Composer Research Project

Henry Purcell was born on September 10, 1659 in Westminster, UK. He lived in the Baroque era with his wife and his two children. He used to have six children, but four of them died. He traveled to London, but mostly stayed in Westminster. Henry died on November 21, in 1695. Nobody knows exactly how he died. They think he might have had tuberculosis, or he might have caught a chill from being outside too long. Some people think he died of chocolate poisoning. He was only 36 when he died.

Compositions

Henry became involved in music because his father played the lute and the organ, and was a good singer. His father taught him about music. Henry shared his father’s skill of his voice and the organ. When his father died, his Uncle Thomas took him in. Thomas was a member of the Chapel Royal and he had Henry become a member as a chorister.

One of the pieces Henry Purcell composed was “Music For the Funeral of Queen Mary”. It is a march wrote for Queen Mary’s funeral. The main theme is a high note, low note, low note, high note. It’s played slowly and it is repeated four times in the song. There were trumpets, and an organ in the music. The composition is about 2 minutes long.

What Henry Composed

In Henry’s life a historical event that happened was when the French and the Spanish signed the treaties of Nijmegen in 1678.

Citations

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/purcell/guides/purcell-facts/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcellhttp://www.52composers.com/purcell.html

Henry's Life

Music For the Funeral Of Queen Mary

How Henry Became Interested in Music

Henry wrote mostly operas for plays. He made music for the plays Dido and Aeneas and Theodosius. He worked for Gostling, the King and the Queen, and many others. composing music for them and their plays.

Historical Event

Other Facts

Some interesting facts about Henry are: Many people believed Henry Purcell was a snob because he thought they were too simple to understand his music. He was buried in Westminster Abbey next to an organ.

Henry Purcell