Henry Purcell Research Paper

Henry Purcell was born on September 10,1659 in Westminster, United Kingdom. Purcell was an English Composer who incorporated Italian and French style elements into his compositions (Baroque composers).
After his father's death in 1694,he became under the guardianship of Thomas, his uncle (Henry Purcell Geni_). His uncle happened to be a musician and placed him as a chorister at a young age (Henry Purcell Bio). After he was a little older his voice broke,so he became an assistant to the organ builder John Hingston (Henry Purcell Bio). In 1674, he worked at Westminster Abbey to tune the organ. He followed Matthew Locke as the composer for Charles II’s string orchestra in 1677 (Henry Purcell Bio).
Henry Purcell composed his earliest anthem, ‘Lord,
In 1682, he was appointed as one of the three organists of the Chapel Royal, and the very next year his first printed composition, ‘Twelve Sonatas’, was published (Henry Purcell Bio).
He wrote the anthems, ‘I was glad’ and ‘My heart is inditing’ for the coronation of King James II in 1685, and both the anthems became very popular (Henry Purcell Bio). He wrote music for seven plays between 1680 and 1688 (Henry Purcell Bio). It is believed that he composed his chamber opera, ‘Dido and Aeneas’ during this period (Henry Purcell Bio). He wrote the music to a libretto by Nahum Tate, and the opera was performed in collaboration with the choreographer, Josias Priest (Henry Purcell Bio).
Henry Purcell was the favorite composer of King William III of England, and was then given the task of composing odes for the birthday of Queen Mary (Henry Purcell Bio). He composed the music for ‘Come, Ye Sons of Art’ in 1694 (Henry Purcell Bio). It proved to be the final ode he wrote for the queen as she died at the end of that year (Henry Purcell Bio). After the queen’s death, he composed an anthem and two elegies for her funeral (Henry Purcell
Some of his later works include music and songs written for Thomas d'Urfey's ‘The Comical History of Don Quixote’, ‘Bonduca’, ‘The Indian Queen’ and ‘The Old Bachelor’ (Henry Purcell Bio). He then died unexpectedly at the height of his career in 1695 (Henry Purcell Bio). Although the cause of his death is unclear, there are three different theories to Purcell's death on November 21, 1695 (Henry Purcell Bio ).One theory is he caught a chill after returning home late during the night from the theatre to find his wife locked him out (Henry Purcell Bio). Another theory is Purcell died due to chocolate poisoning (Henry Purcell Bio). The most likely is he died of tuberculosis at his home in Westminster (Henry Purcell