Part 6
By his bed-side were gathered his aged mother, his young wife, and his three infant children; and so amid their sighs and tears his gentle spirit passed into the better world, there to continue his service of song and praise in fulness and perfection.
That Purcell was sincerely loved and mourned by relations and friends we know, and the following testimony of tender regard will be read with interest. It is written on the fly-leaf of a copy of his opera _Dioclesian_:--[50]
Ex Dono Carissimi Desideratissimique Autoris HENRICI PURCELL Musarum Sacerdotis: Qui Anno Domini 1695 Pridie Festi Sᵗᵃᵉ Cæcilæ Multis Flebilis occidit, Nulli Flebilior quàm Amico suo atque Admiratori JACOBO TALBOT.
_Translated thus_:
The gift of the most beloved and most distinguished author, HENRY PURCELL, Priest of the Muses, who in the year of our Lord 1695, the day before the feast of St. Cecilia, died with many tears, to none more tearfully than to his friend and admirer, JACOB TALBOT.
Jacob Talbot was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the author of the words of an "Ode for the Consert at York Buildings, upon the death of Mr. Purcell," which will be found in the _Orpheus Britannicus_, 1698.
Purcell was buried on the 26th of November in Westminster Abbey, beneath the organ which had so often responded to his skilful touch. The anthems he had composed for Queen Mary's funeral only a few months before were again performed, so that Purcell had rehearsed and inaugurated his own dirge. Doubtless the remembrance of this would bring home to the mourners the intense pathos of the music with double force.
On the grave-stone the following lines were inscribed:
Plaudite, felices superi, tanto hospite; nostris Præfuerat, vestris additur ille choris: Invida nec vobis Purcellum terra reposcat, Questa decus sedi deliciasque breves. Tam cito decessisse, modos cui singula debet Musa, prophana suos, religiosa suos, Vivit, Io et vivat, dum vicina organa spirant, Dumque colet numeris turba canora Deum.
_Translated thus_:
Applaud so great a guest, celestial pow'rs, Who now resides with you, but once was ours; Yet let invidious earth no more reclaim Her short-lived fav'rite and her chiefest fame; Complaining that so prematurely died Good-nature's pleasure and devotion's pride. Died? no, he lives, while yonder organs sound And sacred echoes to the choir rebound.
Even in 1722 the inscription had become almost illegible from the wear of passing feet, and soon was entirely obliterated. The grave-stone remained in this condition until 1876, when, by the exertions of Mr. Henry F. Turle, son of the respected organist of the Abbey, a private subscription was made which provided funds for placing another stone and restoring the inscription. By permission of the Dean, the following lines were added:--
FRANCISCA HENRICI PURCELL Uxor, Cum conjuge sepulta est. XIV. Feb. MDCCVI.
On the pillar adjacent to the grave there is a tablet with the inscription:--
Here lies Henry Purcell, Esq., who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded. Obiit 21 mo die Novembris, anno ætates suæ 37ᵐᵒ. Annoq. Domini 1695.
This memorial was erected by the Lady Elizabeth Howard, whom Hawkins, and others, have supposed to have been the wife of Dryden, and a pupil of Purcell. Hawkins also inferred that it was Dryden who wrote the inscription for the memorial, and further, that the dedication of the _Orpheus Britannicus_ to Lady Elizabeth Howard was intended for Dryden's wife.
All these surmises are wrong. Dryden married Lady Elizabeth Howard, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Berkshire, in 1665, when Purcell was seven years old. Of course, after the marriage the wife ceased to be Lady Elizabeth _Howard_: moreover, her husband's (Dryden) means would scarcely have permitted the serious cost of Purcell's memorial tablet. This was in reality erected by the wife of Sir Robert Howard, the dramatist, who had been associated with Purcell in theatrical composition, and the lady had been a pupil of Purcell; the probability is, therefore, that Sir Robert wrote the inscription.
Purcell made his will on the day of his death; it is important, and reads as follows:--
"In the name of God, Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the Citty of Westminster, gent., being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God), doe by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my loveing Wife, Frances Purcell, all my Estate both reall and personall of what nature and kind soever, to her and to her assigns for ever. And I doe hereby constitute and appoint my said loveing Wife my sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament, revokeing all former Will or Wills. Witnesse my hand and seale this twentieth first day of November, Annoq. Dni., One thousand six hundred ninety-five, and in the seventh yeare of the Raigne of King William the Third, &c.
"H. PURCELL.
"Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Henry Purcell in the presence of Wm. Ecles, John Capelin.
"B. PETERS."
Purcell's widow was thus left sole executrix, and she with her children--Frances, aged 7, Edward, aged 6, and Mary Peters, aged 2 years--continued to reside for a time at the house in Great Dean's Yard, from whence, in 1696, Mrs. Purcell issued _A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, composed by the late Mr. Henry Purcell, Organist of his Majesties Chappel Royal, and of St. Peter's, Westminster_. Of this popular little work three editions were speedily exhausted. In 1697 Mrs. Purcell published a collection of _Ten Sonatas in four parts, composed by the late Mr. Henry Purcell_, and also _A Collection of Ayres, compos'd for the Theatre, and upon other occasions, by the late Mr. Henry Purcell_; and in 1698 a further publication of the first volume of _Orpheus Britannicus: A Collection of all the Choicest Songs for one, two, and three voices, compos'd by Mr. Henry Purcell; together with such Symphonies for Violins or Flutes as were by him design'd for any of them: and a thorough-bass to each song; figur'd for the Organ, Harpsichord, or Theorbolute. All which are placed in their several Keys according to the order of the Gamut._
To each of the above-mentioned works Mrs. Purcell prefixed dedicatory epistles, and in all of them she speaks in most affectionate terms of her deceased husband; nevertheless, the breath of slander in later years attributed to her some measure of responsibility for her husband's untimely death. Mrs. Purcell eventually removed from the house in Westminster to Richmond, in Surrey, where she died in February, 1706, and was buried on the 14th of that month with her deceased husband in Westminster Abbey, having survived him eleven years. On the 7th of February, 1706, she made a nuncupative will as she sat in the parlour of her dwelling house, by which she appointed Mr. Thomas Tovey her executor until her daughter, Frances Purcell, should reach the age of eighteen, when she was to be her executrix. Mrs. Purcell goes on to say that, "According to her husband's desire, she had given her deare son (Edward) a good education, and she alsoe did give him all the Bookes of Musicke in generall, the Organ, the double spinett, the single spinett, a silver tankard, a silver watch, two pair of gold buttons, a hair ring, a mourning ring of Dr. Busby's, a Larum clock, Mr. Edward Purcell's picture, handsome furniture for a room, and he was to be maintained until provided for. All the residue of her property she gave to her said daughter Frances."[51]
Sir John Hawkins, in his _History of Music_, would seem to suggest that Purcell left his family in distressed circumstances, but the will of the widow, of which he evidently knew nothing, gives a satisfactory refutation of such a surmise. Hawkins also charges Purcell with associating with tavern company; his words are:--
"Mirth and good humour seemed to have been habitual to him; and this is perhaps the best excuse that can be made for those connections and intimacies with Brown and others, which show him not to have been very nice in the choice of his company. Brown spent his life in taverns and ale-houses; the Hole in the Wall in Baldwin's Gardens was the citadel in which he baffled the assaults of creditors and bailiffs, at the same time that he attracted thither such as thought his wit atoned for his profligacy. Purcell seems to have been of that number, and to merit censure for having prostituted his invention, by adapting music to some of the most wretched ribaldry that was ever obtruded on the world for humour."
Hawkins goes on to say:--
"There is a tradition that his death was occasioned by a cold which he caught in the night waiting for admittance to his own house. It is said that he used to keep late hours, and that his wife had given orders to his servants not to let him in after midnight; unfortunately he came home heated with wine from the tavern at an hour later than that prescribed him, and through the inclemency of the air contracted a disorder of which he died. If this be true, it reflects but little honour on Madam Purcell, for so she is styled in the advertisements of his works; and but ill agrees with those expressions of grief for her dear, lamented husband, which she makes use of to Lady Howard in the dedication of the _Orpheus Britannicus_. It seems probable that the disease of which he died was rather a lingering than an acute one, perhaps a consumption."
We see from this, that Hawkins had some doubt as to the truth of the story, and his daughter writing in 1822,[52] respecting some aspersions which had been cast on her mother in reference to her treatment of her father, says, "Sir John Hawkins was not at home at all the sooner for his wife's fetching him. Mrs. Purcell, I should conjecture, had other modes of attracting Mr. Purcell; yet _perhaps the whole may have been as gross a falsification as that_ by which Lady Hawkins is vilified."
In a volume of poetry of glees published by Richard Clark in 1824, he improves the tale told by Hawkins, and boldly adds details. He prints the words of the catch, "Jack, thou'rt a toper."
"Jack, thou'rt a toper; let's have t'other quart. Ring, we're so sober 'twere a shame to part; None but a cuckold bully'd, by his wife For coming late, fears a domestic strife; I'm free, and so are you! to call and knock Boldly, the watchman cries, 'Past two o'clock.'"
To these lines he appends the name of Tom Brown, and tells us that _Jack_ was intended for Dr. Blow, and that "Purcell appears to have spent much of his time with Tom Brown, who wrote the words of most of his catches." Purcell never set a single line of Brown's, and they were wholly unacquainted with each other, as may be learnt from the following verses written by Brown in June, 1693, two years before Purcell's death, "To his unknown friend, Mr. _H. Purcell_, upon his excellent compositions in the _Harmonia Sacra_."
"Long did dark Ignorance our Isle 'ore-spread, Our Musick and our Poetry lay dead; But the dull Malice of a barbarous age Fell most severe on _David's_ sacred page: To wound his Sense and quench his Heav'n born fire Three vile Translators lewdly did conspire; In holy Doggerel and low chiming Prose The King and Poet they at once depose: Vainly the unrighteous charge he did bemoan, And languish'd in strange numbers, not his own. Nor stopt his Usage here; For what escap'd in Wisdom's ancient Rhimes Was murder'd o're and o're in the Composer's Chimes. What praises _Purcell_ to thy Skill are due, Who hast to Judah's Monarch been so true? By thee he moves our Hearts, by thee he reigns, By thee shakes off the old inglorious Chains, And sees new Honours done to his immortal strains. Not _Italy_, the Mother of each Art, Did e're a juster, happier Son impart. In thy performance we with wonder find _Corelli's_ genius to _Bassani's_ join'd. Sweetness, combined with Majesty, prepares To sing Devotion with inspiring airs. Thus I, unknown, my Gratitude express And conscious Gratitude could do no less. This Tribute from each _British_ Muse is due; The whole Poetic Tribe's obliged to you; For when the Author's scanty Words have fail'd, Thy happier Graces, _Purcell_, have prevail'd! And surely none but you with equal ease, Cou'd add to David, and make D'Urfy please."
The above lines were printed in the _Gentleman's Journal_ with an editorial note: "A music book intituled _Harmonia Sacra_ will shortly be printed for Mr. Playford. I need not say anything more to recommend it to you, than that you will find in it many of Mr. _Henry Purcell's_ admirable composures. As they charm all men, they are universally extolled, and even those who know him no otherwise than by his Notes are fond of expressing their sense of his merit. _Mr. Thomas Brown_ is one of those, as you will find by these lines."
The lines appeared in the several editions of _Harmonia Sacra_ even as late as 1714, and there is no ground for believing that the poet and musician ever met.
Dr. Arne gave a concert at Drury Lane Theatre on the 21st of June, 1768, for which he published a book of the words; and one of the pieces is Purcell's catch, "Jack, thou'rt a toper." To this Arne has appended the following note:--
"The words of this catch are said to be written by Mr. Purcell, wherein, it is obvious, that he meant no elegance with regard to the poetry; but made it intirely subservient to his extream pretty design in the music."
The catch, as has been noticed previously, forms a part of the opera _Bonduca_.
When we consider the immense amount and varied kind of labour Purcell accomplished during his short life of thirty-seven years, we must conclude that although of a bright and joyous nature he was of temperate habits; he had not only his duties at Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal to fulfil, but there was also constant occupation in composing for the Church, the Court, and the Theatre; he had numerous professional pupils, and gave lessons in the families of some of the most distinguished gentry and aristocracy; he also was frequently called upon to preside over and direct the concerts which were given in private assemblies. The Lord Keeper North, well known for his theoretical and practical skill in music, and the author of the _Memoires of Musick_, was wont to employ him in that capacity at his house in Queen Street.
The position Purcell held in his profession necessitated his keeping late hours, which undoubtedly overtaxed a delicate constitution and culminated in his fatal illness in the prime of his manhood. Valuable testimony to this view of the circumstances attending Purcell's death is to be found in a curious volume called the _Great Abuse of Musick_, published in 1711 by the Rev. Arthur Bedford, Chaplain to the Duke of Bedford, and Vicar of the Temple in Bristol. The author, himself a musician and composer, was also the writer of a companion volume, _On the Evil and Danger of Stage Plays_, and in both books he vigorously exposes the vice and immorality prevalent in his day, and is justly severe on poets and musicians; therefore the passages in which he speaks of his contemporaries, Blow and Purcell, are of great importance. He says:--
"It must be confess'd, that whilst musick was chiefly employ'd in the nation for the glory of God, God was pleas'd to shew his approbation thereof by wonderfully improving the skill of the composers, insomuch that I believe no Art was advanced from so mean a beginning to so vast a height in so short a time as the Science in the last century. Our musick began to equal that of the Italians and to exceed all other. _Our Purcell was the delight of the nation and the wonder of the world_, and the character of Dr. Blow was but little inferior to him. But when we made not that use thereof which we ought, it pleas'd God to shew his resentment, and a stop to our progress by taking away our Purcell in the prime of his age, and Dr. Blow soon after. We all lamented our misfortunes, but never considered them as judgements for the abuse of this science, so that instead of growing better we grew worse and worse. Now, therefore, musick declines as fast as it did improve before."
This testimony respecting Purcell, from a contemporary, a distinguished divine and musician, ought surely to wipe out the preposterous stories of Purcell's cold-catching and low associations.
Valuable testimony to Purcell's high aims and laborious life is to be found in the MSS. written by Dr. Tudway for Edward, Lord Harley, and now deposited in the British Museum. Dr. Tudway was just two years older than Purcell, so that he entered the choir of the Chapel Royal first; he afterwards became a tenor singer in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and in 1670 organist of King's College, Cambridge, where he afterwards took successively the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor in Music, and eventually became Professor of the University. He was also appointed "composer extraordinary" to Queen Anne. Writing of Purcell, his fellow-student, he says:--
"I knew him perfectly well. He had a most commendable ambition of exceeding every one of his time, and he succeeded in it without contradiction, there being none in England, nor anywhere else that I know of, that could come in competition with him for compositions of all kinds. Towards the latter end of his life he was prevailed on to compose for the English stage. There was nothing that ever had appeared in England like the representations he made of all kinds, whether for pomp or solemnity, in his grand chorus, &c., or that exquisite piece called the freezing piece of musick; in representing a mad couple, or country swains making love, or indeed any other kind of musick whatever. But these are trifles in comparison of the solemn pieces he made for the Church, in which I will name but one, and that is his _Te Deum, &c._, with instruments, a composition for skill and invention beyond what was ever attempted in England before his time."
Evidence respecting Purcell's personal virtues and gifts is to be found in an ode printed at the commencement of the second volume of _Orpheus Britannicus_, 1702. The poem is too long to quote entire, but the following extracts will suffice:--
"Make room ye happy natures of the sky, Room for a soul, all Love and Harmony; A Soul that rose to such Perfection here, It scarce will be advanced by being there. Whether (to us by Transmigration given), He once was an Inhabitant of Heav'n, And form'd for Musick, with Diviner fire Endu'd, compos'd, for the Celestial Choir; Not for the Vulgar Race of Light to hear, But on High-days to glad th' Immortal Ear. So in some leisure hour was sent away, (Their Hour is here a Life, a Thousand years their Day.) And what th' Ætherial Musick was to show, And teach the wonders of that Art below; Whether this might not be, the Muse appeals To his Composures, where such Magick dwells, As rivals Heav'nly Skill, and human Pow'r excels.
* * * * *
Ah, most unworthy! shou'd we leave unsung Such wondrous Goodness in a Life so young. In spight of Practice, he this Truth hath shown, That Harmony and Vertue shou'd be one. So true to Nature, and so just to Wit, His Musick was the very Sense you Writ. Nor were his Beauties to his Art confin'd; So justly were his Soul and Body join'd, You'd think his Form the Product of his Mind. A conqu'ring sweetness in his Visage dwelt, His Eyes would warm, his Wit like lightning melt. But those must no more be seen, and that no more be felt. Pride was the sole aversion of his Eye, Himself as Humble as his Art was High. Oh! let him Heav'n (in Life so much ador'd) Be now as universally Deplor'd!
* * * * *
There rest thy Ashes--but thy nobler name Shall soar aloft and last as long as fame. Nor shall thy Worth be to our Isle confin'd, But flie and leave the lagging day behind. _Rome_, that did once extend its arms so far, Y'ave conquer'd in a nobler Art than War; To its proud Sons but only Earth was giv'n, But thou hast triumph'd both in Earth and Heav'n."
Purcell's friend and fellow-student, Henry Hall, organist of Hereford Cathedral, also printed an ode "To the Memory of my Dear Friend Mr. Henry Purcell," which concludes thus:--
"Hail! and for ever hail, Harmonious shade, I lov'd thee living, and admire thee Dead. Apollo's harp at once our souls did strike; We learnt together, but not learnt alike: Though equal care our Master might bestow, Yet only Purcell e're shall equal Blow: For thou by Heaven for wondrous things design'd Left'st thy companion lagging far behind. Sometimes a Hero in an age appears, But once a Purcell in a Thousand Years."
It is clear that Purcell attained the highest pinnacle in the estimation of his countrymen;[53] but his fame was not confined to England. I have seen a MS. volume of music written by a contemporary musician, a native of France, and in it he designates Purcell as M. Pourselle. Roger of Amsterdam engraved and printed a set of his Sonatas; and the following anecdote is told in some of the biographies of Corelli:--
"While Corelli flourished with such _éclat_ at Rome, Harry Purcell was famous in England, and Corelli was so greatly affected with the character and abilities of this famous English musician, that, as fame reports, he declared him to be then the only thing worth seeing in England. Accordingly the great opinion he held of Purcell made him resolve to make a journey into this kingdom on purpose to visit him," but the journey was abandoned on hearing of Purcell's death.
Another version of the story makes Corelli start on his journey, but hearing of Purcell's death on shipboard, when nearing Dover, he returns immediately to Rome.
Purcell's secular music undoubtedly frequently suffered from the worthless trash he had to accept as poetry; too often it was not only devoid of literary merit, but still worse, indecent; that was, however, the fault of the age, and pervaded most of the dramatic literature then in vogue. Even the well-known and estimable Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, Dr. Aldrich, condescended to set music to such words as shame would not permit us to print at this day.
Tom D'Urfey was a notorious offender against good taste, and for him Purcell composed very largely.
"Oh! who can view without a tear Great Pindar's muse and D'Urfey near? Whose soaring wit ne'er higher flew Than to endite for Barthol'mew, Setting, for sots at country fairs, Dull saucy songs to _Purcell's_ airs."[54]
D'Urfey's verses were so uncouth and irregular in their construction, that a writer of the last century said, "The modern Pindaric Odes which are humorously resembled to a comb with the teeth broken by frequent use are nothing to them." D'Urfey wrote some especially rugged lines which he challenged Purcell to set to music; the challenge was accepted and the composer triumphed, but he confessed that it cost him more trouble than the composition of a _Te Deum_. The ballad in question was called "The Parson among the Peas," and was printed with Purcell's music in D'Urfey's _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, 1719.