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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' called The Fairy-Queen, ''The Fairy Queen''. Purcell's musical style was uniquely English, although it incorporated Music of Italy#Baroque and Classical, Italian and Music of France#Baroque, French elements. Generally considered among the greatest English opera composers, Purcell has been ranked alongside John Dunstaple and William Byrd in the pantheon of English early music. Life and work Early life Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster, in 1659. Henry Purcell Senior, whose older brother Thomas Purcell was a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England. Henry the elder had three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dido And Aeneas
''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque music, Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688, and had been performed at Josias Priest's girls' school in London by the end of 1689. Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early as 1683. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's ''Aeneid''. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Troy, Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, ''Dido and Aeneas'' is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works. It was also Purcell's only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow's ''Venus and Adonis (opera), Venus and Adonis'', both in structure and in overall effect. The influence of F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Closterman
John Closterman (also spelt Cloosterman, Klosterman; 1660 – 24 May 1711 (buried)) was a Westphalian portrait painter of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His subjects were mostly European noblemen and their families. Career Born in Osnabrück in the Holy Roman Empire (now in Lower Saxony), Closterman was the son of an artist who taught him the rudiments of design. In 1679, Closterman went to Paris and worked under François de Troy. In 1681, he went to England. He worked for John Riley, painting the draperies in Riley's portraits When Riley died in 1691, Closterman finished several of his portraits. Because of his work on Riley's portraits, Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, hired him to create some paintings. However, Somerset became dissatisfied with a portrait of the Italian painter Guercino that Closterman had painted for him, ending the relationship. Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax eventually purchased the portrait. In 1696, Closterman was invited to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dunstaple
John Dunstaple (or Dunstable; – 24 December 1453) was an English composer whose music helped inaugurate the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance periods. The central proponent of the ''Contenance angloise'' style (), Dunstaple was the leading English composer of his time, and is often coupled with William Byrd and Henry Purcell as England's most important early music composers. His style would have an immense influence on the subsequent music of continental Europe, inspiring composers such as Du Fay, Binchois, Ockeghem and Busnois. Information on Dunstaple's life is largely non-existent or speculative, with the only certain date of his activity being his death on Christmas Eve of 1453. Probably born in Dunstable in Bedfordshire during the late 14th-century, Dunstaple was associated with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and Joan of Navarre, and, through them, St Albans Abbey. Another important patron was John, Duke of Bedford, with whom Dunstaple may have trave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semi-opera
The terms "semi-opera", "dramatic[k] opera" and "English opera" were all applied to Restoration literature#Theatre, Restoration entertainments that combined spoken plays with masque-like episodes employing singing and dancing characters. They usually included Stage machinery, machines in the manner of the restoration spectacular. The first examples were the Shakespeare adaptations produced by Thomas Betterton with music by Matthew Locke (composer), Matthew Locke. After Locke's death, a second flowering produced the semi-operas of Henry Purcell, notably ''King Arthur (opera), King Arthur'' and ''The Fairy-Queen''. Semi-opera received a deathblow when the Lord Chamberlain separately licensed plays without music and the new Italian opera. Semi-operas were performed with singing, speaking and dancing roles. When music was written, it was usually for moments in the play immediately following either love scenes or those concerning the supernatural. It has been observedCurtis Price and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Locke (composer)
Matthew Locke (c. 1621 – August 1677) was an English Baroque composer and music theorist. Biography Locke was born in Exeter and was a chorister in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons. At the age of eighteen Locke travelled to the Netherlands, possibly converting to Roman Catholicism at the time. Locke, with Christopher Gibbons (the son of Orlando), composed the score for '' Cupid and Death,'' the 1653 masque by Caroline-era playwright James Shirley. Their score for that work is the sole surviving score for a dramatic work from that era. Locke was one of the quintet of composers who provided music for '' The Siege of Rhodes'' (1656), the breakthrough early opera by Sir William Davenant. Locke wrote music for subsequent Davenant operas, '' The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' (1658) and '' The History of Sir Francis Drake'' (1659). He wrote the music for the processional march for the coronation of Charles II. In 167 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France and became a French citizenship, subject in 1661. He was a close friend of the playwright Molière, with whom he collaborated on numerous ''comédie-ballets'', including ''L'Amour médecin'', ''George Dandin ou le Mari confondu'', ''Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'', ''Psyché (play), Psyché'' and his best known work, ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme''. Biography Lully was born on November 28 or 29, 1632, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to Lorenzo Lulli and Caterina Del Sera, a Tuscan family of millers. His general education and his musical training during his youth in Florence remain uncertain, but his adult handwriting suggests that he manipulated a quill pen with ease. He used to say that a Franciscan friar gave him his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelham Humfrey
Pelham Humfrey (''Humphrey, Humphrys'') (1647 in London – 14 July 1674 in Windsor) was an English composer. He was the first of the new generation of English composers at the beginning of the Restoration to rise to prominence. Life and career Pelham Humfrey was born in 1647. By the age of seventeen Humfrey's anthems were evidently in use and he was sent by the King to study in Paris, probably in January 1665 where he was greatly influenced by music at the French Court. On the basis of the music he wrote on his return, he also assimilated the more expressive vocal style of Carissimi. He later succeeded Henry Cooke (his father-in-law) as Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal and also became composer to the Court. Humfrey died at the age of 26, but along with Matthew Locke exerted a strong influence on his peers even at his young age, including William Turner, Henry Purcell, and John Blow. At his early death he had already produced several works of great poignancy and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Of The Children
Master of the Children is a title awarded to an adult musician who is put in charge of the musical training, and in some cases the general education (which sometimes gets offered as a priceless perk to recruit the best singers) of choir boy (or since the late 20th century in a growing number of choirs boys and girls), as was common in major church choirs, often attached to a cathedral, monastery, collegiate church or court chapel, such as the musically particularly significant English Chapel royal A chapel royal is an establishment in the British and Canadian royal households serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the royal family. Historically, the chapel royal was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarc ..., to train the young recruits (not just as future adult singers but at least as much because their treble -boy soprano- the voice was considered angelic, hence ''liturgically ideal''). References Positions within the British Royal Hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Cooke (composer)
Henry Cooke (c. 1616 – 13 July 1672) commonly known as Captain Cooke, was an English composer, choirmaster and singer. He was a boy chorister in the Chapel Royal and by the outbreak of the English Civil War was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He joined the Royalist cause, in the service of which he rose to the rank of captain. With the Restoration of Charles II he returned to the Chapel Royal as Master of the Children and was responsible for the rebuilding of the chapel and the introduction of instrumental music into the services. The choristers in his charge included his successor and eventual son-in-law Pelham Humfrey, as well as Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ..., John Blow, William Turner, Robert Smith and Michael Wise. Percy M. Young. ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Indian Queen (opera)
''The Indian Queen'' (Z. 630) is a largely unfinished semi-opera with music by Henrich Purcell. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, in 1695. The exact date is unknown, but Peter Holman estimates it may have been in June. It was created as a revised version of the 1664 play '' The Indian Queen'', in a prologue and five act form by John Dryden and his brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. In 1694, Thomas Betterton was given £50 to transform the play into an opera, and he commissioned Purcell to compose the music. Purcell, who died in November 1695, left music only for the Prologue and Acts II and III. His brother Daniel completed a masque for Act V. ''The Indian Queen'' is one of Purcell's less often performed stage works. This is probably more a reflection of the incomplete state of the score than of its quality. Commission and Premiere The Indian Queen was commissioned by the United Company. The managers, struggling with discontented actors wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 14. In his mid-twenties he was appointed organist of Magdalen College, Oxford where he began to compose. In 1695 he moved to London to compose for the theatre providing incidental music for more than 40 plays. One of his first engagements was to complete the concluding Masque for Act V of the semi-opera ''The Indian Queen'', the preceding music for which had been written by Henry Purcell during the early months of 1695. It is unclear whether Daniel Purcell had been engaged because of pressure to complete the score in time for the first performance or as a result of Henry Purcell's failing health and subsequent death. Robert King (1994). ''Henry Purcell: "A greater musical genius England never had"'', p.219. London: Thames and Hudson. Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles II Of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth with a republican government eventually led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles Escape of Charles II, fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
