Henry Purcell has been acknowledged as one of England's greatest composers. Little is known about his life beyond his official appointments and duties, but as a musician he excelled as a servant of the Court, the Church and the theatre, writing odes, welcome songs, sonatas, anthems, service music and incidental music, and a series of operatic extravaganzas which fascinated the public during the 1690s. Surprisingly, the music itself has been little studied, and the contributions here from a range of scholars and performers represent the first new consideration of Purcell's oeuvre for many years.