Henry Purcell
English composer (1659–1695)
Henry Purcell (, rare: ; c. 10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer and organist of the middle Baroque era. He was extremely prolific, his compositions including more than 100 songs, the tragic opera Dido and Aeneas, and incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream called The Fairy Queen. Purcell's musical style was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Purcell is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers.
Life and work
Early life
Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster, in 1659. From that year onwards the family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey. The father, also Henry Purcell, had an older brother Thomas who was a musician, a gentleman of the Chapel Royal who sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England. The elder Henry had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. The latter, the youngest, also became a prolific composer and after his brother Henry's death was to write the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen.
After their father's death in 1664, the infant Henry was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Thomas, who showed him great affection and kindness.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Henry Purcell” is english composer (1659–1695). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henry, Purcell and English, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9695. VIAF identifies the subject as 5118737. The Library of Congress control number is n79095298. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1659, 1695 and 1664.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henry Purcell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.