Purcell Studies

Essays commemorating the 1995 tercentenary of Purcell's death, representing the best research.

Curtis Price (Edited by)

9780521032735, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 November 2006

320 pages, 6 b/w illus. 11 tables 82 music examples
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.483 kg

'Curtis Price is to be congratulated on seeing the book through to successful fruition, as well as on the care which went into its planning. It gives scholars and students plenty to think about.' Consort

The tercentenary of Henry Purcell's death fell in 1995, and this 1995 volume of specially commissioned essays was collected to celebrate Purcell's music in his tercentenary year. The essays are representative of the best research and deal mainly with the autograph manuscripts, Purcell's compositional technique, the relationship between Purcell and his teacher John Blow, a reassessment of Purcell court odes, performance practice and wordsetting, and eighteenth-century reception history, particularly regarding King Arthur. The volume is well illustrated with music examples and photographs of important manuscripts. It also analyses Purcell's compositional techniques through detailed study of his manuscripts and reports on the discovery of two important autograph manuscripts. The book opens with an assessment of Purcell's illusive personality.

List of illustrations
Preface
Introduction: in search of Purcell's character Curtis Price
1. Purcell's great autographs Robert Thompson
2. Purcell as collector of 'ancient' music: Fitzwilliam MS 88 Robert Shay
3. Purcell's revisions of his own works Rebecca Herissone
4. New light on Purcell's keyboard music Curtis Price
5. Purcell and Roseingrave: a new autograph Peter Holman
6. 'Only Purcell e're shall equal Blow' Bruce Wood
7. Purcell's odes: propaganda and panegyric Ian Spink
8. Purcell, Blow and the English court ode Martin Adams
9. Continuity and tempo in Purcell's vocal works A. Margaret Laurie
10. Poetic metre, musical metre and the dance in Purcell's songs Katherine Rohrer
11. King Arthur expos'd: a lesson in anatomy Andrew Pinnock
12. King Arthur's journey into the eighteenth-century Ellen T. Harris
Afterword: a portrait of Henry Purcell Janet Snowman
Index.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH]