Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer.
His style of Baroque music was uniquely English,
although it incorporated Italian and French elements.
Generally considered among the greatest English opera
composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple
and William Byrd as England's most important early
music composers. No later native-born English composer
approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin
Britten in the 20th c...(+)
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer.
His style of Baroque music was uniquely English,
although it incorporated Italian and French elements.
Generally considered among the greatest English opera
composers, Purcell is often linked with John Dunstaple
and William Byrd as England's most important early
music composers. No later native-born English composer
approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Gustav Holst, William Walton and Benjamin
Britten in the 20th century.
For the annual celebrations of St Cecilia’s Day in
1694 Purcell did not produce an ode (which would have
been his fifth dedicated to the patron saint of music)
but instead produced a setting of the Te Deum and
Jubilate which was performed in St Bride’s Church in
Fleet Street. Being a major musical occasion, Purcell
utilised not only a full string orchestra but also
added the brilliant colour of two trumpets to texts
which are often celebratory. But alongside the spacious
visions of heaven echoing to choirs of angels the texts
also have moments of intimacy, giving Purcell an ideal
vehicle in which to display his greatest skills, both
in compositional devices and in word-painting. Despite
the grandeur of the sections for full choir and
orchestra it is perhaps the chamber movements which
contain the greatest gems.
Whilst in his setting of the Te Deum Purcell utilises
for the most part quite short sections (perhaps because
he has a lot of text to set), in the shorter Jubilate
he achieves longer musical spans. The opening is an
extended duet between the countertenor and a solo
trumpet, quite restrained in its joyfulness except in
three interruptions by the full orchestra and choir.
Once again it is in the more pastoral movements that
Purcell shines best, with the duet between boy treble
and countertenor ‘Be ye sure that the Lord he is
God’ an especially touching one in its simplicity:
Purcell’s use of sequence and gentle harmony creates
a movement full of pathos. Next comes a rather austere
four-part canon, ‘O go your way into his gates’
which is followed by an extended duet for countertenor
and bass; again the plea for mercy draws Purcell into
particularly effective writing.
The contrapuntal techniques employed in the Gloria are
quite breathtaking. First the theme is treated to close
imitation (‘Glory be to the Father’), then is
inverted and imitated (‘Glory be to the Son’) and
then, at ‘World without end’ a new theme is added,
treated to the same techniques as before but also
stretched out in the bass in a huge and powerful
augmentation. At the final Amen the strands come
together and, with the trumpets’ entries soaring
above the whole choir and orchestra, a work of great
technical and musical ingenuity ends in a blaze of
sound.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell).
Although originally composed for Voices (SSATTB) &
Mixed Chorus (SAATB), and Orchestra (2 Trumpets,
Strings w/o Viola & Continuo), I created this
interpretation of "Jubilate" from "Te Deum and
Jubilate" (Z.232 No. 2) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, English
Horn, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).