Культурология. Горелова А.В - 17 стр.

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2. MUSIC
2.1. Purcell
Henry Purcell, England's greatest composer was born in the year 1659.
Despite the most recent and intensive research, little is known of his life. He
was for a time in the choir of the Chapel Royal, where his teachers were
Henry Cooke and Pelham Humfrey, by whom he was no doubt introduced to
French music. He also received lessons from John Blow, who in 1680
surrendered his position of organist at Westminster Abbey to his brilliant
young pupil. Although little is known of this 'British Orpheus', perhaps no
English composer before or since enjoyed such acclaim and admiration from
his contemporaries. At the age of eighteen he had been engaged as a
composer at the court of Charles II, and five years later he became organist in
the Chapel Royal and keeper of the kings' instruments. Throughout his life
Purcell devoted his immense talents to commissions that would now be
regarded as beneath the notice of a serious composer: mediocre theatrical
productions, royal birthdays and official celebrations of all kinds. It is typical
of the man that Dido and Aeneas (1689), which despite its brevity is the first
major English opera, was written to the commission of a Friend for
performance by his pupils at a school for girls in Chelsea. The grace and
humour of much of the score is well suited to its occasion, but the great
dramatic moments are not avoided or rendered with a conventional pathos.
The lament of Dido is one of the most deeply felt and moving moments in
the opera.
In addition to his one opera, Purcell wrote five semi-operas that, like
the earlier masque, employ spoken as well as sung passages. All these works
contain much fine music. They are: Dioclesian, with a text by the actor
Thomas Betterton after Beaumont and Fletcher, King Arthur by John Dryden,
The Tempest, adapted from Shakespeare; The Fairy Queen, a reworking of his
Midsummer Night's Dream; and the Indian Queen, to which Dryden also
contributed.
Purcell was probably the most complete musician of the second half of
the 17th century. He excels in every sphere — operas, music, for plays,
cantatas, church and chamber music, and keyboard music. His vocal works
far exceed his instrumental compositions in number, although the quality of
his instrumental music is equally high. His premature death at the age of 36,
as much as the ungrateful period in which lie lived, have prevented him from
being recognized at his true worth as one of the greatest composers of all
time.
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