Although Dido and Aeneas stands out to-day as an isolated phenomenon in the age in which it is written, it was rather the peak of a movement in which Purcell's predecessors did valuable experimental work; and here, again, Dr. Blow's influence is seen, for in his only known dramatic work, Venus and Adonis, he sets the example of having every word sung and none spoken. He is no doubt also partly responsible for Purcell's skill in the use of a ground, and he probably encouraged, rather than discouraged, his pupil's audacities of harmony, since he himself was a notorious offender. Among the peculiarities of Purcell's idiom are the con stant false relations and the use of the descending melodic minor in ascending passages, and vice versa. He had a marked prefer ence for the flat minor keys. His fine feeling for rhythm, form and climax invests even his smaller pieces with a quality that is unmistakable. In judging Purcell's scores it should be remem bered that he was practically restricted to oboes and trumpets as regards wind instruments, since even the modern flute had not come into use in his time.
In 1690 Purcell wrote the music to Betterton's which includes a masque. He was associated with Dryden in Tyrannic Love (1687), Amphitryon (1690) and King Arthur (1691), in all of which the music consists of separate numbers which form no integral part of the drama. In King Arthur, Josiah Priest was responsible for the dances. This play, which contains the famous song, "Fairest Isle," had a great success and was revived on various occasions up to 1803, and once in 1842. It was first published in 1843 by the Musical Antiquarian Society. The score of Purcell's songs and music to The Fairy Queen (an adapta tion of Shakespeare's The Tempest) written in 1693, was dis covered in 1901 and edited for the Purcell Society by J. S.
Shedlock in 1903.
Purcell suffered much at the hands of his editors until, in 1876, the Purcell Society was founded for the purpose of bringing out a complete and authoritative edition of his works, the majority of which were still in manuscript. There are signs of the beginning of a great Purcell revival, not only in England, but also on the Continent, where recent performances of Dido and Aeneas in Vienna, Miinster and Basle aroused enthusiasm and interest.
Purcell died at his house in Dean's Yard, Westminster, on Nov. 21, 1695, and was buried in Westminster abbey on Nov. 26. He left a widow and three children, three others having died be fore him. His widow died in 1706. In 1682 and 2702 she pub lished Orpheus Britannicus, a collection of his works, in two parts. A famous portrait of the composer is that by Kneiler, bequeathed to the National Portrait Gallery, London, by Barclay Squire. There is also an engraved portrait by R. White on the first edition of his Sonatas (1683).
Other dramatic works by Purcell were Don Quixote, The Indian Queen, and Bon duca (all in 1695), and many earlier works. Smaller works are the Fantasias and Sonatas for three or more parts, the Suites and many miscellaneous pieces for harpsichord, and songs. For a complete list, see Grove's Dictionary and the publications of the Purcell Society, now nearly complete. Recent publications include the Chacony for string quartet (Chester Ltd. 1926) ; Dido and Aeneas with Eng. and German text, ed. by E. J. Dent ; and Dennis Arundell's life, Henry Purcell (both by the Oxford University Press, 1928) ; Henri Dupre, Purcell (Eng. trans., Knopf, New York and London, 1929) ; the life by Dr. W. Cummings in the Great Musicians series (1903) remains a standard work.