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Church music is one of the major focuses of Henry Purcell’s music; alongside this, there is extensive chamber music (for keyboard instruments, for strings, songs), odes, and welcome songs, which are akin to colorful number revues with different ensembles for specific events/themes, as well as stage music. Here, we will initially focus on the sacred music, which, like the odes & welcome songs, has been fully and authoritatively recorded by Robert King and his King’s Consort on Hyperion, with the sacred music initially released from 1991 on individual (high-priced) CDs, then in 2002 as an affordable box set with all 11 CDs. This collection is now completely available on YouTube, comprising a total of 162 individually accessible tracks: Purcell: Complete Sacred Music, YouTube Playlist.
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It’s not feasible to casually listen to 162 numbers (just as one can’t “quickly” listen to the 60 CDs of Bach’s church cantatas). Three suggestions can be made for dealing with this abundance: (a) You can shuffle the selection and listen to a few titles, doing so occasionally. (b) You can start by listening to the first 10 numbers, then eventually move on to the next 10, and so forth. (c) You can start by exploring the titles that Robert King himself selected for the compilation CD “Essential Purcell” - I would initially recommend the latter.
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The sacred works included in “Essential Purcell” are, from the aforementioned complete playlist, the following titles: No. 61: Hear My Prayer, O Lord, Z. 15, 02:25 minutes - characterized by extreme cross-voices; No. 22: Let Mine Eyes Run Down with Tears, Z. 24, 04:18 minutes - choir with remarkable use of boy sopranos; No. 93: Rejoice in the Lord Alway “The Bell Anthem”, Z. 49, 08:25 minutes - extensive, after the “bell beginning” multiple changes between soloists, choir, and orchestral ritornello; No. 65: Hosanna to the Highest, Z. 187, 05:31 minutes - a “hypnotic” ground: continuously repeated bass line; No. 119: Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts, Z. 58c, 02:19 minutes - part of the funeral music for Queen Mary; No. 64: Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences, Z. 50, 03:35 minutes - building tension/cross-voices that then resolve; No. 161: Now That the Sun Hath Veiled His Light “An Evening Hymn”, Z. 193, 04:25 minutes - incredible solo of a boy soprano over a ground bass.
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From a musical standpoint, Purcell’s sacred works might be the toughest for our ears accustomed to contemporary music: They somewhat seamlessly follow the old music traditions of Taverner, Tallis, Morley, and Byrd, but are often harmonically much more complex, whereas the odes and welcome songs as well as the theatrical music are generally more digestible. In my experience, the inner logic of sacred music is also well understood and leads to a very satisfying listening experience - possibly only after listening to the individual pieces multiple times or becoming familiar with them as a whole. Therefore, it’s recommended to initially limit oneself to a small number of these compositions - I myself acquired the individual CDs only at large intervals due to their high prices and was prepared for the fact that the music initially seemed rather alien to me until it became familiar and then highly appreciated. I would assume that - with low doses - the unspoiled childish ear would show greater openness than our ears trained on Mozart and Beethoven, on Verdi, the Comedian Harmonists, the Beatles & Elton John. Therefore, I think that even “hard material” like Purcell’s anthems could and should be introduced into the acoustic environment of younger children. In this regard, I feel confirmed by the tremendous achievements of boy choirs, especially the solo boy sopranos in some of Purcell’s pieces.