Portrait of Henry Purcell c. 1695, by or after the studio of John Closterman. National Portrait Gallery, London.
In Tuesday’s (10/7) Guardian (U.K.), Dalya Alberge writes, “He was the leading English composer of the 17th century, writing masterpieces such as Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen before his life was cut short in 1695, aged just 36. Now two significant discoveries of music by Henry Purcell have been made, to the excitement of musicians. A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions, partly in the composer’s own hand—the first Purcell autograph to be found for more than 30 years. They have been unearthed from two local authority archives respectively, Worcestershire and Norfolk, having been forgotten among routine administrative documents within records offices….Although incomplete, the newly discovered song had survived among legal warrants. It can now be performed again, having been reconstructed by Alan Howard, chair of the Purcell Society and college associate professor of music at Selwyn College, Cambridge…. The keyboard manuscript … it contains nine pieces by Purcell and his fellow composer John Blow, in different versions from those currently known…. The Norfolk and Worcestershire archives are each making digitized versions available.”
