A Far Cry - H. Purcell: Suite from "The Old Bachelor", Z. 607

As the lovely Kathryn Bacasmot writes:

"Henry Purcell (1658/9-1695) had enjoyed musical employment by the royal household until he fell victim to the 17th century funding cut back of the Royal Musik under the rule of newbies to the throne, William and Mary. Sound like a familiar story (+ or -- 300 years)? It was as a result of this set back that he sought to augment his finances by going to work full time for the theater (previously, he had worked part time for the institution).

Rewinding a bit, it has been noted Purcell gained fame as England's greatest composer of operas by penning only a single "true opera," Dido and Aeneas (others were categorized as "semi-operas"). But taking into account his singular talent for setting the English language to music, and the insistence from his contemporaries that opera only sounded appropriate when sung in Italian, he deserves the mantel. Fitting, then, that the composer with the ability to set to music the language of the people would end up writing music for them, rather than primarily for royal occasions.

In the end, in addition to his own vocal pieces, he provided incidental music for up to around 50 plays, including the set programmed here The Old Bachelor by Trinity College educated playwright (and friend of Jonathan Swift) William Congreve (1670-1729), with whom Purcell worked twice (his more famous collaboration with Congreve was The Double-Dealer. Congreve ended up being something of a flash-in-the-pan. The entertainment business has always been fickle.

In addition to two songs, the incidental music Purcell provided for The Old Bachelor included two hornpipe movements, a "slow air," rondeau, and a set of dances (menuet/bourrée/march/jig). Up until just several decades prior to Purcell's compositional lifetime, a suite (though not officially codified) automatically implied a set of dances. That tradition carried into the Baroque where any suite still included instrumental arrangements of these dances."

Guest artist, Catherine Liddell joins A Far Cry on Theorbo & Lute on this performance. Recorded live by Simon C. Yue & Jesse Lewis for A Far Cry, on September 24th, 2010 at our opening concert of the 2010-2011 season, titled "Primordial Darkness".

Видео A Far Cry - H. Purcell: Suite from "The Old Bachelor", Z. 607 канала violafish