John Eccles: Court Odes

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Abstract

Today, John Eccles is mainly remembered for his theater works, but, as Master of the King’s/Queen’s Music, he was the principal composer of ceremonial courts odes for William and Anne, producing some twenty New Year odes and fourteen birthday odes during his thirty-five years in the post – twice as many as Purcell’s output in this genre. The fact that his odes are so little known today is partly due to their extremely poor survival rate: music is extant for only five odes, three of them incomplete. This volume presents Eccles’s complete extant court odes in modern edition for the first time. There is much superb music awaiting discovery here: by the time he wrote his first odes, Eccles was already a seasoned theater composer, and his odes can be equally dramatic and virtuosic; at the same time, they demonstrate confident control both of the choral and orchestral forces at his disposal, and of the works’ large-scale architecture.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationMadison, Wisconsin, USA
PublisherA-R editions
ISBN (Electronic) 978-1-9872-0897-9
Publication statusPublished - 9 Aug 2024

Publication series

NameRecent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era

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