Edward Purcell (1689–1740) was an English organist and composer. Purcell was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the only surviving son of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

master

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

, who died in 1695 when Edward was a small child. When his mother Frances died in February 1706, she stated in her will, and apparently in accordance with her husband's wishes, that she had given him a good education.Holman, Peter, and Thompson, Robert 'Edward Purcell' in ''Grove Music Online'' (ed. L. Macy)
grovemusic.com
, accessed 15 March 2008 She also bequeathed to him music and instruments: "the organ, the double spinnet, the single spinnet"; possibly the instruments her husband had used.Holman, Peter (1994) ''Henry Purcell'' (Series: Oxford Studies of Composers). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 98. Edward became organist of

St Clement Eastcheap St Clement Eastcheap is a Church of England parish church in Candlewick Ward of the City of London. It is located on Clement's Lane, off King William Street and close to London Bridge and the River Thames. Clement was a disciple of St Peter th ...

, in

at the end of 1711, a position he retained for the rest of his life. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to succeed his uncle

Daniel Purcell Daniel Purcell (c. 1664 – buried 26 November 1717) was an English Baroque composer, the younger brother or cousin of Henry Purcell. Biography Like Henry Purcell before him, Daniel Purcell joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at about the age of ...

as organist of St Andrew's, Holborn, on 19 February 1718 and again on 3 April 1719.Dawe, Donovan 'Edward Purcell' in ''Organs and Organists of the City of London''. Padstow: Dawe. 136 He eventually became organist at

St. Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster ...

, on 8 July 1726, concurrent with his post at Eastcheap. In 1739, the year before his death, he was one of the founder-members of the London-based musicians' benevolent society then known as the Society of Musicians (later to become the

Royal Society of Musicians The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain is a charity in the United Kingdom that supports musicians. It is the oldest music-related charity in Great Britain, founded in 1738 as the ''Fund for Decay'd Musicians'' by a declaration of trust sig ...

).Matthews, Betty (1985) ''Members of the Royal Society of Musicians: 1738-1984''. London: The Royal Society of Musicians. 118. He was buried in

near the organ gallery door, and was succeeded as organist there by his son

Edward Henry Purcell Edward Henry Purcell (died 1765), organist, was the son of Edward Purcell and grandson of the English Baroque master, Henry Purcell. He was a chorister in the Chapel Royal in 1737.Holman, Peter, and Thompson, Robert 'Edward Henry Purcell' in ' ...

(d. 1765). Edward Purcell published two songs, though the psalm chants often attributed to him seem to be by an earlier namesake, perhaps his uncle Edward.

References

1689 births 1740 deaths English Baroque composers English classical composers English classical organists British male organists Members of the Royal Society of Musicians People from the City of Westminster Musicians from London 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century British male musicians English male classical composers Male classical organists {{organist-stub