Henry Purcell Works

Henry Purcell (1659[?] - 1695) was a great English composer. Hewas the most famous of all English native-born composers until Edward Elgar. Incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell created a uniquely English style of Baroque music. A prolific composer, Purcell is well-known for his opera Dido and Aeneas, a milestone in the history of English dramatic music.

Purcell also had a strong influence on the composers of the English musical revival of the early twentieth century; most notably on Benjamin Britten, who created and performed a rearrangement of Dido and Aeneas, and whose work The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is based on Purcell's Rondeau for Strings.