9 Anthems with strings

As a further stage of the reordering of the Society’s edition of Purcell’s anthems, following on from Volume 29, the nine items in Volume 13 span the whole of the composer’s output of symphony anthems. It contains his first two works in the genre, My beloved spake (both the original and the revised version being presented in full) and Behold, now praise the Lord; three two-violin anthems from the mid-1680s, They that go down to the sea in ships, I will give thanks unto the Lord, and O Lord, grant the King a long life; and four anthems composed between 1687 and 1690: Behold, I bring you glad tidings, Blessed are they that fear the Lord, My song shall be alway, and Thy way, O God, is holy. The last of these is, for the first time, published complete with its instrumental movements, which survive only in the rediscovered Gostling Manuscript. Three of the Society’s most senior editors have collaborated in the preparation of the volume.

Sets of instrumental material for each of the anthems in this volume are also available.