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The English composer Henry Purcell wrote funeral music that includes his Funeral Sentences and the later Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Z. 860. Two of the funeral sentences, Man that is born of a woman Z. 27 and In the midst of life we are in death Z. 17, survive in autograph score. The Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary comprises the march and canzona Z. 780 and the funeral sentence Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts Z. 58C. It was first performed at the funeral of Queen Mary II of England in March 1695. Purcell's setting of Thou knowest, Lord was performed at his own funeral in November of the same year. In modern performances the march, canzona and three funeral sentences are often combined as Purcell's Funeral Sentences, Z. 860.
Contents
History
Queen Mary II died in December 1694, but her funeral was not until March 1695. Purcell composed a setting of the sixth of the seven sentences of the Anglican Burial Service (Thou Knowest Lord, Z. 58C) for the occasion, together with the March and Canzona (Z. 780). It is believed these were performed with settings of the other six sentences by the Elizabethan composer Thomas Morley. Purcell had much earlier composed settings of three of the Burial Service sentences, including two different ones of Thou Knowest Lord. The earlier settings are contained in autograph score, but there is no autograph of the 1695 music. Later in 1695 Purcell reused the March and Canzona as part of incidental music for Thomas Shadwell's play The Libertine.
Text and instrumentation
The work is scored for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, four trumpets, and basso continuo. The text is from the Book of Common Prayer (1662):
Music
The march, in C minor, was written for a quartet of flatt trumpets, which could play notes outside of the harmonic series and thus in a minor key. Following the march is the canzona, also in C minor. Thou Knowest Lord is in E flat major and is a stirring hymn-like setting with all the voice parts moving in the same rhythm.
Purcell's earlier setting of the fourth sentence of the Burial Service, Man that is born of a woman, introduces a melancholy theme. Purcell brings tension to the phrase with hath but a short time to live, and the melody rises and falls with the words he cometh up and is cut down like a flower. With In the midst of life we are in death, an earlier setting of the fifth sentence, Purcell begins with a soprano part that is passed on to the choir. The music portrays with chromaticism an air of anguish. There are two earlier versions of Thou Knowest Lord.