Purcell had access to the Twenty-Four Violins, a unique band of musicians modeled on the French court orchestra, but he preferred a different distribution of instruments: two violins, viola, and bass.
Composition History
Purcell's Welcome Songs were odes written for royal occasions such as the King's birthday, New Year, and other celebrations, a custom established soon after the Restoration.
Compositional Technique
Purcell's setting of the English language was exceptional, as he had an extraordinary talent for writing vocal lines that reflected both verbal rhythms and syllabic patterns.
Composer Biography
Henry Purcell, whose memorial stone is in Westminster Abbey, died on November 21, 1695, when he was 37 years old.
Compositional Technique
Purcell's In nomine settings, featured on this album, are complex contrapuntal experiments based on a cantus firmus from John Taverner's Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, a work written over a century earlier.
Composition History
At just 18 years old, Henry Purcell succeeded Matthew Locke, a composer he greatly admired, as the composer to King Charles II.
Performer Biography
The Sixteen, the ensemble performing on this album, was founded almost 40 years ago by Harry Christophers, who is considered one of today's great champions of choral music.
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