The Ashgate Research Companion to Henry Purcell

Surprisingly little scholarly material has been forthcoming on one of England's finest “home‐grown” composers. Indeed, Ralph Vaughan Williams apparently remarked in 1951 (p. 1): “We all pay lip service to Henry Purcell, but what do we really know of him”?

This was still the view of musicologists in subsequent years, but a great deal of research has now been undertaken and continues, following the tercentenary of Purcell's death in 1995, both re‐examining previous studies as well as using techniques of manuscript analysis now available with the benefit of new technology. Rebecca Herrisone and her range of contributors have brought together...