AENEAS (1689), which consider the FINEST ever
written to an English text.

His other dramatic works are spoken plays with musical numbers in the form of
overtures, songs, choruses and dances.

His vocal music is FAITHFUL TO ENGLISH INFLECTION and brings out the meaning
of the text.

He developed a melodious recitative that seems to grow out of the English

language.

His music is FILLED WITH LIVELY RYTHMS and has a FRESH MELODIC STYLE that
captures the spirit of English folk songs.

He treated the chorus with great variety and was able to obtain striking effects
through both SIMPLE HOMOPHONIC TEXTURES and COMPLEX POLYPHONY.

Some of Purcells finest songs use a variation form found in many baroque works
a ground bass.

GROUND BASS

Often in baroque works,a musical idea in the bass is repeated over and over
while the melodies anove it change.

The repeated musical idea is called a ground bass, or basso ostinato which
means obstinate or persistent bass.

Ground bass pattern may be as short as four notes or as long 8 measure

Composers have used a ground bass in both vocal and instrumental music

DIDO AND AENEAS(1689)

Purcells Dido and Aeneas,a masterpiece of baroque opera, was written for
studentscat girls boarding school.

It last only an hour,is scored only for strings and harpsichord continuo,and
requires no elaborate stage machinery or virtuoso soloists

Most of its solo are for women.

Used many dances in Dido and Aeneas because the director of the school was a
dancing master who wanted to display the students accomplishments.

The libretto of Dido and Aeneas ,by nahum tate ,was inspired by the Aeneid an
epic poem by the roman poet virgil (70 19 B.C) .

The operas main characters are Dido,the queen of Charthage and Aeneas,the
king of defeated Trojans.

After the destructions of his native troy, aeneas has been ordered by the gods to
seek a site for building a new city.

He sets out on the search with 21 ships.

After landing at Chathage ,a north African seaport,Aeneas falls in love with Dido.

DIDO AND AENEAS TOPIC

A sorceress and two witches see this is an opportunity to plot Didos downfall

In Purcells time, people really believed in witches : nineteen supposed

witches were hanged in Massachusetts in 1692,three years after Didos
performance.

A false messengers tells Aeneas that the Gods command him to leave Carthage
immediately and renew his search.

Aeneas agrees but is desolate at the thought of deserting Didos.

In the last act, which takes place at the harbour, Aeneass sailors sing and dance
before leaving and the witches look on in glee.

An emotional scene followa between Aeneas and Dido, who enters with her
friend, Belinda.

Dido calls Aeneas a hypocrite refuses his offer to stay.

After he sails, Dido sings a noble, deeply tragic lament and kill herself.

ACT III : Didos lament

A melodic recitative accompanied only by the basso continuo sets the sorrowful
mood for Didos Lament, the climax of the opera.

This aria is built on a chromatically descending ground basses were commonly

used to show grief.

Didos melody move freely above this repeated bass line, creating touching
dissonances with it.

Didos melody repeated Remember Me reaches the hightest notes of the

aria&haunts the listener.

The emotional tension is sustained in the orchestral conclusion, where a

chromatically descending violin melody movingly expresses the tragedy of Didos
fate.

THE END