A RECITAL OF SONGS BY PURCELL
Sung by HERBERT HEYNER (Baritone)
THE actual date and place of the birth of our great English composer have never been quite definitely fixed; all that one can say certainly is that Purcell was born in 1658 or 1659 in London, and that he died there in 1695. Nor can we say with any certainty when many of his greatest works were produced, and bad it not been for the industry and enthusiasm of tho Purcell Society, comparatively few of the works themselves would be known to us today. As it is, we possess a great store of music, grave and gay, for almost every known combination of voices and instruments, ranging from opera to quite small pieces.
Some of his songs are known to every concertgoer, almost to every listener, by now, best of all possibly 'When I am laid in earth,' the beautiful lament which Dido sings in the opera Dido and Ãneas, one of the very earliest of our English operas. Many of the songs by him which we have today are taken from operas or other pieces originally written for the stage. Some of these were plays with music, incidental music and songs, rather than operas in the modern sense. Sometimes the singing parts had no connection with the course of the drama, and very little relation to the action of the piece.
Other songs come from Odes and Festival pieces composed for special occasions, and some belong to his church music.
