Henry Purcell

Composer

Works Performed by PNB

Coming Soon

Henry Purcell (c. 1659-1695) is the best-known composer of the English baroque period. Among his many works are more than 100 songs, the opera Dido and Aeneas, and incidental music for a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream called The Fairy Queen. José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane utilizes arrangements of Purcell’s music for the plays The Gordian Knot Unty’d and Abdelazar, or The Moor’s Revenge. Incidentally, the rondeau from Abdelazar was used by Benjamin Britten as the theme for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, which is the score for Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare.