Henry Purcell was an English composer and organist of the middle Baroque era, born c. 10 September 1659 in Westminster and died 21 November 1695 in London. A chorister of the Chapel Royal under Captain Henry Cooke and later Pelham Humfrey, he became organist of Westminster Abbey in 1679 and later organist of the Chapel Royal. Extremely prolific despite his short life, he composed more than 100 songs, sacred anthems and odes for the court, the tragic chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, and incidental music and semi-operas for the London stage, including Dioclesian, King Arthur, and The Fairy-Queen, his adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His style was uniquely English while absorbing Italian and French influences of the day.

Purcell is widely regarded as one of the greatest English composers, fusing the expressive declamation of English word-setting with continental Italian and French idioms he encountered through royal and theatrical patronage. His theatre music, especially the semi-operas written for Restoration London, established a distinctly English approach to dramatic music that later English composers, from Handel’s adopted homeland tradition to 20th-century figures like Benjamin Britten (who edited and championed his works), looked back to as a native wellspring. Dido and Aeneas remains a cornerstone of the early opera repertoire.

Sources:

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Purcell