Purcell was imbued with the solid traditions of the music of
the English Church composers ; but he was equally in touch
with the methods of the most advanced composers of the new
style, especially in its French phase as illustrated by Lulli
He was also saturated with the characteristic English tunes



THE RISE OP SECULAR MUSIC 1 43

of his day, and possessed an instinct for the true relation
between the accents of the language and the accents of musical
melody and declamatory recitative, which has never been sur-
passed by any composer of the same nationality. Applying
the views of art which were in the air in a typically English
way, he produced characteristic effects of harmony in both
choral and instrumental music, which were without parallel
till J. S. Bach began to enlarge the musical horizon in that
respect. In his solo music, he endeavoured to follow the
meaning of the words in declamatory passages with the
utmost closeness ; resorting with almost too much frequency to
obvious realistic devices. But the elaborate scenes and grandly
expanded movements for solo voices in his opera and theatre
music are so full of variety and force as to be still almost un-
surpassed in their particular line. The airs and songs which
he 'introduced into the same works have a specially tuneful
ring, which is much more pointed and individual than any-
thing to be found in similar productions by his contemporaries
on the Continent. The tunes of the foremost Italian Opera
composers of his time have a family likeness about them which
is rather conventional and monotonous, charming as some of
the tunes are ; but Purcell's songs are like so many strongly
diverse forms cut in clear crystal, each ringing with in-
dividuality. In much of his instrumental music, such as the f
dance tunes in his theatre music, he shows much greater ;
skill and point and lightness of hand than Lulli, and a much
nearer approach to genuine instrumental style than almost *
any composer of his time in any form of instrumental music \
which was then cultivated. But England lay far from the "\
centres of musical activity, and the general course of musical
evolution went on in Europe with hardly any reference what-
ever to his remarkable artistic achievements.
