The greatness of Purcell’s music lies in his ability to reveal the songlike subtleties of the English language through his setting of it, as well as in his mastery of instrumental form and balance and texture…

We start with two bits from the ‘Funeral Music for Queen Mary,’ from 1694. Queen Mary II, a protestant who ruled alongside her husband, William – hence “William and Mary” – must have had some emotional sway over Purcell. These pieces, commissioned by the crown for her Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey, contain some of the most deeply affecting and transparent outpourings of human grief ever written… Often used in film scores, the opening drum and trumpet dirge conjures instant pathos. I will play my own transcription of a ‘canzona’ [literally: ‘song’] from this work and the choir will follow with the simple, elegant and quietly searing statement of humility, ‘Thou knowest, Lord…’

The Anthem, ‘Rejoice in the Lord Alway’ is a shortened form of a large ‘verse anthem,’ set for ATB solos and choir – notice the natural ‘foot-fall’ of each and every syllable and how the setting ‘rides’ the words and not the other way ‘round.

At the Offertory, I offer an organ piece based on the tune used to set our standard ‘Doxology,’ a tune called ‘Old 100th…. ‘ Originally from the 1551 edition of the ‘Genevan Psalter,’ and originally associated with Psalm 138, this tune of Louis Bourgeois got hooked up with William Kethe’s paraphrase of Psalm 100 – ‘All People that on Earth Do Dwell,’ and thus took on its common tune name. It has only relatively recently [and permanently, it would seem…] been associated with Thomas Ken’s doxological statement… By the way: there are many, many ‘doxologies,’ not just the one we use. The common thread through them all is the acknowledgement, jointly and separately, of the Holy Trinity…

The Presbyterian Hymnal, in this current edition, offers a Purcell tune for the singing of ‘Christ is made the Sure Foundation,’ and boy, oh boy – what a tune it is…! Called ‘Westminster Abbey,’ this tune is the living musical embodiment of all things British, all things noble, all things grand... Because the tune is possibly unfamiliar to some of you, I will play through it in its entirety and will have the choir sing the meoldy in unison throughout… Let the architectural sturdiness and arched grandeur of this very special hymntune connect you, via your imagination, to ‘the Abbey’ itself…

And to close, a lovely setting of the ‘Nunc Dimittis’ by Purcell’s Elizabethan forefather, Orlando Gibbons…

Matthew Dirst is on a week-long lecture and recital tour, offering papers and performances at the Eastman School of Music, in Rochester, NY, and at the University of North Texas, in Denton.

-Keith Weber