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Harpsichord News

April 1, 2003
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Purcell postscripts

Now that the 300th anniversary of Henry Purcell's death has
been celebrated throughout 1995, one may reflect on what was gained by such a
commemoration. Obviously, increased opportunities to hear a wider selection of
music by England's greatest composer was a plus, as was the extended repertoire
found on some programs which included previously-unknown or underrated works by
his contemporaries John Blow, John Eccles, Pelham Humphrey, and G.B. Draghi.
Just as Wanda Landowska wrote concerning 
J.S. Bach, " . . . it is impossible to play and love Bach when one
has little knowledge of those he loved and played and with whom his works are
tied intimately . . . " (Restout and Hawkins, Landowska on Music, New
York, 1964, p. 84), so both understanding and respect for Purcell's
achievements are enhanced by familiarity with the music created around him by
other composers.

An abundance (one might even say, a surfeit) of books,
magazine articles, and recordings has given us expanded resources for further
study and enjoyment of the 17th-century English repertoire.

Among the books, one of the best is also one of the least
pretentious: Henry Purcell by Peter Holman (Oxford University Press, 1994;
available in a paperback edition). Six chapters fill 250 pages. Beginning with
an essay on Purcell's musical world, Holman continues with studies of Purcell's
works genre by genre--domestic vocal music, instrumental music, church music,
odes, and theatre music. The text is illustrated with a generous number of
musical examples. The latest manuscript discoveries and recent scholarship (as
of 1994) are noted in Holman's account.

One of these important recent discoveries was the
Purcell/Draghi manuscript of keyboard pieces auctioned at Sotheby's in 1994,
and now safely housed in the British Library (as reported in The Diapason for
June 1995). The entire manuscript, including its nine previously unknown
pieces, has been recorded by Davitt Moroney for a Virgin Veritas compact disc
(CDC 5 45166 2). Playing three historic instruments from the Cobbe Collection
housed at Hatchlands Park, Surrey (a virginal by John Players, 1664; a single
manual harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, 1636, enlarged to a double by Henri
Hemsch, 1763; and a single-manual harpsichord attributed to Girolamo Zenti of
Viterbo, 1622) Moroney gives elegant life to the Suites in A minor, C major,
and miscellaneous pieces by Purcell, a prelude by Orlando Gibbons, and four
suites by Draghi.

Another disc which affords much pleasure is Sweeter Than
Roses, a Purcell song recital offered by American countertenor Drew Minter on
Harmonia Mundi 907035. With the collaboration of Paul O'Dette, archlute; Mitzi
Meyerson, harpsichord and organ; and Mary Springfels, viol, Minter offers
probing, loving, and beautiful performances of nineteen Purcell songs,
including such favorites as "I Attempt from Love's sickness to fly in
vain," "If Music be the food of love," "Hark the echoing
Air," "Music for a while," and the title song, "Sweeter
than Roses."

If one wants to try some of these pieces with a favorite
singer, an excellent resource from Oxford University Press is Thirty Purcell
Songs in two volumes (available in editions for high or medium voice), edited
by Timothy Roberts. All of the titles mentioned above (with the exception of
"Hark the echoing Air") plus "An Evening Hymn on a Ground,"
the movingly-expressive "Blessed Virgin's Expostulation" (a dramatic
cantata concerning the Virgin Mary's rapidly changing emotions at the
disappearance of the twelve-year-old Jesus before he is rediscovered in the
Temple), "Dear, pretty youth," "Lord, what is a man?"--and
twenty-two additional songs--are offered with stylistic, clean accompaniments,
realisations of the figured or unfigured basses which enable the keyboardist to
see the suggested harmonies at once, but which still allow room for tasteful
elaborations or deletions, should one choose to make them.

"Music in Purcell's London" is the theme explored
in the quarterly journal Early Music for November 1995 (Volume XXIII/4). The
cover, a reproduction of an anonymous oil painting from around 1700, shows the
interior of Westminster Abbey, including the only known representation of the organ
Purcell played (discussed in a short essay by Dominic Gwynn). Other articles of
interest include "Music on the Thames in Restoration London" (Julia
K. Wood); "Music for the Lord Mayor's Day in the Restoration"
(Michael Burden); "Manuscript Music in Purcell's London" (Robert
Thompson); "From Barnard to Purcell: the copying activities of Stephen
Bing" (Sarah Boyer and Jonathan Wainwright); and "Continuo lutes in
17th and 18th-century England" (Lynda Sayce). Eric Van Tassel reviews the
eleven compact discs comprising the complete sacred music of Purcell (Robert
King and the King's Consort, issued by Hyperion)--a unique and enduring
achievement of the anniversary celebration.

It has been announced that a new edition of Purcell's
keyboard music is in preparation from the Purcell Society. (I have not yet seen
a copy, but the volume is scheduled to include the "new pieces" from
the Purcell autograph manuscript, also to be issued in a facsimile printing.)
Of the presently-available publications, the best remains Howard Ferguson's
exemplary edition in two volumes for Stainer and Bell. The Eight Suites
(S&B 5598) and Miscellaneous Keyboard Pieces (S&B 5606) are presented
with Dr. Ferguson's usual good musical sense (and taste). His discussion of the
very real problem with Purcell's ornament signs remains convincing (for
example, the ornament table, printed posthumously in the 1696 edition of the
Suites, may not show the proper formula for the mordent [beat]). Having the
alternate readings from various divergent sources makes this an excellent
resource, should one wish to make informed choices amongst differing versions
of a piece.

The inexpensive Henry Purcell: Keyboard Works style='font-style:normal'> from Dover publications is a reprinting of a 1918
edition from J. & W. Chester (London). There are many divergences from
Ferguson's later, preferred reading of the sources. The volume does include
several works not included in the Ferguson edition: especially lovely is the
Voluntary in G Major for organ (Z. 720)--an Italianate work reminiscent of a
Frescobaldi elevation toccata, filled with exquisite slow-moving harmonies and
pungent dissonances; and the spurious Toccata in A (Z. D229), at various times
attributed to Purcell and also published as a work by J. S. Bach in the
original Bach Gesellschaft edition of that master's compositions.

The Toccata, probably an anonymous north-German piece, is a
worthy edition to the harpsichord repertoire (by that ubiquitous composer,
"Anonymous"). It sounds even better if the following notes are
changed: m. 18 last note, sop c-sharp; m. 51 first note, sop g-sharp; m. 53
last note, beat 3 soprano e-sharp; m. 81, last note, sop e-sharp. I have found
it helpful to add various ties, just as one would do in other 17th-century
toccata-style pieces.