Early Music Advance Access published online on August 10, 2009
Early Music, doi:10.1093/em/cap042
New light on Purcell's early overtures
Silas Wollston is currently completing a Ph.D. thesis at the Open University on the instrumentation of English violin-band music, 1660–1685. In addition to his academic interests, he performs on harpsichord and organ with many of the leading early music groups in the UK. silas{at}f2s.com
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Abstract |
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Purcell's early overtures, found in the manuscripts Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Osborn 515 and London, British Library, R.M.20.h.9, are discussed within the context of a broader picture of violin-band music in London in the 1670s. It is suggested that Robert Smith may have been a source of influence for the harmonic style and unusual structure of the Staircase Overture, which is compared with the symphonies of anthems and odes by Humfrey and Blow. The presence in London of French composers and their music is explored and the scarcity of imitative writing in the second section of overtures by English composers is interpreted. A date around 1680 for Purcell's overture in G minor Z772 is suggested, partly on the basis of its position within the manuscript Yale University, Music Library, Filmer 8, and the suggestion that the five-part writing reflects Italian influence is challenged. In the overture in D minor, Purcell's debt to Locke is examined; this includes echoes of a ‘viola-style’ of writing for the second part which Locke appears to have abandoned sometime after 1668.
Key Words: Henry Purcell • Robert Smith • Pelham Humfrey • John Blow • Matthew Locke • John Gostling • Philip Hayes • Louis Grabu • Robert Cambert • Dorset Garden Theatre • violin-band music