life and works of Henry Purcell
The life and works of Henry Purcell. Although not as famous as some other composers of the Baroque era such as Bach and Handel, due to his untimely death and the loss of much of his early work, Henry Purcell was undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of his time, and possibly the greatest English composer of all time. ... And in 1661, his father, Henry Purcell Sr. ... When he got older, Henry himself became a member of the choir in The Chapel Royal. ... Soon after this he became the assistant of the organ maker John Hingeston (in 1683 Purcell himself would become the kings personal organ maker and instrument keeper). ... Purcell got married in 1680, and around the same time he began composing music for the theatre. ... Although Purcell is known to have been one of the greatest of all English composers, none of his work prior to 1680 has survived. However, his post 1680 works alone clearly display Purcell’s amazing talent as a composer. ... Due to the conservative tastes of the church, Purcell’s sacred music was usually grave and polyphonic, using the old English style of counterpoint. ... His instrumental works include Harpsichord Sonatas, Sonatas for two Violins with Cello and Harpsichord, fantasias for strings, also, a Sonata for solo Violin and Keyboard. Purcell died from Tuberculosis in Westminster on the 21st of November 1695 at 36 years of age. ... Henry Purcell was the second of the four children of Henry Purcell Sr. ... In these fantasias Purcell has yet to show influence from Italian (in 1673 the Duke of York had married the daughter of the Duke of the Italian city Modena, thus encouraging a wider acceptance of the Italian musical style in England. In his later life Purcell and many other English composers including Blow were hugely influenced by this) or French popular music, he relies heavily on the old style of counterpoint, which, it is suspected, he learnt from studying composers such as Byrd and Tallis. ... In 1683 Purcell composed a set of Trio Sonatas, which began to show heavy influence from the Italian masters Cazzati and Vitali, containing several movements for a Trio with coninuo, however, the second movement shows that Purcell was still hugely influenced by the old English style of Polyphony.