Henry Purcell

The poet wishes well to the divine genius of Purcell and praises him that, whereas other musicians have given utterance to the moods of man’s mind, he has, beyond that, uttered in notes the very make and species of man as created both in him and in all men generally.


HAVE, fair fallen, O fair, fair have fallen, so dear
To me, so arch-especial a spirit as heaves in Henry Purcell,
An age is now since passed, since parted; with the reversal
Of the outward sentence low lays him, listed to a heresy, here.

Not mood in him nor meaning, proud fire or sacred fear,
Or love or pity or all that sweet notes not his might nursle:
It is the forgèd feature finds me; it is the rehearsal
Of own, of abrupt self there so thrusts on, so throngs the ear.

Let him Oh! with his air of angels then lift me, lay me! only I’ll
Have an eye to the sakes of him, quaint moonmarks, to his pelted plumage under
Wings: so some great stormfowl, whenever he has walked his while

The thunder-purple seabeach plumèd purple-of-thunder,
If a wuthering of his palmy snow-pinions scatter a colossal smile
Off him, but meaning motion fans fresh our wits with wonder.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. J.

---

Purcell died on November 21, 1695. The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning late from the theatre one night and finding that his wife had locked him out; another is that he succumbed to chocolate poisoning; perhaps the most likely is that he died of tuberculosis. Purcell's death was not sudden enough to leave him intestate - the beginning of his will reads:

In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the City of Westminster, gentleman, being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God) do by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my loving wife, Frances Purcell, all my estate both real and personal of what nature and kind soever...

Purcell is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. His epigraph reads, "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded".

-- Wikipedia

Note: In 1695 Protestant England was still on the Julian calendar, I do not know what the date was in the rest of the world on the calendar we all (or at least most of us) use today.

Wait a minute, I have an old Greek calendar here for 2002, I mean an Greek old calendar, oh, you know what I mean, and I see that November 21 (Julian) fell on December 4 (Gregorian) and I must assume that it still does. But in 1694 it must have been December 1, no? (I'm glad it's not my job to straighten these things out.)

Thanks to pistorius for the reminder of the commemoration of my late and (alas) rather distant kinsman.

On a Bright, Sunny Day in Dallas

> Gary North's REALITY CHECK
>
> Issue 294 November 21, 2003
>
>
> ON A BRIGHT, SUNNY DAY IN DALLAS
>
> This is the week of the 40th anniversary of Kennedy's
> assassination. There have been several television programs
> devoted to this event, especially on PBS.
>
> In this report, I'm going to present a missing piece
> of the puzzle, one that you have never heard about. ( Read more... )

>
> CONCLUSION
>
> It is a grand illusion to believe that what we do
> today can immunize ourselves from the fallout from the
> seemingly random events of life. We can buy gold, we can
> live in gated communities, but the hard realities of life
> penetrate the high walls of our long-term plans.
>
> Uncertainty is a fact of life. This is why we should
> rejoice that there are entrepreneurs out there who put
> their capital on the line to assist future consumers in
> their quest to reduce uncertainty. Someone must deal with
> uncertainty. Capitalism's great gift to mankind is that it
> allows specialists to do this merely for the opportunity to
> reap a profit by opening their wallets to the possibility
> of losses. This is a cheap price for services rendered.
>
> -------------
>( Read more... )

=====
Looking for an opportunity? http://arisbe.estarnetwork.com/.