The anthems for
the Queen's funeral--and, as it turned out, for Purcell's own--can also
be dated in the same way, but they fall into a later period.
During these ten years fifteen odes were set, including the notable
_Yorkshire Feast Song_, also the music for "the Lord Mayor's show of
1682," and the _Quickstep_, which afterwards became famous when the
words "Lillibulero" were adapted to it. It was sung as a sort of
war-song against James II. In 1687 Purcell wrote an elegy on John
Playford, the son of the publisher of the same name.
It would be utterly impossible to determine the dates of upwards of 200
songs, duets, trios, and catches, nor does it greatly matter. In a
little book such as this we have little enough space without going into
these questions. The first sonatas in three parts are more important.
They were published in 1683, with a portrait of the composer at the age
of twenty-four. Some pieces for strings in from three to eight parts may
be attributed to 1680. Some of the many harpsichord things may also
belong to this period.
We cannot follow Purcell's development step by step, year by year, as we
can, for instance, Beethoven's.
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