Purcell

1.02 Yevgenia Semeina Handeland Purcell sources, spring 2002 Henry Purcell sVoluntary in D minorThis piece- Z718- occurs without title inBritish Museum manuscript Add. 31446, ff 9v-10v. The piece starts with a tersefugal exposition in the traditional manner of voluntaries, almost the same withthe Voluntary in for Double Organ, which appears in the same manuscript. Thesepiece are very alike for the first page, but then gradually diverge until abouthalfway through, they go completely separate ways. According to Shay and Thompson s book thecopyist of the manuscript was George Holmes 1680-1721 , pupil of John Blow,organist of Lincoln Cathedral from 1704 to 1720. I would like to compare the manuscript of theVoluntary in D minor with one of the modern editions of this piece TheNovello edition of 1957, made by Hugh McLean, and with the edition of ThePurcell Society made by Edward John Hopkins.

In the originalthe both hands are written on six-line stave, the right it is in treble clef,except for the very end, where it is in the alto clef. The left hand starts intenor clef. A few times during the piece it will change to bass clef in whichthe piece ends. The key signature has B flat but it is missing in couple placesthought the piece bar 17 left hand , bar 20 left hand , bar 52 left hand .There is also an Alla Breve sign in the beginning. 1. Hugh McLean changed the Alla Breve sign to the 4 4 sign,while Hopkins s edition has Alla Breve in it.2. In McLean s edition in bars 8-9the rhythm and the harmony was changed. In the manuscript the last beat of bareight is the resolution of the previous dominant chord to the tonic sixthchord.

It follows by a modulationthrough Major tonic sixth chord and the Subdominant to the A Major. Thisprogression sounds very interesting with its natural seventh.

The editor takes away the resolution on the last beat of bar eight,he puts it on the first beat of bar nine. And then he puts the G sharp on thethird beat and resolve it to the A minor chord on the last beat of this bar. Bydoing this he completely changes the color and the character of the cadence.The editor does not put these changes in brackets and in the editorial notes hedoes not explains why he did them. In Hopkins s edition rhythm of bar eight stays the same as in themanuscript.

In bar nine the editor suggests to put g sharp for the third notein bass.3. In bar thirteen in themanuscript the fifth note in soprano is F sharp, which is changed to F naturalin the McLean s edition.4. In bar nine of the Hugh McLean sedition rhythm of the second beat in right hand is changed.5. Hugh McLean adds a few trills through thepiece, but he put all of them in brackets. And it was very frequent at thatperiod to put some additional ornamentation for the performance. There are no additional ornaments in the Edward J. Hopkins sedition. 6. In bar twenty-seven of theoriginal there is a little cross above the f sharp in bass. Hugh McLean decidedthat this was an indication for the mistake, like it will be later in bar forty-seven,so he takes away the shake on that note. In the edition of Purcell Societynothing is left out in this bar.7. In bar forty-seven is anothercross mark but here both editions agreed that it was a mark for the mistakemade by copyist of manuscript, he put in the wrong note.8. In the same bar Mr. Hopkinsadds the quarter rest for the last beat in left hand. 9. In McLean s edition it iswithout rest like in the manuscript.Ingeneral, edition of The Purcell Society is more accurate and less editedalthough Hugh McLean s edition is also very close to the original and exceptfor the changes in bars 9-10 there arenot that many differences.01.02YevgeniaSemeina Handeland Purcell sources, spring 2002Bibliography Downes,Ralph. An organist s view of organ works.

Henry Purcell.

London Oxford UP, 1959.Holman,Peter. Henry Purcell.Oxford UP, 1994.Hopkins,Edward John, ed. The works of Henry Purcell.

Vol. 6, London and NewYork Novello, Ewer and Co, 1895.McLean,Hugh, ed. Henry Purcell s organ works.

London and New York Novello amp Company, 1957.Purcell,Henry. British Museum Manuscript, Add.31446.ff9v-10v.Shay,Robert, and Thompson. Purcell manuscripts. The principal musical mources. Cambridge UP, 2000.