complimentary odes for three Kings; in the last year of his life he was
to write the funeral music for a Queen, and the music was to serve at
his own funeral. During this last period he wrote his greatest ode,
"Hail, Bright Cecilia"; his greatest pieces of Church music, the _Te
Deum_ and _Jubilate_; and in all likelihood his greatest sonatas, those
in four parts. He also rewrote a part of Playford's _Brief Introduction
to the Skill of Music_.

It is not my intention to analyse the dramas. No more can be done in the
narrow space than give the reader a notion of Purcell's general
procedure of filling his space, and the salient characteristics of the
filling. Although _Dido_ differs from the other plays in containing no
spoken dialogue, and may not strictly fall into this period, I shall for
convenience' sake treat it with them. After dealing with the dramatic
work there will remain the odes, the anthems and services, and the
instrumental music.


THE THEATRE MUSIC.

We can scarcely hope to hear the bulk of the music for the theatre, as
has been remarked, because of the worthlessness of the plays to which it
is attached. Even _King Arthur, The Tempest, The Fairy Queen_ and
_Dioclesian_ pieces are too fragmentary, disconnected, to be performed
with any effect without scenery, costume, and some explanation in the
way of dialogue. In _King Arthur_ there are instrumental numbers to
accompany action on the stage: without that action these numbers are
meaningless. _King Arthur_ was given at Birmingham some years ago, but
it proved to be even more incoherent than the festival cantatas which
our composers write to order: if the masque from _Timon_ or _Dioclesian_