01	Fantasia for 3 Viols in D minor						02:48
	02	Fantasia for 3 Viols in F major						03:10
	03	Fantasia for 3 Viols in G minor						02:16
	04	Fantasia for 4 Viols in D minor						03:48
	05	Fantasia for 4 Viols in A minor						03:02
	06	Fantasia for 4 Viols in G minor						03:33
	07	Fantasia for 4 Viols in E minor						04:33
	08	Fantasia for 4 Viols in B Flat major						04:12
	09	Fantasia for 4 Viols in G major						03:35
	10	Fantasia for 4 Viols in F major						04:14
	11	Fantasia for 4 Viols in C minor						03:45
	12	Fantasia for 4 Viols in D minor						03:42
	13	Fantasia upon One Note for 5 Viols						02:49
	14	In Nomine for 6 Viols						02:14
	15	In Nomine for 7 Viols						03:37
	16	Chacony in G minor	The English Concert					05:18

Fantasias (15) for viols
Composer Henry Purcell

Composition Date ca. 1680

Description
"A greater musical genius England never had," wrote a contemporary of Henry Purcell. Among the various genres which this versatile and prolific composer essayed during his short lifespan stands a remarkable series of Fantasias for viol consort -- a Summa of contrapuntal experiment comparable to J. S. Bach's Art of the Fugue; however, Purcell was only twenty or twenty-one years old when he wrote them. A number of these pieces survive with precise composition dates (from the tenth of June to the thirty-first of August 1680), each found in one of the three great autograph manuscript collections, British Library MS. Additional 30930.
The composer seems to have selected the old-fashioned Fancy, or Fantasia, as a medium in which to challenge himself contrapuntally; even Purcell in his capacity of Assistant Keeper of the King's instrument collection, would have known fewer opportunities to play in a viol consort than musicians a generation before. The "new-fangled" violin was making headway in its popular appeal, and was greatly diminishing the fashionability of viol consort music, despite the musical conservatism of the Restoration Court. But Purcell set out to compose, and collect in manuscript, a large series of such pieces, grouped according to arrangement: three Fantasias for three voices (Z. 732-734), nine and the beginnings of a tenth in four parts (Z. 735-44; these are all dated), and one each in five, six and seven parts (Z. 745-747).

The last two of this collection exemplify a special English sub-genre, called In Nomines. One voice of each quotes a long-note cantus firmus borrowed from a sixteenth-century setting of the Mass by John Taverner. Purcell's contributions to a, by then lengthy, tradition of instrumental chamber music based on this tune are both fairly austere and monochromatic. Special scoring also appears in the single piece for five parts (Z. 745): its full title is "Fantasia Upon One Note," as one of the five voices sustains the pitch C throughout the entire composition, while the other four weave placid and beguiling harmonies about it.

Each of the other Fantasias proper unfolds (as do their nearest relations, the Consort of Four Parts by Matthew Locke, published in 1660) in two to five contrasting sections, most based upon imitation; among the technical feats present are a number of contrapuntal inversions, augmentations, and even motivic linkages between sections (as in the falling fourth motive which dominates Z. 739). The collected repertory of four-part Fantasias, gradually but clearly strives towards greater motivic compactness; the ninth (Z. 443, dated 31 August) culminates this tendency by its complete construction on two motives of but four notes each. And yet the affect of the music in performance transcends the merely pedantic, allowing for flights of virtuosity and moments of passionate and surprising chromaticism. Indeed, the venturesome harmonic content of the music dominates the surface details; the composer may present four or five different tonalities within the same measure, and travel briefly to keys his contemporaries would have found incomprehensibly distant. -- Timothy Dickey





Henry Purcell
Country England
Birth 1659 in London, England
Death Nov 21, 1695 in London, England
Period Baroque


Biography

Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the Baroque period and can stand comparison in many respects with Bach and Handel. While he wrote instrumental music, the vast majority of his output was in the vocal/choral realm. His only opera, Dido and Aeneas, divulged his sheer mastery in the handling of the work's vast expressive canvas, which included lively dance numbers, passionate arias and rollicking choruses. Purcell also wrote much incidental music for stage productions, including that for Dryden's King Arthur. His church music included many anthems, devotional songs, and other sacred works, but few items for Anglican services. Purcell's instrumental compositions include the chamber Sonatas of Three Parts and Ten Sonatas in Four Parts.
Purcell was born in 1659. When he was five, his father died, forcing his mother to resettle the family of six children into a more modest house and lifestyle. In about 1668, Purcell became a chorister in the Chapel Royal, studying under chorus master Henry Cooke. He also took keyboard lessons from Christopher Gibbons, son of the composer Orlando Gibbons. In 1673, Purcell was appointed assistant to John Hingestone, the royal instrument keeper.

On September 10, 1677, Purcell was given the Court position of composer-in-ordinary for the violins. It is believed that many of his church works date from this time. Purcell, a great keyboard virtuoso by his late teens, received a second important post in 1679, this one as organist at Westminster Abbey, succeeding John Blow. That same year saw the publication of five of the young composer's songs in John Playford's Choice Ayres and Songs to Sing to the Theorbo-lute or Bass-viol.-

Purcell was appointed one of three organists at the Chapel Royal in the summer of 1682, giving him his most prestigious post yet. In the latter part of that year, Purcell began writing anthems with string accompaniment, no doubt owing to his position as composer for strings. He would complete over a dozen before 1685.

Upon John Hingeston's death in December, 1683, Purcell, while retaining his other posts, succeeded him in the position of royal instrument keeper. The composer remained quite prolific in the middle part of the decade. In 1685 the new King, James II, introduced many changes at Court, one of which was to make Purcell the Court harpsichordist, and Blow the Court composer.

Near the end of 1687, Queen Mary's pregnancy was announced and Purcell was commissioned to compose an anthem for Psalm 128, Blessed are they that fear the Lord. Many other of his anthems appeared in 1688, as did one of his more famous ones for church use, O sing unto the Lord.

With the ascension of William and Mary to the throne on April 11, 1689, Purcell retained his post as royal instrument keeper, and he, along with Blow and Alexander Damazene, shared the duties of Court composers. One of Purcell's greatest successes came in 1689 with the production of his opera Dido and Aeneas. He then collaborated with John Dryden on King Arthur in 1691, and also composed the music for The Fairy-Queen (1692), based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream both productions also scoring triumphs.

In the final year of his life Purcell remained exceedingly busy, writing much for the stage, including The Indian Queen, left incomplete, possibly because of his death on November 21, 1695. -- Robert Cummings