Henry Purcell (1658-1695)

Purcell was one of the best known English composers of the baroque period, writing operas, plays, songs, etc. He began his musical career as a chorister in the Chapel Royal, and was writing music as early as age eight, when his three part song appeared in Playford’s Catch That Catch Can. Purcell worked as an organ tuner in Westminster Abbey from 1674 to 1678, becoming organist there in 1679. Three years later, he became organist at the Chapel Royal.

Both the Canadian and Anglican Chant Psalters contain numerous Purcell chants, all of which are, curiously, single. His hymn tune Westminster Abbey, appears in Common Praise.

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/p/u/purcell_h.htm

The following links let you hear the Purcell chant, played by the computer on a synthesised organ.
It will play twice, and clicking on the link again will cause it to repeat.

Chant 221 is the same chant, but in G-major. Click here to go to Chant 221.

You might need to click Refresh on your browser, or press F5 before playing, as the chant files change regularly.

Full four-part chant

	Soprano	Alto	Tenor	Bass
Hear the part	Soprano only	Alto only	Tenor only	Bass only
Karaoke	No Soprano	No Alto	No Tenor	No Bass

Go back to Psalm of the Week.

J. Malton
September, 2003

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