5.1.02

Yevgenia Semeina                                       Handel
and Purcell sources, spring 2002

Henry Purcell’s
Voluntary in D minor

This piece- Z718- occurs without title in
British Museum manuscript Add. 31446, ff 9v-10v. The piece starts with a terse
fugal exposition in the traditional manner of voluntaries, almost the same with
the Voluntary in for Double Organ, which appears in the same manuscript. These
piece are very alike for the first page, but then gradually diverge until about
halfway through, they go completely separate ways.  According to Shay and
Thompson’s book the copyist 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 the
Voluntary in D minor with one of the modern editions of this piece – The
Novello edition of 1957, made by Hugh McLean, and with the edition of The
Purcell Society made by Edward John Hopkins.

 In the original the 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 in tenor clef. A few times during
the piece it will change to bass clef in which the piece ends. The key
signature has B flat but it is missing in couple places thought 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 8-9 the rhythm and
the harmony was changed. In the manuscript the last beat of bar eight is the
resolution of the previous dominant chord to the tonic sixth chord.  It follows
by a modulation through Major tonic sixth chord and the Subdominant to the A
Major. This progression 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 the
third beat and resolve it to the A minor chord on the last beat of this bar. By
doing 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 he
does not explains why he did them.

In Hopkins’s edition rhythm of bar eight stays the same as in the
manuscript. In bar nine the editor suggests to put g sharp for the third note
in bass.

3.   
In bar thirteen in the manuscript the fifth note
in soprano is F sharp, which is changed to F natural in the McLean’s edition.

4.   
In bar nine of the Hugh McLean’s edition rhythm of
the second beat in right hand is changed.

5.   
 Hugh McLean adds a few trills through the
piece, but he put all of them in brackets. And it was very frequent at that
period to put some additional ornamentation for the performance.

There are no additional ornaments in the Edward J. Hopkins’s
edition.

6.   
In bar twenty-seven of the original there is a little
cross above the f sharp in bass. Hugh McLean decided that 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 Society nothing is
left out in this bar.

7.   
In bar forty-seven is another cross mark but
here both editions agreed that it was a mark for the mistake made by copyist of
manuscript, he put in the wrong note.

8.   
In the same bar Mr. Hopkins adds the quarter
rest for the last beat in left hand.

9.   
In McLean’s edition it is without rest like in
the manuscript.

In
general, edition of The Purcell Society is more accurate and less edited although
Hugh McLean’s edition is also very close to the original and except for  the changes
in bars 9-10 there are not that many differences.

5.01.02

Yevgenia
Semeina                                       Handel and Purcell sources,
spring 2002

Bibliography

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 New York:
Novello, Ewer and Co, 1895.

McLean,
Hugh, ed. Henry Purcell’s organ works. London and New York: Novello
& Company, 1957.

Purcell,
Henry. British Museum Manuscript, Add.31446.ff9v-10v.

Shay,
Robert, and Thompson. Purcell manuscripts. The principal musical mources.
Cambridge UP, 2000.