Lot 140: PURCELL, HENRY.

Early eighteenth-century manuscript volume of thirty-eight verse anthems by Purcell, Blow, Pelham, Humfrey, Croft and others,

comprising vocal parts, without instruments for the choral and solo sections (the vocal parts for the ensembles, together with the tenor and some bass solos and the tenor parts for the choruses), notated for treble, alto, tenor and bass voices, on three or more systems per page, each of up to four staves, with an index by the scribe; it includes seven anthems by Purcell (see below) and others by Blow (8), Humfrey (6), William Lawes ("The Lord is my Light"), Croft (9), Jeremiah Clarke ("This is the day"), William Turner (2) and William Tucker ("Lord how long wilt thou" and "I will always give thanks"), with some psalm tones by Blow and King at the end of the volume; together with a few motets in score in a nineteenth-century hand, and a later alphabetical index

216 pages in all, most paginated by the original scribe (2-192), folio (c.34 x 25cms), 14-stave paper, "Villedary" paper [similar to Heawood 1809 etc.], first third of the eighteenth century with a few later additions. Late eighteenth-century diced Russia, p.1 (?title) excised, stubs remaining at end, binding worn, lower joints splitting

This is a substantial volume containing works by Purcell and most of the leading composers of English church music from the mid seventeenth to the early eighteenth centuries. Most of these anthems were then unpublished. The other composers are named as "Mr Purcell" (and "HPurcell"), "Dr Crofts" (William Croft, 1678-1727), "Dr Blow" (1649-1708), "P. Humphreys", "Aldrige" (Henry Aldrich, 1648-1710, Dean of Christ Church), "J. Clark" (1674-1707), "W. Lawes", "Mr Turner" (William Turner of Oxford, 1651-1740) and "Mr Tucker" (William Tucker, d.179). The anthem marked "Clubb:" is a work composed jointly by Blow, Humfrey and Turner in about 1664 (see Grove5, ii, 355).

The anthems by Purcell are "I was glad" (with a few divergences from the text given in Harmonia Sacra, 1703), "My song shall be alway" (the solo part for bass), "O give thanks", "They that go down to the Sea in Ships" (the parts for bass and alto solo, and tenor chorus), "Behold I bring you glad tidings", "Be merciful" and "Thy way O God" (the parts for bass and alto solo, and tenor chorus). There a few items with unclear or contradictory attributions: "Have mercy upon me" is attributed to Humfrey in the manuscript and to [Michael] Wise in the index. However, the unattributed "Lord teach us to number our days" and "Like as the Hart" are anthems by Humfrey. Only a single tenor part is apparently recorded of Tucker's "Lord, how long wilt though" (see Grove5, viii, 582).