In August 1677 the musicians at the court of Charles II were thrown into mourning with the death of Matthew Locke. Locke was one of the last surviving composers who had come through the Civil War, and his influence on English music had been great, maintaining the peculiarly individual style which distinguished English writing from that on the Continent. He had held four posts as composer at court, private composer to the king, composer for the wind music and composer for the violins, for whom he also became assistant leader. As a chorister Purcell would have sung some of the dozens of anthems written by Locke and, later in life, he copied a number of them into his own manuscripts. Purcell would certainly have met Locke and heard much of his adventurous music, both at court and in the series of theatrical productions for which Locke provided music in the 1670s. Purcell must have known Locke’s style well.

The young Purcell’s tribute to a fine composer was an eloquent ode which, musically, contains many touches of Locke’s style. A copy of the poem, written in Purcell’s own hand, survives in the British Museum; much as the ode is affectionate and indicates that the author had a fair classical education, metrically it shows an inexperienced poetic hand at work. We can only wonder if the words were by Purcell himself. Purcell’s musical setting was published, along with five other songs, in the 1679 publication Choice Ayres and Songs. The text is full of references to Locke’s skill in music (especially referring to his ‘skilful harmony’) which could calm ‘Ev’n ill nature’ and ‘vanquish Death in his own field of Night’. ‘Numbers’ usually refers to metre, but here the term is widened to include all technical aspects of music and poetic rhythm. Purcell’s response was beautifully crafted; there are ravishing moments such as the descending chromatic harmony of ‘From pointed griefs he’d take the pain away’, and ‘His lays to anger and to war could move’ melts wonderfully into ‘Then calm the tempest they had rais’d with love’. The ‘lays’ refer to the story of Timotheus, the Greek musician who was believed to have been able to hypnotize and control even Alexander the Great with his playing. Equally attractive is the phrase ‘And with soft sounds to gentle thoughts incline’ whose descending bass line subtly introduces Purcell’s musical pun. With his mention of the lyre the author is representing Locke as Orpheus. The setting is for solo voice, but Purcell introduces a bass singer for the concluding ‘chorus’.

from notes by Robert King © 2003