Purcell's Place in Music
IDO. AND AENEAS, scheduled to be heard from Dunedin, unaccountably went down to Invercargill and returned before it was finally presented, so that I heard it twice. A reflection on the place of Purcell in music is the fact that recently, wishing, to verify some details of this composer’s life, I consulted the handiest reference-book, which happened to be the American publication Music Lovers’ Cyclopedia; and found, to my. astonishment, that
Purcell’s name wasn’t* even in it, although the P section abounded in nonentities like Pujol, Puchalski, and Purday. (I hope this omission has been corrected in later editions.) Purcell’s genius overshadowed since his time by greater names, is only now being restored to its rightful high place in music.
Although his opera Dido and Aeneas falls with an antique sound on modern ears, it is music which will never lose its freshness, and is bound to grow rather than decline in favour when the present passion for noise has spent itself. This particular recording, with Joan Hammond as Dido, is an excellent interpretation of Purcell’s_ music, and makes the most of its beauty and passion.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19470328.2.20.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 405, 28 March 1947, Page 8
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190Purcell's Place in Music New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 405, 28 March 1947, Page 8
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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