Book Description

Although Purcell's music has enjoyed fame throughout the musical communities of the world almost since its creation, few music-lovers, even in England, are familiar with more than a handful of his works. One of the most useful functions of this catalogue, therefore, will be that of displaying the incredible abundance and variety of music that Purcell created in the eighteen or nineteen years of his short, but extremely productive, career. If, at the same time, it serves as a general reminder of the excellent musical quality of these compositions, it will no doubt also contribute to an achievement of more moment: the inauguration of a long-overdue Purcell renaissance, so far impeded as much by nescience as by negligence on the part of performers and public. For these, as well as for more specialized, scholarly purposes, this catalogue provides a detailed and analytical exposition of the literary matter, the thematic content, the manuscript and printed sources, the bibliographical references and, where possible, evidence relating to original composition, revision, or performance of each of Purcell's works. A unique feature of this thematic catalogue is the listing of manuscript and printed sources with entries which indicate all works by Purcell contained in the source. Conversely, in the entry for each work in the catalogue, all the sources in which it appears are registered. With appendices for doubtful ascriptions, a general chronology and various indices, this catalogue makes it possible to attain quickly any of these kinds of evidence, where available, for any of Purcell's works. Such information makes it possible to scrutinize closely Purcell's own solutions to the musical and general aesthetics of his time.