As Nicholas Kenyon says, quoting Ralph Vaughan Williams in the introduction to this volume, 'We all pay lip service to Henry Purcell, but what do we really know of him?'. Many aspects of the composer's life remain obscure, but, with the approach of the tercentenary of Henry Purcell's death in 1995, much of his music would be performed again, in some cases for the first time for many years. It was clear that many issues of performance practice needed to be aired before 1995; further it was equall...

• Introduction, Nicholas Kenyon
• Performing the Music
• 1:Original sets of parts for Restoration Concerted Music at Oxford, Peter Holman
• 2:The English organ in Purcell's lifetime, Dominic Gwynn
• 3:Violin making in England in the age of Purcell, John Dilworth
• 4:Performing Mr Purcell's "Exotick" trumpet notes, Peter Downey
• 5:The first performance of Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary, Bruce Wood
• 6:Ornamentation in the keyboard music of Henry Purcell and his contemporaries, H. ...