Founding of the Red Cross Society. Russian Red Cross Society: history of creation, goals and functions
Henry Purcell(English Henry Purcell, September 10, 1659 (?), London - November 21, 1695, ibid.) - English composer, representative of the Baroque style. Despite the inclusion of stylistic elements from Italian and French music, Purcell's legacy is an English form of Baroque music. Purcell is recognized as one of the greatest English composers.
Biography
Early years and beginning of career
Purcell was born in London's Westminster (English: St. Ann's Lane Old Pye Street). Purcell's father (Henry Purcell Sr.) was a musician, as was his father's elder brother Thomas (Purcell's uncle, d. 1682). Both brothers were members Royal Chapel. Purcell Sr. sang at the coronation of Charles II.
Beginning in 1659, the Purcell family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey. Henry Purcell had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer. It was he who completed the music for the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry's death.
After his father's death in 1664, Henry was taken into the care of his uncle Thomas, who cared for him as his own son. While serving in His Majesty's Chapel, he secured Henry's admission there as a choir member.
Henry first studied with the dean of the chapel, Henry Cooke (d. 1672), and then with Pelham Humphrey (d. 1674), Cook's heir. Henry was a chorister at the Chapel Royal until his voice changed in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ maker John Hingston, who served as the king's Keeper of the Brass.
It is believed that Purcell began composing music at age 9. But the earliest work for which it is reliably established that it was written by Purcell is an ode to the king's birthday, created in 1670. The dates of Purcell's writings, despite much research, are often not precisely known. It is assumed that the song is English. "Sweet tyranness, I now resign" was written in three parts by him in childhood. After Humphrey's death, Purcell continued his studies with John Blow. He attended Westminster School and in 1676 was appointed copyist of Westminster Abbey. The very first Purcell anthem in English. "Lord, who can tell" was written in 1678. This is the psalm established for Christmas and also read at morning prayer on the fourth day of the month.
In 1679, Purcell wrote several songs for John Playford's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues and an anthem, whose title is unknown, for the royal chapel. From a surviving letter from Thomas Purcell it is known that this anthem was written specifically for the outstanding voice of John Gostling, who was also a member of the royal chapel. At different times, Purcell wrote several anthems for this extraordinary profundo bass, which had a range of two full octaves from the lower D of the major octave to the D of the first octave. The dates of composition of few of these church works are known. The most notable example of them is the anthem “They that go down to the sea in ships”. In honor of the miraculous deliverance of King Charles II from shipwreck, Gostling, who was a royalist, combined several verses from the Psalter in the form of an anthem and asked Purcell to set them to music. This most difficult piece to perform begins with a passage that covers the entire range of Gostling's voice - from the top D and descending two octaves down.
Further career and death
In 1679, Blow, who had been organist of Westminster Abbey since 1669, left this position in favor of Purcell, his student. From that moment on, Purcell began composing mainly church music and broke off his ties with the theater for six years. However, at the beginning of the year, perhaps before taking up his position, he created two important things for the stage: the music for "Theodosius" by Nathaniel Lee (eng. Nathaniel Lee) and "Virtuous Wife" by Thomas d'Urfey (eng. Thomas d'Urfey) Between 1680 and 1688, Purcell wrote music for seven plays. The composition of his chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which is an important milestone in the history of English theatrical music, dates back to this earlier period. quite probable, since the opera is mentioned in documents in 1689. It was written on a libretto by the Irish poet Nahum Tate and staged in 1689 with the participation of Josias Priest, choreographer of the Dorset Garden Theater. Dorset Garden Theatre). Priest's wife ran a boarding school for noble maidens, first in Leicester and then in Chelsea, where the opera was staged. It is sometimes called the first English opera, although Blow's opera Venus and Adonis is usually called that. As in Blow's work, the action takes place not in spoken dialogue, but in recitatives in the Italian style. Both essays last less than an hour. At one time, “Dido and Aeneas” did not make it onto the theater stage, although, apparently, it was very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been copied extensively, but only one aria from the opera was published by Purcell's widow in Purcell's collection of works, Orpheus Britannicus, and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840, when it was published by the Ancient Music Society ( English Musical Antiquarian Society) edited by Sir George Alexander Macfarren. The composition of Dido and Aeneas gave Purcell his first opportunity to write a continuous musical setting for a theatrical text. And this was the only opportunity to write music that expressed the feelings of the entire drama. The plot of Dido and Aeneas is based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid.
PURCELL HENRY (Purcell) - English com-po-zi-tor and organist.
The son of the singing Ko-ro-lev-ka-pel-la. Until 1673, he sang in the choir of the boys of the Ko-ro-lev-skaya chapel, where he played music with G. Kuk and P. Ham- fries. Significant influence on his formation as a com-po-si-to-ra and use-of-the-window M. Locke, whom Purcell in 1677 he changed it to po-stu “at-the-court-com-po-zi-to-ra of screech-pich-noy music.” In 1679, he replaced J. Blow as the or-ga-ni-sta of the West Ministries of the Ab-bat-st-va, since 1682 he combined this position with a similar position in the Ko-ro-lev-skaya ka-pel-le. In 1683, on-pe-cha-tan, the first collection of Purcell’s works was “12 co-nat”. In 1685, he received the position of “personal cla-ve-si-ni-sta-ko-ro-lya”.
Already at the end of the 1670s, relying on the achievements of the com-po-zi-to-rov of the English school, Purcell achieved complete power de-niya po-li-fo-ni-che-skoy tech-ni-koy and shi-ro-ko used it in an-the-mah and other genres of spiritual music -ki, in in-st-ru-ment-tal-nyh so-na-tah and fan-ta-zi-yah. Along with this, the priority for com-po-si-to-ra, the use of the English va-ria-tsi-on-form has become gra-un-da. In the early 1680s, he completely mastered the Italian ma-not-ru writing (you-ra-zha-la-nie “co-chi-nyat, pod-ra-zha- I give to the Italian-Yan-mas-te-rams”). Drawing on the experience of various European schools, Purcell’s style never lost its essence of being associated with national culture. swarm, use-pol-zo-va-ni-em tra-di-tsi-on-nyh for England musical forms and genres. This connection was most clearly revealed in Purcell’s vocal music, which embodied his unique feeling -knowledge of the English language, the desire for an exact translation of the nu-an-sound of the word.
Among the spiritual co-chi-ne-kom-po-si-to-ra there is a significant place for-the-n-ma-yut an-the-we. In the so-called complete (ho-ro-vyh) an-te-mah, Purcell paid tribute to tradition; his stro-fi-che-skie an-te-we (for co-lists in co-pro-vo-zh-de-nii in-st-ru-ment-tov), on the contrary, de -mon-st-ri-ru-yut no-va-tor-sky approach. An-te-we “Praise the holiness of God” (“O praise God in his holiness”, circa 1682) and a co-ro-na-tsi-on-ny an-them “I am heartened -tse dik-tu-et” (“My heart is inditing”, 1685) - large in volume com-po-zi-tion, stylish special-ben-no-sti ko- then-lu-chi-developments in its subsequent co-chi-ne-ni-yahs: large-scale in-st-ru-mental insertion, inclusion of a violin in a solo vocal part, structuring the whole second thoughts and motivating connections between times-de-la-mi. Purcell lived on the music of the English-Li-Kan-li-tur-gy, two examples of musical solutions to serve them were created in early period of creation and subsequently more than once. Music for English divine services (10 hours in total) was not a single and end-to-end com-po-zi-ci- her, the parts that make up her could sound in different combinations. Based on godly music, Purcell created many-vocal spiritual songs based on Latin and English texts (partsongs ), solo songs and duets (included in the collection “Harmonia sacra”, in 2 vols., 1688-1693).
Among the secular societies, the central place for the odes is timed to various trades. . In comparison with ti-po-lo-gi-che-ski close-ki-mi im an-te-ma-mi Purcell, not constrained og-ra-ni-che-niya-mi god-serving music, de-mon-st-ri-ru-et in them there is greater freedom in dealing with musical forms and expressive media. In most of their odes, they present themselves as chorus lines for co-lead singers, choirs and other singers. st-ru-men-tal-no-go en-samb-la (like pr-vi-lo, string group, bass-so con-ti-nuo, sometimes 2 flutes and trumpets). Their structure is based on the cyclic che-re-do-va-niy of the re-chi-ta-tiv-nyh, ary-oz-nyh and good epi-zos -dov with or-ke-st-ro-you-mi “sym-fo-niya-mi” of the French type, in-st-ru-men-tal-ny-mi ri-tur-ne-la-mi and the obligatory chorus that is the key to everything that happens. While preserving the general solemn order, Purcell's odes are distributed according to the scale and the har-rak-te-ru: from the li-ri-che-ka-mer -noy “Love's goddess was sure was blind this day”, 1692) to the fullest pa-fo-sa, ve -li-che-st-ven-noy “Ring the trumpet, beat the ba-ra-ban!” (“Sound the trumpet, beat the drum”, 1687). The best-known greeting odes of Purcell, created in 1689-1694 for the birthday of Ma- ria II Stu-art, have a lot in common with Purcell's theatrical music of that time; they are derived from the beauty of the in-st-ru-men-tov-ki, the vir-tu-ozness of the vo-cal-parties and the stylistic diversity ob-ra-sie. 4 odes dedicated to the Day of St. Celia, of which the most famous are “Hail, beautiful Ce-tsi- lia" (“Hail, bright Cecilia”, 1692), founded a new tradition, which was continued in the 18th century century. According to great odes, Purcell wrote chamber water-cal-cal-chi-niums intended for use at the court, and for the home-mash-ne-go mu-zi-tsi-ro-va-niya. In these genres (especially in the later songs created after 1685), de-la-ma received further development -tsi-on-ny and ari-oz-ny style, have become ex-pe-ri-men-you in the region of forms. Many songs, originally created for theatrical plays, “Fairest isle” from “Ko-ro-la Ar-tu-ra”, “I try to fly away from love’s longing” (“I attempt from love’s sickness to fly”) from “Ko-ro-le- you are Indians”, “Music for a while” from “Edi-pa” - later used separately.
A significant place in Purcell’s work is played by music for theatrical plays (about 50 in total), over ko-ry-mi Purcell worked with dra-ma-tur-ga-mi J. Dry-den, T. She-du-el-lom, N. Tey-tom, W. Kon-gri-vom, etc. In most cases, mu-zy-ka or so-pro-vo-da-la tse-re-mo-ni-al- new episodes, as in the seven-opera “Pro-ro-chi-tsa, or Is-to-ria Di-ok-le-tia-na” (play by J. Flet-che -ra in the re-ra-bot-ke of T. Bet-ter-to-na, 1690), “King-role Ar-tour, or the British hero” (text by Dry-de-na " A Midsummer Night's Dream", 1692), but-si-la pure de-co-ra-tiv-ny ha-rak-ter, designing pictures not related to act-st-vi-em. In the pre-discourse to “Ko-ro-le-ve fairies” Purcell cri-ti-che-ski noted the need for publicity in a vi-zu-al-noy growth-ko-shi to the detriment of musical co-continence. In some fragments of these performances, especially in Purcell’s last seven-opera “Ko-ro-le-va in-day” -tsev" (text by Dry-de-na and R. Go-var-da, 1695), the music has a greater dramatic-tur-gical meaning tion. An exceptional example of a unique musical-dramatic spec- tional performance is Purcell’s single opera “Di-do- na and Aeneas" (libretto by Tey-ta according to the mo-ti-you "Aeneas" by Vergil-liy, 1689) - the first English national opera. In this chamber, in co-sta-vu, is-pol-ni-te-lei so-chi-ne-nii real-li-zo-val-xia gift of Purcell-dra-ma-tur-ga: spo - ability to create in-di-vi-dua-li-zi-rov. per-so-na-zhey and psi-ho-lo-gi-che-ski to the most-reliable embodiment of their emotions, the ability to accurately resolve develop semantic and verbal ac-cents and achieve the di-na-mich-no-sti development of each individual scene and the entire opera as a whole. You-ra-zi-tel-but from the personal drama of the heroes introduced-de-no-by-the-out (cho-ries and dances of mat-ro-sov ), fabulous-but-fantastical (scene in the witches' cave) and idyllic (scene in the grove at the beginning of the 2nd act) pictures, com-po-zi-tor under-in-does the listen-sha-te-lya to the tragic culmination-tion and the resolution - the scene of Di-do-na’s death from her the famous la-men and the closing chorus that follows him. This short aria, na-pi-san-naya in the form of gra-un-da, entered the history of culture as one of the most tra-gi-che -sky musical education.
Among many in-st-ru-ment-tal co-chi-ne-ny Purcell - 6- and 7-voice fantasies for consort-ta vi-ol (about 1680), completing the 150-year-old special English tradition of work-work (by type of writing on can-tus firm-mus) form-mul-lo-dia “In no-mine”. Purcell's appreciation for the music of Italian com-po-zi-to-rov found expression in 2 collections of trio-so-nats (1683, 1697). Pro-iz-ve-de-niya for the cla-ve-si-na present themselves as short suites, consisting of dance-hours -tey, and simple plays [partially published in the collection “Music's Hand-Maid”, 1689].
Purcell's work op-re-de-li-lo the development of English music. In the 18th century it was studied by G.F. Gen-del. In the 19th century, the Per-sel-lovsky club and the Per-sel-lovsky society worked in Lon-do-not-ra-bo-ta-li. In-te-res to Purcell increased in the middle of the 20th century, in many ways thanks to the efforts of B. Brit-the-na, who made the best use of ni-tel-sky re-editing of the opera “Di-do-na and Aeneas”, and M. Tip-pet-ta, sp-sob-st-vo-vav-she-go pro-pa-gan -de pe-sen-noy li-ri-ki Per-sel-la.
Essays:
The works. L., 1878-1965. Vol. 1-32. L., 1961-2011.
Henry Purcell was born on September 10, 1659 in London's Westminster, the son of a musician who sang at the coronation of King Charles II.
Henry Purcell was born in London in 1659 into a musical family. His father Thomas Purcell, whose ancestors moved to England from Ireland, was a court musician under the Stuarts: a chapel singer, a lutenist, and a good viol player. Henry Purcell was associated with court circles from childhood. Born on the eve of the Restoration, he discovered brilliant musical abilities in early childhood. From the age of six or seven, he sang in the choir of the royal chapel, studied vocal art and composition there, played the organ and harpsichord (a type of wing-shaped English harpsichord, similar to a modern piano). His teachers in the chapel were excellent musicians - Captain Cook, John Blow and an expert in French music, Pelham Humphrey. Purcell was twenty years old when his brilliant acting paved the way for him to wide recognition. In 1679, he became organist of Westminster Abbey, and in the first half of the 1680s, the court chapel, where he had recently sung as a modest boy, invited him to this post. His fame as a virtuoso grew. The plebeian strata of the capital - musicians and artisans, poets and restaurateurs, actors and merchants - formed one circle of his acquaintances and customers. The other was the royal court with its aristocratic and bureaucratic periphery. Purcell's whole life, bifurcating, passed between these poles, but it was towards the first that he invariably gravitated.
In the 1680s, at the end of the Restoration, his composing genius began to flourish rapidly and brilliantly. He wrote with a kind of feverish haste, turning to a wide variety of genres, sometimes distant and even opposite to each other. His everyday monophonic and polyphonic songs were born at festivities, in taverns and catch clubs, at a friendly feast, in an atmosphere of cordiality, freethinking, and sometimes even revelry. Purcell was a regular in this environment; it is known that one of the London taverns was decorated with his portrait. Some songs of those years leave no doubt that the patriarchal conservatism that was once characteristic of Thomas Purcell was not inherited by his son. But next to these song creations - democratic, playful, satirical - arose patriotic cantatas, odes and songs of welcome, often written for the royal family and nobles on their anniversaries and celebrations.
The number of songs he created is enormous. Together with those written for the theater, it numbers in the hundreds. Purcell is one of the world's greatest songwriters. Some of his song melodies during his lifetime acquired almost all-England popularity.
Particularly noteworthy are Purcell's satire songs, epigram songs, caustic, witty, and mocking. In some, the Puritan bigots, the businessmen of that time, are ridiculed; in others, irony is poured out on the great world with its vices. Sometimes parliament becomes the subject of skeptical judgments set to music (the catch “The All-England Council Meets”). And in the duet “Locust and the Fly” - even King James II himself. However, Purcell also has official and loyal opuses, which could not have failed to exist at that time given his official position. There are many songs in Purcell’s legacy that were written under the impression of the pictures he saw of the life and everyday life of ordinary people, their sorrows and joys. The composer achieves great strength and vital truth by painting unvarnished portraits of the homeless poor of his homeland.
Purcell also wrote heroic songs, filled with the high pathos of his era, seething with great passions. Here the courageous side of his nature showed especially clearly. His almost romantic “Prisoner’s Song” sounds inspired. This proud, free song of the 17th century cannot be listened to without emotion.
His spiritual compositions are inspired - psalms, hymns, motets, anthems, church interludes for organ. Among Purcell's spiritual works, his numerous anthems stand out - majestic hymns based on the texts of the psalms. Purcell boldly introduced a secular concert beginning, skillfully using that superficial but ardent passion for secular music, which became a kind of fashionable fad in the wealthy classes of England under Charles II. Purcell's anthems were transformed into large compositions of a concert plan, and sometimes of a pronounced civil nature. The secular tendency of the genre was a phenomenon unprecedented for the clergy in England, and after 1688 Purcell encountered particularly sharp rejection from Puritan circles.
Purcell's sacred works alternated with many purely secular ones - suites and variations for harpsichord, fantasies for string ensemble, trio sonatas. Purcell was a pioneer in the creation of the latter in the British Isles.
He was burdened and outraged by the egoistic attitude that reigned everywhere “at the top” towards music as pleasant entertainment. In 1683, in the preface to the trio sonatas, he wrote, paying tribute to the Italian masters: “... The seriousness and significance associated with this music will come to recognition and honor among our compatriots. It’s time for them to begin to be burdened by the frivolity and frivolity that is characteristic of our neighbors (by “neighbors” here we mean France).” It is obvious that incredible creative tension, combined with onerous court duties and an overly distracted way of life, already undermined the composer’s strength.
The parliamentary coup of 1688 - the deposition of James II and the accession of William of Orange - changed relatively little in the musical life and fate of musicians. The authorities “made money from landowners and capitalists” established a regime that was less carefree and wasteful, but the vain patronage of the Restoration was replaced by deep indifference to music. The sad consequences of this first accelerated the beginning of the decline of organ and harpsichord art, and then affected the theater. Purcell, who pinned his hopes on the patronage of Queen Mary, soon became convinced of their illusory nature. By that time, having mastered almost all vocal and instrumental genres, he turned with great enthusiasm to music for the theater and created values of lasting importance in this field. Theatrical music in its own way synthesized almost all of Purcell’s vocal and instrumental genres and became the generally recognized pinnacle of his work. He seemed to combine the tradition of musical design of the public theater with the dramatic composers of masks. At the same time, the experience of overseas masters - Lully, Italians - was quite widely mastered. However, during the composer's lifetime, his creations remained largely misunderstood and unappreciated.
This happened with the opera “Dido and Aeneas”. Purcell created the first real opera for England, and a brilliant one at that. It was written on a libretto by the then famous poet N. Tet, whose literary source was “The Aeneid” - the famous epic poem of the ancient Roman classic Virgil Maron.
Of the thirty-eight numbers of Dido, fifteen are choruses. The chorus is the lyrical interpreter of the drama, the heroine’s adviser, and on stage constitutes her entourage.
Here, the composer's ability to combine various genres and means of expression was especially pronounced - from the finest lyrics to the rich and tart everyday language, from realistic pictures of everyday life to the fabulous fantasy of Shakespearean theater. The heroine's farewell song - passacaglia - is one of the most beautiful arias ever created in the history of musical art. The British are proud of her.
The idea of Dido and Aeneas is highly humanistic. The heroine of the drama is a sad victim of the game of dark forces of destruction and misanthropy. Her image is full of psychological truth and charm; the forces of darkness are embodied with Shakespearean dynamism and scope. The entire work sounds like a bright hymn to humanity.
However, the opera Dido and Aeneas was staged only once in the 17th century - in 1689, and not on the theater stage, but in a boarding house for noble maidens in Chelsea. Then two performances took place - one at the beginning and the other at the end of the 18th century. Another hundred years passed before this finest work by England's greatest composer was pulled out of the archives and established on the English and then world stage. A year after the premiere of “Dido and Aeneas,” Purcell, with noble faith in his art and at the same time with bitterness, wrote in the preface to the drama “Diocletian” he set to music: “... The music is still in swaddling clothes, but this is a promising child. He will still let you feel what he is capable of becoming in England, if only the masters of music here enjoy greater encouragement.”
He composed little for the court stage, where the repertoire and style still dominated, reflecting the influences of French classicism. There, his theatrical music, which had absorbed the traditions and techniques of folk ballads, could not count on lasting success. Creating dozens of musical and dramatic opuses, he turned to the initiative of private individuals and, with their help, settled in a small theater in Dorset Garden, accessible to the general public. He took a direct, active part in productions, actively collaborated with playwrights, directors, and often himself participated in performances as an actor or singer (he had a magnificent bass). Purcell considered the creation of a large, highly artistic opera house, bringing joy to the people and supported by the government, a matter of honor to the English nation. And he saw with bitterness how far this ideal was from reality. Hence the deep ideological discord with those circles of English society on which his fate and the fate of music most depended. There can hardly be any doubt that this ideological conflict, more or less hidden but insoluble, became one of the factors in the tragic premature death of the great composer. He died of an unknown illness (according to one version, from tuberculosis) on November 21, 1695, in the prime of his creative powers, only thirty-six years old.
In the third year after his death, a collection of his songs, British Orpheus, was published. It was soon sold out, and then came out in several more editions. His popularity was very great. By singing these songs, the English people paid tribute to the national genius of their music.
“Remember me...” sings Dido, the heroine of the famous opera “Dido and Aeneas”, and we, modern listeners, as if fulfilling this request, remember the Queen of Carthage from Virgil’s “Aeneid” and her second father - the pride of English music, Orpheus Britain by Henry Purcell.
Many details of his life are still vague: whether he came from France or Ireland, whether he was actually born in Westminster, and even the date of his birth itself is not precisely known. But whether it was 1658 or 1659, Purcell was lucky enough to be born at the climax of the establishment of church rule after the Anglican Republic, during which the government closed theaters and banned Anglican church services. The period of English history that began with the accession of King Charles II to the throne in 1660 and lasted until the end of the 17th century is called by many the golden era of English music.
O Father of Purcell, Henry was also a musician in the royal orchestra, and also sang in the royal chapel. Having good musical ability and skill in playing the organ and lute, he naturally became his son's first teacher. After the death of his father, the boy was given to be raised by Uncle Thomas, also a member of the royal chapel. Under his influence, Henry joined the children's choir of this chapel. Around this time, at the age of 8, he began writing music.
After breaking his voice, Purcell left the chapel in 1673. In 1679 he became the organist of Westminster Abbey, where his father once played, and Purcell himself worked as a tuner and copyist of notes. In 1682, having received the title of ordinary composer of the Royal Violins and fame, Purcell returned to the Royal Chapel as organist. A year later, he was awarded the title “His Majesty the Guardian and Organ Maker” and continued to compose. The unusually large number of his works becomes even more impressive when one considers that Purcell lived only 37 years (although this is a year longer than Mozart). His constant work overload seems to have played a large role, and in 1695 he died of pneumonia.
Henry Purcell began a new era in music. During the Restoration period, an important part of English history, he did more for theater, church, and chamber music than any other composer.
At this time, music was more a delight for the eyes than for the ears. Both in the royal chapel and at court it was viewed as entertainment. Therefore, even Purcell's church music is based on the same elements on which theatrical, instrumental and incident music were built. For his words, Purcell used the works of modern church poets, rather than the words of the New Testament. But his popularity was brought to him by his works for the theater, and not by the odes and songs of praise written for the court.
Although Purcell is considered the first English opera composer, the use of the term “opera” in relation to his works is not entirely correct. These are rather performances in which actions are accompanied by music. Sometimes it is an overture, interlude, ballet insert, dance, sometimes a recitative, aria, duet or chorus. Only one work can rightfully be called an opera: Dido and Aeneas.
"Didona and Aeneas" was not the first opera written in England. But the music of this work, the majestic style and pathos, allows us to call it the first opera in England worthy of this name. It can only be said with certainty that Purcell was the first English composer to use the English language in his vocal works. Apparently, this is why, unlike Italian operas, recitals sound more impressive if performed in a more formal, restrained style. All, as they are now commonly called, “seven-operas” - “King Arthur”, “Diocretian”, “The Fairy Queen” no longer exist as musical dramas, but are performed in concert versions outside their dramatic context.
And the English, perhaps more than other nationalities, attach importance to traditions and rituals. Therefore, it is not surprising that Purcell, the court composer, wrote so many odes, prehistoric songs and works for various court occasions. A large number of his works are written for solo, two or more voices, or combine vocal cantileno with instrumental bass.
In purely instrumental music, Purcell's position is also unique. Although Purcell served as an organist for most of his life, he did not devote much attention to writing music for keyboard instruments. He has several suites for solo harpsichord, written as textbooks for students, based on themes from popular theatrical tunes. In string music - as, for example, in the 12 trio sonatas and fantasies for violin - his style is very reminiscent of that of his contemporary Italian composers. Purcell was among the first English musicians to sign their scores in Italian, indicating the tempo as "aallegro", "largo", etc. Much of his instrumental music was written for the Royal Orchestra. String sonatas never required brilliant technique and did not serve the purpose of demonstrating the virtuosity of the musicians. Also among his works there are works for trumpet and violin, which are still performed today.
Purcell is often unfairly accused of lacking individuality. His first works were written in the Old English style of Orlando Gibbons and William Bird, and later he came under the influence of the French school, especially Jean-Baptiste Lully. Like Lully, Purcell often used a "vertical" style of composition, in which each note of the melody is supported by a chord. Again, like Lully, he partially duplicates the voice part in the bass. Following Lully and Rossi, Purcell makes extensive use of dotted rhythm (dotted eighth note - sixteenth note) in his works to emphasize the emotionality of the moment. Towards the end of the century, a simplified texture that came from Italian masters, in which the middle voices are given over to the keyboard, is often found in his works. Purcell's trio sonatas were written in this style.
And it is interesting to pay attention to some features of Purcell's style. Royal Cappella students often used 3/2 time signatures in the slow movements. Purcell was no exception. He paid great attention to the importance of words, being able to emphasize the importance of a dramatic moment with melodic phrasing. Purcell is also constant in his choice of key, depending on the mood of the work: G minor - death, F minor - horror, witches and the like, F major and B flat major - serene pastoral scenes. These correspondences can be called traditional for those times. In addition, Purcell encounters C minor as a sign of melancholy, mystery, and reverence; E minor can be called its key of hatred. Well, triumphal works, like those of other composers, are usually written in C or D major - the key of trumpets, which are often used in this kind of work.
He was especially distinguished by his ability to use the bass, and, in vocal and other works, to combine florid phrases of different lengths and a strict rhythmic pattern, as in Dido's Lamenta.
No amount of criticism, even well-deserved criticism, can diminish Purcell’s role in the development of English and world music. Being a contemporary of such greatest composers as Bach and Handel, his merit and talent cannot be described in terms of “better” or “worse” - he was different, irreplaceable in his time, in his country, in his culture.
Works
Sources
- Dupre, Henry Purcell. 1928
- Price, Curtis A. Henry Purcell and the London Stage. 1984
- Adams, Martin. Henry Purcell. The origin and developments of his musical style. 1995
- Hutchings, Arthur. Purcell. 19825. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
- http://www.poptel.org.uk/opera/purcell.html (This website no longer exists, but I am leaving a link to it as a source of information that helped me in writing this material)
Henry Purcell was born in London in 1659 into a musical family. His father Thomas Purcell was a court musician under the Stuarts: a chapel singer, a lutenist, and a good viol player.
Henry Purcell was associated with court circles from childhood. Born on the eve of the Restoration, he discovered brilliant musical abilities in early childhood. From the age of six or seven, he sang in the choir of the royal chapel, studied vocal art and composition there, played the organ and harpsichord (a type of wing-shaped English harpsichord, similar to a modern piano). His teachers in the chapel were excellent musicians - Captain Cook, John Blow and an expert in French music, Pelgam Humphrey. Purcell was twenty years old when his brilliant acting paved the way for him to wide recognition. In 1679, he became organist of Westminster Abbey, and in the first half of the 1680s, the court chapel, where he had recently sung as a modest boy, invited him to this post. His fame as a virtuoso grew. The plebeian strata of the capital - musicians and artisans, poets and restaurateurs, actors and merchants - formed one circle of his acquaintances and customers. The other was the royal court with its aristocratic and bureaucratic periphery. Purcell's whole life, bifurcating, passed between these poles, but it was towards the first that he invariably gravitated.
In the 1680s, at the end of the Restoration, his composing genius began to flourish rapidly and brilliantly. He wrote with a kind of feverish haste, turning to a wide variety of genres, sometimes distant and even opposite to each other. His everyday monophonic and polyphonic songs were born at festivities, in taverns and catch clubs, at a friendly feast, in an atmosphere of cordiality, freethinking, and sometimes even revelry. Purcell was a regular in this environment; it is known that one of the London taverns was decorated with his portrait. Some songs of those years leave no doubt that the patriarchal conservatism that was once characteristic of Thomas Purcell was not inherited by his son. But next to these song creations - democratic, playful, satirical - arose patriotic cantatas, odes and songs of welcome, often written for the royal family and noble nobles for their anniversaries and celebrations.
The number of songs he created is enormous. Together with those written for the theater, it numbers in the hundreds. Purcell is one of the world's greatest songwriters. Some of his song melodies during his lifetime acquired almost all-England popularity.
Particularly noteworthy are Purcell's satire songs, epigram songs, caustic, witty, and mocking. In some, the Puritan bigots, the businessmen of that time, are ridiculed; in others, irony is poured out on the great world with its vices. Sometimes parliament becomes the subject of skeptical judgments set to music (the catch “The All-England Council Meets”). And in the duet “Locust and the Fly” - even King James II himself. However, Purcell also has official and loyal opuses, which could not have failed to exist at that time given his official position.
There are many songs in Purcell’s legacy that were written under the impression of the pictures he saw of the life and everyday life of ordinary people, their sorrows and joys. The composer achieves great strength and vital truth by painting unvarnished portraits of the homeless poor of his homeland.
Purcell also wrote heroic songs, filled with the high pathos of his era, seething with great passions. Here the courageous side of his nature showed especially clearly. His almost romantic “Prisoner’s Song” sounds inspired. This proud, free song of the 17th century cannot be listened to without emotion.
His inspired spiritual compositions are psalms, hymns, motets, anthems, church interludes for organ. Among Purcell's spiritual works, his numerous anthems stand out - majestic hymns based on the texts of the psalms. Purcell boldly introduced a secular concert beginning, skillfully using that superficial but ardent passion for secular music, which became a kind of fashionable fad in the wealthy classes of England under Charles II. Purcell's anthems were transformed into large compositions of a concert plan, and sometimes of a pronounced civil nature. The secular tendency of the genre was a phenomenon unprecedented for the clergy in England, and after 1688 Purcell encountered particularly sharp rejection from Puritan circles.
Purcell's sacred works alternated with many purely secular ones - suites and variations for harpsichord, fantasies for string ensemble, trio sonatas. Purcell was a pioneer in the creation of the latter in the British Isles.
He was burdened and outraged by the egoistic attitude that reigned everywhere “at the top” towards music as pleasant entertainment. In 1683, in the preface to the trio sonatas, he wrote, paying tribute to the Italian masters: “... The seriousness and significance associated with this music will come to recognition and honor among our compatriots. It’s time for them to begin to be burdened by the frivolity and frivolity that is characteristic of our neighbors (by “neighbors” here we mean France).” It is obvious that incredible creative tension, combined with onerous court duties and an overly distracted way of life, already undermined the composer’s strength.
The parliamentary coup of 1688 - the deposition of James II and the accession of William of Orange - then changed relatively little in the musical life and fate of musicians. The authorities “made money from landowners and capitalists” established a regime that was less carefree and wasteful, but the vain patronage of the Restoration was replaced by deep indifference to music. The sad consequences of this first accelerated the beginning of the decline of organ and harpsichord art, and then affected the theater. Purcell, who pinned his hopes on the patronage of Queen Mary, soon became convinced of their illusory nature. By that time, having mastered almost all vocal and instrumental genres, he turned with great enthusiasm to music for the theater and created values of lasting importance in this field. Theatrical music in its own way synthesized almost all of Purcell’s vocal and instrumental genres and became the generally recognized pinnacle of his work. He seemed to combine the tradition of musical design of the public theater with the dramatic composers of masks. At the same time, the experience of overseas masters - Lully, Italians - was quite widely mastered. However, during the composer's lifetime, his creations remained largely misunderstood and unappreciated.
This happened with the opera “Dido and Aeneas”. Purcell created the first real opera for England, and a brilliant one at that. It was written on a libretto by the then famous poet N. Tet, whose literary source was “The Aeneid” - the famous epic poem of the ancient Roman classic Virgil Maron.
Of the thirty-eight numbers of Dido, fifteen are choruses. The chorus is the lyrical interpreter of the drama, the heroine’s adviser, and on stage constitutes her entourage.
Here, the composer's ability to combine various genres and means of expression was especially pronounced - from the finest lyrics to the rich and tart folk language, from realistic pictures of everyday life to the fabulous fantasy of Shakespearean theater. The heroine's farewell song - passacaglia - is one of the most beautiful arias ever created in the history of musical art. The British are proud of her.
The idea of Dido and Aeneas is highly humanistic. The heroine of the drama is a sad victim of the game of dark forces of destruction and misanthropy. Her image is full of psychological truth and charm; the forces of darkness are embodied with Shakespearean dynamism and scope. The entire work sounds like a bright hymn to humanity.
However, the opera “Dido and Aeneas” was staged only once in the 17th century - in 1689, and not on the theater stage, but in a boarding house for noble maidens in Chelsea. Then two performances took place - one at the beginning and the other at the end of the 18th century. Another hundred years passed before this finest work by England's greatest composer was pulled out of the archives and established on the English and then world stage. A year after the premiere of “Dido and Aeneas,” Purcell, with noble faith in his art and at the same time with bitterness, wrote in the preface to the drama “Diocletian” he set to music: “... the music is still in swaddling clothes, but this is a promising child. He will still let you feel what he is capable of becoming in England, if only the masters of music here enjoy greater encouragement.”
He composed little for the court stage, where the repertoire and style still dominated, reflecting the influences of French classicism. There, his theatrical music, which had absorbed the traditions and techniques of folk ballads, could not count on lasting success. Creating dozens of musical and dramatic opuses, he turned to the initiative of private individuals and, with their help, settled in a small theater in Dorset Garden, accessible to the general public. He took a direct, active part in productions, actively collaborated with playwrights, directors, and often himself participated in performances as an actor or singer (he had a magnificent bass). Purcell considered the creation of a large, highly artistic opera house, bringing joy to the people and supported by the government, a matter of honor to the English nation. And he saw with bitterness the terrible distance between this ideal and reality. Hence the deep ideological discord with those circles of English society on which his fate and the fate of music most depended. There can hardly be any doubt that this ideological conflict, more or less hidden but insoluble, became one of the factors in the tragic premature death of the great composer. He died of an unknown illness in 1695, at the height of his talent and skill, only thirty-seven years old.
In the third year after his death, a collection of his songs, British Orpheus, was published. It was sold in several editions. His popularity was very great. By singing these songs, the English people paid tribute to the national genius of their music.