Queen Marys Funeral Music

views updated

Queen Mary's Funeral Music. Mus. comp. by Purcell for the Westminster Abbey funeral on 5 Mar. 1695 of Queen Mary II wife of William III, who died of smallpox on 28 Dec. 1694. The mus. comprised two of the sentences from the burial service, which he had set at least 12 years earlier; the anthem Thou knowest, Lord, the Secrets of our Hearts, specially comp.; 2 canzonas for slide tpts. and tbs.; and a March originally written for a scene in Shadwell's The Libertine (?1692), an adaptation of the Don Juan legend. Some of the mus. was perf. in the Abbey in Nov. 1695 for Purcell's funeral.