Compositional Artifice in the Music of Henry Purcell

The first major study to propose an analytical approach to Purcell's music beginning from contemporary compositional aims and techniques.

Alan Howard (Author)

9781107006669, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 October 2019

312 pages, 11 b/w illus. 8 tables 185 music examples
25.3 x 18 x 2 cm, 0.8 kg

'Compositional Artifice in the Music of Henry Purcell represents a step-change in the emerging musicological sub-discipline of historically informed analysis. By introducing the contemporary notion of 'artificial' composition - in which the composer incorporated intricate imitative devices to provide creative satisfaction for both composer and performer - Howard unravels with remarkable clarity the hidden compositional techniques lying behind Purcell's inventive strategies in both his instrumental chamber music and his later large-scale vocal works. The book provides a set of historically sensitive analytical tools that have the potential to transform the reader's understanding of some of Purcell's greatest masterpieces.' Rebecca Herissone, University of Manchester

Fugal invention has proved a successful line of analytical inquiry in recent studies of repertoires from Josquin to J. S. Bach. Alan Howard brings similar insights to the music of Henry Purcell, and proposes the first analytical approach to his music to examine compositional methods alongside historically contemporary theory, focusing particularly on Purcell's 'artificial' approach to imitative counterpoint. Through this methodology Howard challenges previous responses to Purcell's music that portrayed him as fundamentally conservative. This study offers fresh insights into the musical world in which Purcell lived and worked and situates Purcell's compositional concerns in the broader context of notions of artifice in Restoration culture. Howard thereby offers both a fresh analytical approach - to Purcell's early instrumental works and to his later concerted vocal music - and a critique of the reception history surrounding the fantazias and sonatas in particular.

Introduction
Part I. Purcell's 'Art of Descant': 1. In counterpoint: sources and analysis
2. Artifice, Fugeing and fantazia
3. 'The chiefest instrumental musick now in request': canzonas and other sonata fugues
4. 'The power of the Italian notes': Purcell's sonatas as and in reception
Part II. 'Thou Didst Thy Former Skill Improve': 5. 'Celestial art[ifice]' in Hail, bright Cecilia
6. Artifice and musical modelling
7. Augmentation as artifice, artifice as augmentation
8. 'Italian sonatas in orchestral garb'.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3], Theory of music & musicology [AVA]