Come, Ye Sons Of Art, Away: A Song History
Henry Purcell wrote Come, Ye Sons of Art, Away (Z. 323) as an ode for the birthday of Queen Mary II, and Robert King's notes for Hyperion date its performance to 30 April 1694.[1][2] Boston Baroque's program notes call it the last of the six birthday odes Purcell composed for Mary, the wife of William III.[3] It was also her last birthday, since the queen died of smallpox in London that December, at the age of 32.[4] The poet is not named with certainty: King describes the text as probably by Nahum Tate, while Boston Baroque treats the author as unknown.[1][3]
Johann Wilhelm Haas, Natural Trumpet, brass, Nürnberg, late 17th century. A trumpet of Purcell's era, shown in fun; it has no connection to the ode.
The best-known number is the duet "Sound the Trumpet," written for two countertenors above a two-bar ground bass that changes key; despite the title, King observes, the trumpets themselves are left out of it.[1] The sources consulted here do not name the singers at the first performance, though in King's view the players that day probably included two noted trumpeters, Matthias and William Shore.[1] For the whole ode, King's notes point to a single source, a copy Robert Pindar made in 1765; IMSLP describes that manuscript as the earliest complete one to survive and warns that its copyist altered the music in places.[1][2] Boston Baroque counts it among Purcell's most popular works.[3]
Larry Conger includes it in The Classical Dulcimer, a collection of nearly 30 classical arrangements in which it is listed in DAD tuning, published by Fingers Of Steel.[5]
Sources
- Hyperion Records: "Come ye sons of Art, away, Z323 (notes by Robert King)".
- IMSLP: "Come, Ye Sons of Art Away, Z.323 (Purcell, Henry)".
- Boston Baroque: "Henry Purcell: Come Ye Sons of Art".
- Britannica: "Mary II".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, The Classical Dulcimer".
- Image: Johann Wilhelm Haas, Natural Trumpet, brass, Nürnberg, late 17th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.