The Life of Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell was a famous English composer during the Baroque period of music. There is very little known about Henry Purcell’s life. Purcell was born September 10, 1659 in the Westminster area of central London, England. His father, who was also named Henry Purcell was a gentleman at the Chapel Royal and the master of Choristers in Westminster Abbey but he died in 1664 when Purcell was around six years old. After the death of his father his mother Elizabeth was forced to raise their Henry and his brothers. It is unknown how many brothers Henry actually had but it is known that he had at least two, Edward and Daniel. Daniel was also a musical composer. Henry 's uncle, Thomas Purcell was also a gentleman of
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After this Henry married Frances Peters. In July 1681 their first son, Henry, was born and baptized. Unfortunately, the baby died only a week later. Their second son, John Baptista, also died as an infant in 1682 shortly after Purcell was named one of the three organists of the Chapel Royal. Later that year Thomas Purcell, Henry 's uncle, also passed away. Henry wrote his first printed composition “Twelve Sonatas” in 1683. During that year he also wrote an ode called Welcome, viceregent of the mighty king for St. Celcilla’s Day. When King Charles died in 1685 Henry wrote music for his death and for the coronation of the new King, James II. Two of the songs Purcell wrote for the coronation of King James II were “I was glad” and “My heart is inditing” both of which became very popular over the next few years. With King James II as leader some things changed he appointed Henry Purcell as the official royal harpsichordist. When Queen Mary got pregnant at the end of 1689, Purcell was hired to write an anthem for the announcement, between then and 1688 Henry wrote music for seven plays and his most famous work his opera, Dido and Aeneas.
When William and Mary gained the throne Purcell continued to work for the royal family making music but also obtained many other hobbies such as, working for Henry Playford editing and helping compose his musicals. Purcell also started
Joseph was born in Rohrau, Austria. He was born in 1702. He died in 1809. He was an Austrian composer. Haydn wrote in Italian. Haydn played classical music during the renaissance period. He became a principal architect of classical music. His contribution to music gave him the name “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartets. Michael Haydn and Johann Evangelist Haydn were his brothers. Haydn was a teacher to Beethoven.
Handel had started to experiment with oratorios in 1732, after the success of a ballad opera called the Beggars Opera by Johann Pepusch and John Gay. His own operas had declined in popularity, and operas were expensive and difficult to produce (Barber, and Donald). An oratorio was basically the same thing as an opera, except there were no expensive sets and costumes (Bonds). Handel composed Messiah from August 22 to September 14, 1741, a space of only 3 weeks. After finishing the oratorio, he put it away and started to work on another oratorio, Saul. It sat collecting dust for months, until Handel was invited to Ireland to visit the Duke of Devonshire in early November of 1741. After a rather disappointing opera season in 1740 and 1741, Handel was eager to get to Dublin. The libretto for Messiah was written by Charles Jennens (who also wrote the libretto for Saul) in the summer of 1741. It contained a compilation of verses from the bible; it didn’t tell a story, but reflected on the life of Christ and the Christian message, which is why it is a popular performance with churches today (Barber, and Donald). Messiah contains a recitative, “He that dwelleth in heaven”, and an aria, “Thou shalt not break them”. A recitativeis a style of singing that is between a lyrical song and speech, and makes the words clearer and easier to understand. An aria is the lyrical movement or piece for solo voice with some kind
In 1509, Henry VII died and Henry, heir apparent, became King of England at eighteen years old. After the death of Henry VII and the accession of the throne by his son, Henry became Henry VIII and his first assignment was to execute his father’s ministers. It wasn’t until a few months after the death of his father that Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon (“Henry VIII King of England” 2). In the early years of Henry VIII’s reign, he was tall and handsome. Henry VIII was very talented in many things, including playing various musical instruments, being athletic, being a good linguist, dancing, hunting, and a musical composer among many other attributes (Fry 95). When Henry VIII first came to the throne, he had little to no interest in
When thinking of composers, whose works changed the world of music forever, many names may come to mind. Among those on that list, both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel are figures whose effect on music has been felt worldwide. Born in the same year, these composers have much in common and many differences that illustrate their importance to their era and music as we see it today. Their individualism and creativity influenced much of their time and together, their works defined the Baroque Period as we know it today.
George Frideric Handel is generally considered the second most important Baroque composer after Bach. Unlike Bach's nearly complete focus on church music in Germany, Handel more openly embraced the French, Italian, and English secular music. Also unlike Bach, Handel did not come from a long line of musicians. When he was born on February 23, 1685, Handel's family had no idea that he would rise to a legendary status in music. Handel's father began to see his son's desire to compose at an early age and violently objected. His mother was responsible for nurturing and continuing his musical education. At the age of seven, Handel was asked to give an organ recital for the Duke of Sachse-Weissenfels. The Duke was very impressed and awarded the family with a generous amount of money. This event persuaded his father to allow Handel to pursue his musical career. When his father died in1697, Handel was freed from his father's will. He studied with numerous organists and gained minor fame.
John was born November 13, 1732 in Maryland. Later on July 19, 1770 he married a women named Mary Polly Norris. Even Though they didn’t spend much time together they still showed their love and affection for eachother. John and Mary had a total of five kids three girls and two boys, the two boys die shortly after being born the three girls survived. The three girls that
King Henry VIII was born in 1491, and became king in 1509, until his death in 1547. He is probably most known for his six marriages, which he had two of his former wives beheaded. As king, Henry VIII was responsible for separating England from the Roman Catholic Church creating the newly formed Church of England. As a result of this reformation, King Henry VIII discontinued all monasteries serving Rome in England to get rid of all Catholic influences which ultimately led to a new form of church music being written for the Anglican Church. King Henry VIII was a unique king in the sense that he was a strong advocate for the arts especially music. He was a composer, musician, and had a very large court fill with some of the best musicians
King Henry VIII was one of the most powerful rulers in the fifteenth century, who had a very captivating life many people are not aware of. Most people know Henry VIII as a berserk king with too many wives, but there is more to Henry VIII than that. Many few people know about his life and what he truly contributed to our world. Henry VIII was an almighty leader in England who won’t soon be forgotten.
“One thing I am certain of is that, if I have done anything good in music, it was first, because of my father, and second, because of my wife,” quoted by Charles Ives. Music played a significant role Ives’ family from generations to generations which were carried down to Charles. The family oriented American composer, Charles Edward Ives (also known as Charlie) was born on October 20th, 1874 at Danbury, Connecticut to George Ives and Mary Parmelee. He spent most of his childhood with his father as he hung out with him during his band rehearsals and admired his father’s music, creativity, character, and etcetera.
A job that was given to many other trusted workers in the abbey as Westminster had no official copyist. Purcell probably spent most that time copying post restoration works that were being created at the time. This work as well as his normal workload as a choir boy would have acquainted him with the restoration composers and given him insight into their work. He himself confessed to transcribing the works of Byrd, Gibbons and Tallis into his own personal manuscript book.
Charles I held the crown jewels as one of his most precious possessions. His family crest was a lion and a unicorn holding up a crown balanced on a shield. Charles married Henrietta Maria of France in 1625 when she was fifteen years old. She did not like marrying Charles because she
Among the influential composers of baroque music, there have been few who have contributed so much in talent, creativity, and style as Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was a German organist and composer of the baroque era. Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia and died July 28,1750. Bach revealed his feelings and his insights in his pieces. Bach’s mastery of all the major forms of baroque music (except opera) resulted not only from his genius talent, but also from his life long quest for knowledge. In some parts of Germany, the name, “Bach” became a synonym with the word, “musician.” Extremely talented in the art of baroque composition, Bach placed his heart, soul, and
George Frederic Handel is a composer over operas, oratorios, and instrumentals. His work, ‘Messiah,’ is the most famous oratorios in history. He was born in Halle Germany on February 23, 1685. He made his debut as an opera composer with Almira in 1705. He produced operas with the Academy of Music in England before forming the New Royal Academy in 1727. When Italian operas became unpopular, he started composing oratorios, including his most famous Messiah. Georg Frideric Handel studied music, but his father was against it. His father wouldn’t permit him to own a musical instrument. However, his mother was supportive and she encouraged him to develop his musical talents. When Handel was a young boy, he had opportunity to play the organ for the
Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in Rohrau Austria. He was one of three boys born to Mathias Haydn and Anna Maria Koller. Both of Haydn’s parents especially his father loved music. Haydn started to display his musical gifts at an early age. His parents sent him to live with their relative, Johann Matthias Frankh because he was
There were many composers during the baroque era that wrote operas, like Claudio Monteverdi; an early Baroque composer. Monteverdi composed mostly sacred and secular music, he created two styles of composition “heritage Renaissance polyphony