Purcell's Rondeau for Strings
A Postcard for Henry Purcell, Pride and Prejudice
Composed by Henry Purcell in 1676, Rondeau for Strings (Z. 570/2) is the second movement from his incidental music to Aphra Behn's play Abdelazer (also called The Moor's Revenge). Benjamin Britten's adaptation of Rondeau for Strings was used as the theme for his 1946 variations The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. A version of Rondeau for Strings was used as the theme of the 1969 BBC television-series The First Churchills; and a version by composer Dario Marianelli is used as dance music in the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice.
Henry Purcell (1659[?] - 1695) was a great English composer. He was 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.
