epistles, and in all of them she speaks in most affectionate terms
of her deceased husband; nevertheless, the breath of slander in
later years attributed to her some measure of responsibility for
her husband's untimely death. Mrs. Purcell eventually removed from
the house in Westminster to Richmond, in Surrey, where she died in
February, 1706, and was buried on the 14th of that month with her
deceased husband in Westminster Abbey, having survived him eleven
years. On the 7th of February, 1706, she made a nuncupative will as she
sat in the parlour of her dwelling house, by which she appointed Mr.
Thomas Tovey her executor until her daughter, Frances Purcell, should
reach the age of eighteen, when she was to be her executrix. Mrs.
Purcell goes on to say that, "According to her husband's desire, she
had given her deare son (Edward) a good education, and she alsoe did
give him all the Bookes of Musicke in generall, the Organ, the double
spinett, the single spinett, a silver tankard, a silver watch, two pair
of gold buttons, a hair ring, a mourning ring of Dr. Busby's, a Larum
clock, Mr. Edward Purcell's picture, handsome furniture for a room,
and he was to be maintained until provided for. All the residue of her
property she gave to her said daughter Frances."[51]
Sir John Hawkins, in his _History of Music_, would seem to suggest that
Purcell left his family in distressed circumstances, but the will of
the widow, of which he evidently knew nothing, gives a satisfactory
refutation of such a surmise. Hawkins also charges Purcell with
associating with tavern company; his words are:--
"Mirth and good humour seemed to have been habitual to him;
and this is perhaps the best excuse that can be made for those
connections and intimacies with Brown and others, which show him
not to have been very nice in the choice of his company. Brown
spent his life in taverns and ale-houses; the Hole in the Wall in
Baldwin's Gardens was the citadel in which he baffled the assaults
of creditors and bailiffs, at the same time that he attracted
thither such as thought his wit atoned for his profligacy. Purcell
seems to have been of that number, and to merit censure for having
prostituted his invention, by adapting music to some of the most
wretched ribaldry that was ever obtruded on the world for humour."
Hawkins goes on to say:--
"There is a tradition that his death was occasioned by a cold which
he caught in the night waiting for admittance to his own house.
It is said that he used to keep late hours, and that his wife had
given orders to his servants not to let him in after midnight;
unfortunately he came home heated with wine from the tavern at an
hour later than that prescribed him, and through the inclemency of
the air contracted a disorder of which he died. If this be true,
it reflects but little honour on Madam Purcell, for so she is
styled in the advertisements of his works; and but ill agrees with
those expressions of grief for her dear, lamented husband, which
she makes use of to Lady Howard in the dedication of the _Orpheus
Britannicus_. It seems probable that the disease of which he died
was rather a lingering than an acute one, perhaps a consumption."
We see from this, that Hawkins had some doubt as to the truth of the
story, and his daughter writing in 1822,[52] respecting some aspersions
which had been cast on her mother in reference to her treatment of her
father, says, "Sir John Hawkins was not at home at all the sooner for
his wife's fetching him. Mrs. Purcell, I should conjecture, had other
modes of attracting Mr. Purcell; yet _perhaps the whole may have been
as gross a falsification as that_ by which Lady Hawkins is vilified."
In a volume of poetry of glees published by Richard Clark in 1824, he
improves the tale told by Hawkins, and boldly adds details. He prints
the words of the catch, "Jack, thou'rt a toper."
"Jack, thou'rt a toper; let's have t'other quart.
Ring, we're so sober 'twere a shame to part;
None but a cuckold bully'd, by his wife
For coming late, fears a domestic strife;
I'm free, and so are you! to call and knock
Boldly, the watchman cries, 'Past two o'clock.'"
To these lines he appends the name of Tom Brown, and tells us that
_Jack_ was intended for Dr. Blow, and that "Purcell appears to have
spent much of his time with Tom Brown, who wrote the words of most
of his catches." Purcell never set a single line of Brown's, and
they were wholly unacquainted with each other, as may be learnt from
the following verses written by Brown in June, 1693, two years before
Purcell's death, "To his unknown friend, Mr. _H. Purcell_, upon his
excellent compositions in the _Harmonia Sacra_."
"Long did dark Ignorance our Isle 'ore-spread,
Our Musick and our Poetry lay dead;
But the dull Malice of a barbarous age
Fell most severe on _David's_ sacred page:
To wound his Sense and quench his Heav'n born fire
Three vile Translators lewdly did conspire;
In holy Doggerel and low chiming Prose
The King and Poet they at once depose:
Vainly the unrighteous charge he did bemoan,
And languish'd in strange numbers, not his own.
Nor stopt his Usage here;
For what escap'd in Wisdom's ancient Rhimes
Was murder'd o're and o're in the Composer's Chimes.
What praises _Purcell_ to thy Skill are due,
Who hast to Judah's Monarch been so true?
By thee he moves our Hearts, by thee he reigns,
By thee shakes off the old inglorious Chains,
And sees new Honours done to his immortal strains.
Not _Italy_, the Mother of each Art,
Did e're a juster, happier Son impart.
In thy performance we with wonder find
_Corelli's_ genius to _Bassani's_ join'd.
Sweetness, combined with Majesty, prepares
To sing Devotion with inspiring airs.
Thus I, unknown, my Gratitude express
And conscious Gratitude could do no less.
This Tribute from each _British_ Muse is due;
The whole Poetic Tribe's obliged to you;
For when the Author's scanty Words have fail'd,
Thy happier Graces, _Purcell_, have prevail'd!
And surely none but you with equal ease,
Cou'd add to David, and make D'Urfy please."
The above lines were printed in the _Gentleman's Journal_ with an
editorial note: "A music book intituled _Harmonia Sacra_ will shortly
be printed for Mr. Playford. I need not say anything more to recommend
it to you, than that you will find in it many of Mr. _Henry Purcell's_
admirable composures. As they charm all men, they are universally
extolled, and even those who know him no otherwise than by his Notes
are fond of expressing their sense of his merit. _Mr. Thomas Brown_ is
one of those, as you will find by these lines."
The lines appeared in the several editions of _Harmonia Sacra_ even as
late as 1714, and there is no ground for believing that the poet and
musician ever met.
Dr. Arne gave a concert at Drury Lane Theatre on the 21st of June,
1768, for which he published a book of the words; and one of the pieces
is Purcell's catch, "Jack, thou'rt a toper." To this Arne has appended
the following note:--
"The words of this catch are said to be written by Mr. Purcell,
wherein, it is obvious, that he meant no elegance with regard to
the poetry; but made it intirely subservient to his extream pretty
design in the music."
The catch, as has been noticed previously, forms a part of the opera
_Bonduca_.
When we consider the immense amount and varied kind of labour Purcell
accomplished during his short life of thirty-seven years, we must
conclude that although of a bright and joyous nature he was of
temperate habits; he had not only his duties at Westminster Abbey and
the Chapel Royal to fulfil, but there was also constant occupation in
composing for the Church, the Court, and the Theatre; he had numerous
professional pupils, and gave lessons in the families of some of the
most distinguished gentry and aristocracy; he also was frequently
called upon to preside over and direct the concerts which were given
in private assemblies. The Lord Keeper North, well known for his
theoretical and practical skill in music, and the author of the
_Memoires of Musick_, was wont to employ him in that capacity at his
house in Queen Street.
The position Purcell held in his profession necessitated his keeping
late hours, which undoubtedly overtaxed a delicate constitution and
culminated in his fatal illness in the prime of his manhood. Valuable
testimony to this view of the circumstances attending Purcell's
death is to be found in a curious volume called the _Great Abuse of
Musick_, published in 1711 by the Rev. Arthur Bedford, Chaplain to
the Duke of Bedford, and Vicar of the Temple in Bristol. The author,
himself a musician and composer, was also the writer of a companion
volume, _On the Evil and Danger of Stage Plays_, and in both books he
vigorously exposes the vice and immorality prevalent in his day, and
is justly severe on poets and musicians; therefore the passages in
which he speaks of his contemporaries, Blow and Purcell, are of great
importance. He says:--
"It must be confess'd, that whilst musick was chiefly employ'd
in the nation for the glory of God, God was pleas'd to shew his
approbation thereof by wonderfully improving the skill of the
composers, insomuch that I believe no Art was advanced from so
mean a beginning to so vast a height in so short a time as the
Science in the last century. Our musick began to equal that of the
Italians and to exceed all other. _Our Purcell was the delight of
the nation and the wonder of the world_, and the character of Dr.
Blow was but little inferior to him. But when we made not that use
thereof which we ought, it pleas'd God to shew his resentment, and
a stop to our progress by taking away our Purcell in the prime of
his age, and Dr. Blow soon after. We all lamented our misfortunes,
but never considered them as judgements for the abuse of this
science, so that instead of growing better we grew worse and worse.
Now, therefore, musick declines as fast as it did improve before."
This testimony respecting Purcell, from a contemporary, a distinguished
divine and musician, ought surely to wipe out the preposterous stories
of Purcell's cold-catching and low associations.
Valuable testimony to Purcell's high aims and laborious life is to be
found in the MSS. written by Dr. Tudway for Edward, Lord Harley, and
now deposited in the British Museum. Dr. Tudway was just two years
older than Purcell, so that he entered the choir of the Chapel Royal
first; he afterwards became a tenor singer in St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, and in 1670 organist of King's College, Cambridge, where he
afterwards took successively the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor in
Music, and eventually became Professor of the University. He was also
appointed "composer extraordinary" to Queen Anne. Writing of Purcell,
his fellow-student, he says:--
"I knew him perfectly well. He had a most commendable ambition of
exceeding every one of his time, and he succeeded in it without
contradiction, there being none in England, nor anywhere else that
I know of, that could come in competition with him for compositions
of all kinds. Towards the latter end of his life he was prevailed
on to compose for the English stage. There was nothing that ever
had appeared in England like the representations he made of all
kinds, whether for pomp or solemnity, in his grand chorus, &c.,
or that exquisite piece called the freezing piece of musick; in
representing a mad couple, or country swains making love, or
indeed any other kind of musick whatever. But these are trifles
in comparison of the solemn pieces he made for the Church, in
which I will name but one, and that is his _Te Deum, &c._, with
instruments, a composition for skill and invention beyond what was
ever attempted in England before his time."
Evidence respecting Purcell's personal virtues and gifts is to be found
in an ode printed at the commencement of the second volume of _Orpheus
Britannicus_, 1702. The poem is too long to quote entire, but the
following extracts will suffice:--
"Make room ye happy natures of the sky,
Room for a soul, all Love and Harmony;
A Soul that rose to such Perfection here,
It scarce will be advanced by being there.
Whether (to us by Transmigration given),
He once was an Inhabitant of Heav'n,
And form'd for Musick, with Diviner fire
Endu'd, compos'd, for the Celestial Choir;
Not for the Vulgar Race of Light to hear,
But on High-days to glad th' Immortal Ear.
So in some leisure hour was sent away,
(Their Hour is here a Life, a Thousand years their Day.)
And what th' Ætherial Musick was to show,
And teach the wonders of that Art below;
Whether this might not be, the Muse appeals
To his Composures, where such Magick dwells,
As rivals Heav'nly Skill, and human Pow'r excels.
* * * * *
Ah, most unworthy! shou'd we leave unsung
Such wondrous Goodness in a Life so young.
In spight of Practice, he this Truth hath shown,
That Harmony and Vertue shou'd be one.
So true to Nature, and so just to Wit,
His Musick was the very Sense you Writ.
Nor were his Beauties to his Art confin'd;
So justly were his Soul and Body join'd,
You'd think his Form the Product of his Mind.
A conqu'ring sweetness in his Visage dwelt,
His Eyes would warm, his Wit like lightning melt.
But those must no more be seen, and that no more be felt.
Pride was the sole aversion of his Eye,
Himself as Humble as his Art was High.
Oh! let him Heav'n (in Life so much ador'd)
Be now as universally Deplor'd!
* * * * *
There rest thy Ashes--but thy nobler name
Shall soar aloft and last as long as fame.
Nor shall thy Worth be to our Isle confin'd,
But flie and leave the lagging day behind.
_Rome_, that did once extend its arms so far,
Y'ave conquer'd in a nobler Art than War;
To its proud Sons but only Earth was giv'n,
But thou hast triumph'd both in Earth and Heav'n."
Purcell's friend and fellow-student, Henry Hall, organist of Hereford
Cathedral, also printed an ode "To the Memory of my Dear Friend Mr.
Henry Purcell," which concludes thus:--
"Hail! and for ever hail, Harmonious shade,
I lov'd thee living, and admire thee Dead.
Apollo's harp at once our souls did strike;
We learnt together, but not learnt alike:
Though equal care our Master might bestow,
Yet only Purcell e're shall equal Blow:
For thou by Heaven for wondrous things design'd
Left'st thy companion lagging far behind.
Sometimes a Hero in an age appears,
But once a Purcell in a Thousand Years."
It is clear that Purcell attained the highest pinnacle in the
estimation of his countrymen;[53] but his fame was not confined to
England. I have seen a MS. volume of music written by a contemporary
musician, a native of France, and in it he designates Purcell as
M. Pourselle. Roger of Amsterdam engraved and printed a set of his
Sonatas; and the following anecdote is told in some of the biographies
of Corelli:--
"While Corelli flourished with such _éclat_ at Rome, Harry Purcell
was famous in England, and Corelli was so greatly affected with the
character and abilities of this famous English musician, that, as
fame reports, he declared him to be then the only thing worth seeing
in England. Accordingly the great opinion he held of Purcell made him
resolve to make a journey into this kingdom on purpose to visit him,"
but the journey was abandoned on hearing of Purcell's death.
Another version of the story makes Corelli start on his journey, but
hearing of Purcell's death on shipboard, when nearing Dover, he returns
immediately to Rome.
Purcell's secular music undoubtedly frequently suffered from the
worthless trash he had to accept as poetry; too often it was not only
devoid of literary merit, but still worse, indecent; that was, however,
the fault of the age, and pervaded most of the dramatic literature then
in vogue. Even the well-known and estimable Dean of Christ Church,
Oxford, Dr. Aldrich, condescended to set music to such words as shame
would not permit us to print at this day.
Tom D'Urfey was a notorious offender against good taste, and for him
Purcell composed very largely.
"Oh! who can view without a tear
Great Pindar's muse and D'Urfey near?
Whose soaring wit ne'er higher flew
Than to endite for Barthol'mew,
Setting, for sots at country fairs,
Dull saucy songs to _Purcell's_ airs."[54]
D'Urfey's verses were so uncouth and irregular in their construction,
that a writer of the last century said, "The modern Pindaric Odes which
are humorously resembled to a comb with the teeth broken by frequent
use are nothing to them." D'Urfey wrote some especially rugged lines
which he challenged Purcell to set to music; the challenge was accepted
and the composer triumphed, but he confessed that it cost him more
trouble than the composition of a _Te Deum_. The ballad in question
was called "The Parson among the Peas," and was printed with Purcell's
music in D'Urfey's _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, 1719.
At the present day music has become such an extensively developed
science, particularly as regards orchestration, that it is difficult
to apprehend the state of things which existed in Purcell's time; but
to estimate his genius fairly we must recall the condition of the
musical artistic world in which he lived. In so far as orchestration is
concerned he had no models, nor had he any instrumental performers to
suggest or incite his creative powers. Purcell was familiar with the
family of stringed instruments called viols, and although Charles II.
introduced violins from France, yet the instrument was not regarded
with favour by musicians or by the people generally. Doubtless this
arose from the fact that there were no remarkable players. Anthony Wood
of Oxford, speaking of the year 1657, says:--
"Gentlemen in private meetings, which A. W. frequented, played
three, four, and five parts with viols--as treble viol, tenor,
counter-tenor and bass, with an organ, virginal or harpsicon
joined to them; and they esteemed a _violin_ to be an instrument
only belonging to a _common_ fiddler, and could not endure that it
should come among them, for feare of making these meetings to be
vain and fiddling."
The first musician to introduce violin playing proper was Thomas
Baltzar, who played at Oxford in 1658, and A. W. "saw him run up his
fingers to the end of the finger-board of the violin, and run them back
insensibly, and all with great alacrity and _very good tune_, which he
nor any one in England saw the like before."
He also was the first to exhibit in England the practice of shifting,
or the whole shift on the violin, and the half shift was not
introduced until about 1714. Baltzar died in 1663, so that it is
not probable Purcell ever heard him play; indeed it has been justly
remarked that the probability is he never heard a great violinist.
Corelli's works were not introduced into England until after Purcell's
death, and the only violin music Purcell knew was that composed by
Bassani.
In 1773 Daines Barrington, a well-known writer, speaks of the "Amazing
improvements in execution which both singers and players have arrived
at within the last fifty years. When Corelli's music was first
published, our ablest violinists conceived that it was too difficult to
be performed. It is now, however, the first composition attempted by a
scholar. Every year now produces greater and greater prodigies on other
instruments in point of execution."
Wind instruments were equally wanting if we except the trumpet, hautboy
and bassoon, and only the former could be said to have arrived at any
excellence in performance: there were no flutes,[55] clarinets, horns,
or trombones. It cannot therefore be expected that grand orchestral
effects will be found in Purcell's music, but what we do discover is
an amazing comprehension of the precise sentiment and feeling required
by the words or by the situation; harmonies which surprise us by
their beauty and boldness (many of them must have been absolutely new
when they were created by Purcell), exquisite and refined melody,
true rhythm, and just accent. And when we look at Purcell's purely
instrumental music, his sonatas, we find that as music they are
superior to Corelli--containing more learning, more ingenuity, and
yet without any appearance of labour or restraint; but Corelli was a
violinist, and in that respect he had the advantage of Purcell, and
knew what passages were best adapted for the instruments for which he
wrote.
Of Purcell's contrapuntal skill it would be impossible to speak
too highly; he has left for our wonder and admiration numerous
canons constructed in all the many and artful modes that species of
composition is capable of; the ingenuity and contrivance exhibited give
ample evidence of his diligence and laborious study, and the highest
praise of all is that in spite of the deep learning of which they give
evidence they move as melodiously, and as freely, as if they were
unfettered by the stern and inflexible chains imposed by the rules of
the schools.
Purcell's weakness in accepting the prevailing taste for endless
"graces" and divisions has already been adverted to. Another
peculiarity which characterises his music may possibly be accounted
for by the statement by Stafford Smith that "Mr. Purcell has been
heard to declare more than once, that the _variety_ which the _minor_
key is capable of affording by the change of sounds in the ascending
and descending scales, induced him so frequently to give it the
preference."[56] Now-a-days few composers would select the _minor_ mode
when composing music to the joyful words of the "Gloria Patri," or to
the lines,--
"In these delightful pleasant groves
Let us celebrate our happy loves."
Yet Purcell did so with perfect success, as his music witnesses.
Very little has been said in the progress of this biography of
Purcell's anthems; they are easily obtainable in the fine edition
published with so much enthusiasm by Vincent Novello, and in themselves
form a most valuable material for study. It is to be hoped that before
many years have passed away equal facilities will exist for gaining an
intimate knowledge of his chamber and dramatic music.
Purcell's seeming repugnance to the publication of his own music
is remarkable. After his death his widow issued the following
advertisement:--
"All the excellent compositions of Mr. Henry Purcell, both vocal
and instrumental, that have been published, viz.:--
"_His First Book of Twelve Sonatas_, in four parts.
"_His Ayrs and Sonatas_, newly printed in four parts.
"_The Opera of Diocletian._
"_Te Deum and Jubilate in Score._
"_A Choice Collection of Lessons_, for the Harpsichord or Spinett,
with instructions for beginners.
"These six printed for Madam Purcell, and sold for her by Henry
Playford."
This list as already shown is not quite complete. Henry Purcell
published an _Ode for Cecilia's Day_, in 1684, and the _Songs in the
Fairy Queen_, in 1692. What a meagre selection from the catalogue of
his known works, which numbered nearly 150 sacred compositions, and
nearly 50 dramatic compilations, 28 odes, and a large number of other
vocal and instrumental pieces which cannot be classed under either of
the foregoing heads.
* * * * *
Professor Taylor has eloquently said--
"It would seem as if the view which Purcell had obtained of the
powers and resources of his art, and his conviction of what it
might hereafter accomplish, had led him to regard all that he had
produced but as the efforts of a learner (and we are justified
in this conclusion from his own words), fitted to give a brief
and transient impulse to his art, and having accomplished this
purpose, to be forgotten. It may be that he was right: it may be
that we stand, as he stood, but at the threshold of music: it may
be that in his 'clear dream and solemn vision' he saw further than
his successors: nor will it be denied, that some of its recesses
have been further explored by geniuses and talent like his own;
but all the great attributes which belong to the true artist, all
the requirements which make the true musician, we may yet learn of
Purcell."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: John Milton the father of the poet was the author of
a six-part madrigal, "Fayre Oriane in the Morne," printed in 1601,
of four motets in Leighton's "Tears or Lamentacions" (1614), and of
several Psalm tunes. He also composed an "In Nomine" in forty parts,
for which he received a gold medal and chain from a Polish prince.]
[Footnote 2: In a room behind Rutland House, Aldersgate Street.]