If Music Be the Food of Love, Z.379 (Purcell, Henry)

Composition Year 1692-5
Genre Categories Songs; For voice, continuo; For voices with continuo; Scores featuring the voice; Scores with basso continuo; English language; For voice, piano (arr); For voices with keyboard (arr); Scores featuring the voice (arr); Scores featuring the piano (arr)

Contents

Performances

Recordings

 1st Version (Z.379a) (EU)
#716571 - 3.01MB - 2:11 -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/N/V - 1227×⇩ - MP3 - Lucas-coelho

MP3 file (audio)
Lucas-coelho (2021/7/16)

 3rd Version (Z.379c) (EU)
#716572 - 5.24MB - 3:58 -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/N/V - 612×⇩ - MP3 - Lucas-coelho

MP3 file (audio)
Lucas-coelho (2021/7/16)

Performer Pages Helen Watts (contralto)
Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
Desmond Dupré (viola da gamba)
Publisher Info. L'Oiseau-Lyre / London Records, 1958. OL 50173.
Copyright
Public Domain - Non-PD US [tag/del]
Misc. Notes Source: Internet Archive
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Sheet Music

Scores

1st Version, Z.379a (1692)

 Complete Score
#819030 - 0.20MB, 1 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 210×⇩ - Feduol

PDF scanned by Unknown
Feduol (2022/10/31)

Editor Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Publisher. Info. The Works of Henry Purcell, Vol.XXV (pp.83)
London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1928. Plate 15281.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del]
Misc. Notes This file is part of the Submission Project.
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 Complete Score (g minor = original key)
#679158 - 0.24MB, 1 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - !N/!N/!N - 7357×⇩ - Lfm

PDF typeset by editor
Lfm (2021/3/2)

 Complete Score (f minor = transposed for mezzo soprano)
#679159 - 0.24MB, 1 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - !N/!N/!N - 4136×⇩ - Lfm

PDF typeset by editor
Lfm (2021/3/2)

 Complete Score with simple continuo realization (g minor = original key)
#679249 - 0.25MB, 2 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - !N/!N/!N - 3107×⇩ - Lfm

PDF typeset by editor
Lfm (2021/3/2)

 Complete Score with simple continuo realization (f minor = transposed for mezzo soprano)
#679248 - 0.25MB, 2 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - !N/!N/!N - 2200×⇩ - Lfm

PDF typeset by editor
Lfm (2021/3/2)

Editor Lukas-Fabian Moser
Publisher. Info. Lukas-Fabian Moser, 2021.
Copyright
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 [tag/del/mrg]
Misc. Notes After original printing in Gentleman's Journal, June 1692
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2nd Version, Z.379b (1693)

 Complete Score
#819031 - 0.15MB, 1 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 135×⇩ - Feduol

PDF scanned by Unknown
Feduol (2022/10/31)

Editor Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Publisher. Info. The Works of Henry Purcell, Vol.XXV (pp.84)
London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1928. Plate 15281.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del]
Misc. Notes This file is part of the Submission Project.
Purchase
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3rd Version, Z.379c (1695)

 Complete Score
#819032 - 0.36MB, 4 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 188×⇩ - Feduol

PDF scanned by Unknown
Feduol (2022/10/31)

Editor Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Publisher. Info. The Works of Henry Purcell, Vol.XXV (pp.85–88)
London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1928. Plate 15281.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del]
Misc. Notes This file is part of the Submission Project.
Purchase
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Arrangements and Transcriptions

For Voice and Piano (Arkwright)

 Complete Score
#64370 - 0.16MB, 4 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 25404×⇩ - Bassani

PDF scanned by artsongcentral....
Bassani (2010/5/17)

Arranger Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864-1944)
Publisher. Info. Twenty Four Songs by English Composers of the 17th & 18th Centuries
London: Parker & Son, 1908.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del]
Misc. Notes Transcription of first version, dating from June 1692 (Z.379a).
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General Information

Work Title If Music Be the Food of Love
Alternative. Title
Composer Purcell, Henry
Opus/Catalogue NumberOp./Cat. No. Z.379
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. IHP 29
Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. 1692-5
First Publication. 1692
Librettist Colonel Henry Heveningham (1651–1700)
Language English
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period Baroque
Piece Style Baroque
Instrumentation voice, continuo

Navigation etc.

The song If music be the food of love is thought by some to be a setting of a Shakespearean text, however the only direct quotation is the first line, which matches the opening seven words heard in Twelfth Night. Purcell set this text, by one Colonel Henry Heveningham, twice in the 1690s, and made two slightly different versions of the first setting. The first version of the earlier setting includes only the first verse of poetry; the alternate version, published in the Gentleman’s Journal of June 1692 (Z.379a), sets both verses. This song was made famous in modern times by the countertenor Alfred Deller in the version arranged by Sir Michael Tippett and Walter Bergmann.

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