The Theater of Music (Playford, John)

Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's 4 books
First Publication 1685
Genre Categories Songs; For voice, continuo; For voices with continuo; Scores featuring the voice; Scores with basso continuo; For 2 voices, continuo; For 2 voices; For unaccompanied voices; For voice, 2 violins, continuo; For voices with solo instruments; Scores featuring the violin; For voice, 2 recorders, continuo; Scores featuring the recorder; For voice, mixed chorus, continuo; For voices and chorus with continuo; Scores featuring mixed chorus; For 2 voices, mixed chorus, 2 violins, continuo; For voices and chorus with solo instruments; For 3 equal voices; For 3 voices; English language

Sheet Music

Scores

 Book 1
#72263 - 12.30MB, 79 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 3580×⇩ - Bassani

PDF scanned by Gus Webb
Bassani (2010/7/23)

 Book 2
#72264 - 7.79MB, 55 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 1313×⇩ - Bassani

PDF scanned by Gus Webb
Bassani (2010/7/23)

 Book 3
#72265 - 8.59MB, 60 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 1107×⇩ - Bassani

PDF scanned by Gus Webb
Bassani (2010/7/23)

 Book 4
#72266 - 13.36MB, 92 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 1166×⇩ - Bassani

PDF scanned by Gus Webb
Bassani (2010/7/23)

Publisher. Info. London: John Playford, for Henry Playford and R. C., 1685. (Books 1 & 2)
London: Henry Playford and R. C., and John Carr, 1686. .
London: B. Motte, for Henry Playford, 1687.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del/mrg]
Misc. Notes Book 3 pages out of order.
Purchase
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 Book 1
#666970 - 84.43MB, 82 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 43×⇩ - Fynnjamin

PDF scanned by GB-Lbl
Fynnjamin (2020/12/30)

 Book 2
#666971 - 56.03MB, 56 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 20×⇩ - Fynnjamin

PDF scanned by GB-Lbl
Fynnjamin (2020/12/30)

 Book 4
#666972 - 97.02MB, 92 pp. -  0.0/10 2 4 6 8 10 (-) - V/V/V - 18×⇩ - Fynnjamin

PDF scanned by GB-Lbl
Fynnjamin (2020/12/30)

Publisher. Info. London: John Playford, for Henry Playford and R. C., 1685. (Books 1 & 2)
London: B. Motte, for Henry Playford, 1687.
Copyright
Public Domain [tag/del/mrg]
Misc. Notes Book 1 has additional title-page of "The New Treasury of Musick: or, a Collection of the Choicest and Best Song-Books For these Twenty Years last past."
London: Henry Playford, 1695.
Purchase
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General Information

Work Title The Theater of Music
Alternative. Title The Theater of Music: or, A Choice Collection of the newest and best Songs Sung at the Court, and Public Theaters. The Words composed by the most ingenious Wits of the Age, and set to Music by the greatest Masters in that Science. With A Thorow-Bass to each Song for the (Harpsichord,) Theorbo, or Bass-Viol. Also Symphonies and Retournels in 3 Parts to several of them for the Violins and Flutes
Composer Playford, John
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. None [force assignment]
Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's 4 books:
  • Book 1
  1. Captain Pack: I never saw a face till now from Disappointment, or The Mother in Fashion (1684)
  2. Captain Pack: See how fair Corinna lies from Disappointment, or The Mother in Fashion (1684)
  3. King: Oh why did e're my thoughts aspire from The Disappointment, or The Mother in Fashion (1684)
  4. Thomas Farmer: When absent from the nymph I love
  5. Akeroyde: Hard fate that we have eyes to see
  6. Grabu: When Lucinda's blooming beauty
  7. Anonymous: Of my dear Celia's slight depriv'd
  8. Charles Taylour: To hollow rocks and far-sought plains
  9. Charles Taylour: A curse on all cares
  10. Charles Taylour: Believe me Jenny, for I tell you true
  11. Charles Taylour: A pox of dull mortals
  12. Draghi: There never was swain so unhappy as I
  13. Thomas Farmer: Awake, oh Constantine, awake from Constantine the Great (1683)
  14. Draghi: Twas in a dismal cypress grove
  15. Akeroyde: Jenny, my blithest maid
  16. John Roffey: Such icy kisses
  17. Anonymous: Hark, I hear the echoing nation
  18. John Roffey: Rebellious fools that scorn to bow
  19. Purcell: Farewell, all joys
  20. Draghi: Too high, oh Cupid, cries the swain
  21. Blow: Shot from Orinda's brighter eyes
  22. Purcell: Ye happy swains, whose nymphs are kind
  23. Turner: Tho you may boast you're fairer
  24. Lenton: Ah Phillis, cast those thoughts away
  25. Blow: Pleasures by angels unenjoy'd
  26. Turner: Bright was the morning
  27. Turner: Ah Phillis, had you never lov'd
  28. King: Go tell Amintor, gentle swain
  29. Purcell: My heart, whenever you appear
  30. Turner: My life and my death
  31. King: If absent I from Phillis am
  32. Akeroyde: As May in all her youthful dress
  33. Akeroyde: Fancelia's heart is still the same
  34. Blow: Long by disdain has Celia strove
  35. Lenton: When Celia wept, the heav'ns wept too
  36. King: Fly from Olinda, young and fair
  37. Hart: When absent from my fair Corinna
  38. Hart: Say my heart, what shall I do
  39. Thomas Farmer: How sweet is the passion of love
  40. Draghi: The pleasures that I now possess
  41. Thomas Farmer: Love, love's the dear talk
  42. Thomas Farmer: Ye virgin pow'rs, defend my heart
  43. Purcell: Love is now become a trade
  44. Blow: Why should all things bow to love
  45. Alexander Damascene: Break Cupid, break thy feeble bow
  46. Alexander Damascene: How blest is the passion
  47. Alexander Damascene: If love did make its chief abode
  48. Blow: The Old Man's Wish
  49. Petro Reggio: An Address to a kind Lady
  50. William Gregory: A Pastoral Song upon a Ground
  51. Snow: What cruel pains Corinna takes
  52. Blow: All my past life is mine no more
  53. Draghi: Who can resist my Celia's charms from A Duke and No Duke (1684)
  54. King: Ah poor Olinda, never boast from A Duke and No Duke (1684)
  55. Purcell: In vain we dissemble
  56. Hart: Happy as man in his first innocence
  57. Draghi: A Dialogue between Damon and Phillis
  58. Blow: Septimnius and Acme (A Dialogue)
  59. Hart: A Dialogue betwixt Phillis and Strephon
  • Book 2
  1. Purcell: If grief has any pow'r to kill
  2. Purcell: Cupid, the slyest rogue alive
  3. Purcell: When lovely Phillis thou art kind
  4. Tudway: Come all ye tender nymphs
  5. Draghi: When first Dorinda, your bright eyes
  6. Captain Pack: In vain she frowns, in vain she tries
  7. David Underwood: The poor Endymion lov'd too well
  8. Thomas Farmer: A Marriage Song (Behold the morn' dawns)
  9. King: Tune your lute, and raise your voice
  10. Anonymous (possibly Purcell): Within a solitary grove (Song of Sappho)
  11. King: When I see my Strephon languish
  12. Purcell: A Seranading Song (Soft notes, and gently rais'd)
  13. King: Long have I liv'd from passion free
  14. Anonymous: Should I once fall in love
  15. Purcell: A new Catch (Would you know how we meet)
  16. Purcell: The Rich Rival
  17. Anonymous: Methinks I see, as well as hear
  18. John Roffey: Unjust Climena does complain
  19. David Underwood: When closely embrac'd in the arms of my dear
  20. Francis Forcer: Ah tell me no more that Olinda's too low
  21. Blow: Strife, hurry, and noise (that fills the lewd town)
  22. Anonymous: Within a grove, not far from whence
  23. Anonymous: Since Sylvia's too so fickle grown
  24. Purcell: Phillis, talk no more of passion
  25. Alexander Damascene: Ah tempt me no more
  26. Akeroyde: Beneath an unfrequented shade
  27. Anonymous: Love thee till there shall be an end of matter from The Woman Captain (1679)
  28. Thomas Farmer: Ye pow'rs that rule the world
  29. John Goodwin: Since my mistress proves cruel
  30. King: A Dialogue between a Man and a Woman from Sir Courtly Nice (1685)
  31. Tudway: Phillis, be gentler, I advise
  32. Purcell: Musing on cares of humane fate
  33. King: As I gaz'd unaware on a face so fair from Sir Courtly Nice (1685)
  34. Purcell: A Pastoral Coronation Song (While Thirsis wrapt in downy sleep)
  35. Hall: A Dialogue betwixt Oliver Cromwell and Charon
  36. Akeroyde: Hail Albion hail!
  • Book 3
  1. Richard Brown: Long, long had Phillis Strephon lov'd
  2. Akeroyde: A Serenade Song (Look down, look down fair saint)
  3. Akeroyde: From drinking of sack by the pottle
  4. Akeroyde: There is one black and sullen hour
  5. James Hawkins: Tell me what a thing is love
  6. James Hawkins: Pride and ambition
  7. James Hawkins: Your haughty wish, proud swain
  8. Akeroyde: Liberty's the soul of living from A Commonwealth of Women (1685)
  9. Akeroyde: Cynthia with an awful power from A Commonwealth of Women (1685)
  10. Richard Brown: When first I pass'd the happy night
  11. John Roffey: That I might even dream thus
  12. Purcell: Come dear companions of th'Arcadian fields
  13. Akeroyde: The nymph that does expose to sale
  14. Purcell: Sylvia, 'tis true, 'tis true
  15. Purcell: I saw fair Cloris all alone
  16. Alexander Damascene: Whilst Strephon in his pride of youth
  17. Anonymous: Ah Phillis, why are you less tender
  18. Akeroyde: Farewell bonny Wully Craig
  19. Alexander Damascene: Shun a vain pretender's story
  20. Anonymous: Oh mother, Roger with his kisses
  21. Akeroyde: Is my Clorinda yet in nature's state
  22. Humfrey: Oh that I had but a fine man
  23. Purcell: An Alligory (A grasshopper, and a fly)
  24. George Hart: While Orpheus in a heavy strain
  25. George Hart: Th'ambitious eye that seeks alone
  26. Purcell: Whilst Cynthia sung, all angry winds lay still
  27. Hart: In a dark shady cypress grove
  28. King: Why so averse is Laura's mind
  29. Draghi: How pow'rful is the god of love
  30. Akeroyde: When my kids and lambs I treated
  31. John Courtiville: Lovely Laurinda, blame not me
  32. Akeroyde: There's such religion in my love
  33. Anonymous: Whilst you court a damn'd vintner from The Devil of a Wife (1686)
  34. Anonymous: Let the vain consume his store from The Devil of a Wife (1686)
  35. Hart: Adieu, dear object of my love's excess
  36. Snow: Ah, cruel beauty, could you prove
  37. Blow: If mighty wealth, that gives rules to vicious men
  38. Hart: Celinda would her heart bestow
  39. King: In courts, ambition kills the great
  40. Draghi: Where art thou, god of dreams
  41. King: Why this talking still of dying
  • Book 4
  1. Purcell: When first my Shepherdess and I
  2. Turner: As in those nations, where they yet
  3. Akeroyde: Corinna, with innocence, beauty, and wit
  4. Reading: Your gamester, provok'd by his loss
  5. King: There is no beauty can compare
  6. Reading: A Song in Commendation of Claret
  7. Reading: How lovely's a woman before she's enjoy'd
  8. Purcell: Oft am I by the women told
  9. William Aylworth: A Dialogue betwixt Philander and Sylvia
  10. John Roffey: I lov'd young Phillis, fair and gay
  11. John Roffey: Ah Strephon that I were but sure
  12. Snow: When you have broke that tender loyal heart
  13. Mr. Gore: Tell me, ye gods, why do you prove so cruel
  14. Snow: Proud Strephon do not think my heart
  15. Snow: Why should Clansa, young and fair
  16. Courteville: Long wrestling with an angel's form
  17. George Hart: In th'evening's dawn, when nymphs and swains
  18. George Hart: The Whet (Wine, wine in a morning)
  19. Thomas Hawney: Ah Clorinda can't I move you
  20. Akeroyde: Dorinda, since your charms decline
  21. Draghi: Must I ever sigh in vain
  22. Purcell: How sweet is the air, and refreshing
  23. Thomas Farmer: I love, but dare not hope to be
  24. Blow: Return, fair princess of the blooming year
  25. Thomas Farmer: Under a shade in flow'ry June
  26. Thomas Farmer: I love, and am belov'd again
  27. Thomas Farmer: In vain I strive against my fate
  28. Draghi: When I see my Strephon languish
  29. Purcell: Fill the bowl with rosy wine
  30. John Roffey: I yield, I yield, divine Althea
  31. Hart: The sweet Melina's eyes
  32. Hart: How oft did love assault young Strephon's breast
  33. Hart: Fair angry nymph, this pride is lost
  34. Thomas Farmer: Phillis, I must needs confess
  35. Blow: A Pastoral Song (Since the spring comes on, and the teaming earth)
  36. Snow: A Tavern-Club Song (Some wine, boys, some wine)
  37. Purcell: When first Amintas su'd for a kiss
  38. Thomas Farmer: No being is exempt from love
  39. Blow: Fill me a bowl, a mighty bowl
  40. Alphonso Marsh: Come all ye pale lovers
  41. John Jackson: I'le sing of hero's, and of kings
  42. Alexander Damascene: Strephon was young, unus'd to love
  43. Purcell: Oh Solitude
  44. Purcell: Cease, anxious world, your fruitless pain
  45. Purcell: Amidst the shades, and cool refreshing streams
  46. Blow: How have I serv'd, how just or true
  47. Blow: A Song on Ingratitude (I little thought, thou fond ungrateful sin)
  48. Purcell: In some kind dream upon her slumbers steal
  49. Blow: When I drink, my heart is possest
  50. Locke: A Dialogue (Thirsis and Dorinda)
  51. Blow: Go, purjur'd man, and if thou e're return
  52. Blow: O love, that stronger art than wine from The Luckey Chance (1686)
  53. Purcell: A Dialogue (Love and Despair)
First Publication. 1685
Librettist various poets, including:
Hon. Colonel Edward Sackville (ca. 1640–1714)
Sir George Etherege (ca. 1636–1692)
Thomas Southerne (1660–1746)
Nathaniel Lee (ca. 1653–1692) (pres.)
John Wilmot (1642–1680), Earl of Rochester
Nahum Tate (1652–1715) (pres.)
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
Thomas Shadwell (ca. 1642–1692) (pres.)
John Crowne (1641–1712) (pres.)
Thomas d'Urfey (1653–1723) (pres.)
Thomas Jevon (1652–1688) (pres.)
Mr John Oldham (1653–1683)
Katherine Philips (1631–1664)
Colonel Thomas Salusbury (1612–1643)
Sir Robert Howard (playwright, 1626–1698)
Aphra Behn (1640–1689)
Mr Onsley
Language English
Dedication John Blow and Henry Purcell
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period Baroque
Piece Style Baroque
Instrumentation voice, continuo (theorbo or bass-viol); 2 voices, continuo; 2 voices alone; voice, 2 treble instruments (violins or recorders) and continuo (some songs have a ritornello or a "symphony"); voice, chorus, continuo; 2 voices, chorus, 2 treble instruments, continuo; voice, chorus, 2 recorders, continuo; 3 equal voices
Extra Information Apparently re-issued in 1695 under the title "The New Treasury of Musick: or, a Collection of the Choicest and Best Song-Books For these Twenty Years last past."

Navigation etc.

Composers without IMSLP pages:
Book 1: Captain Pack, Thomas Farmer, Charles Taylour, John Roffey, Alexander Damascene, Petro Reggio, William Gregory
Book 2: David Underwood, Francis Forcer, John Goodwin
Book 3: Richard Brown, James Hawkins, George Hart, John Courtiville [sic]
Book 4: William Aylworth, Mr. Gore, Thomas Hawney, Alphonso Marsh, John Jackson

Book 4 includes Purcell's O Solitude

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