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Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts (Purcell)

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Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts
Anthem by Henry Purcell
Portrait of the composer by John Closterman (d. 1711)
CatalogueZ. 58
GenreSacred choral music
TextFuneral sentence from the Book of Common Prayer
LanguageEnglish
ScoringSATB choir, optional continuo

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z. 58,[1] is the name of choral compositions by Henry Purcell. The text is one of the Anglican funeral sentences from the Book of Common Prayer. His last version became part of the 1695 Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary.

History

Purcell set several Anglican Funeral sentences from the Book of Common Prayer for choir and organ.[2][3] Some of his autographs are extant, and permit conclusions about his artistic developement.[4] Purcell set the four sentences which are performed at the grave, but not the ones opening a burial service. He combined two of these four sentences to one movement:[4]

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live
In the midst of life we are in death
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts

Purcell set Thou knowest several times,[5] the last time as part of the 1695 Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary.[2] The early settings of the sentence, Z. 58A and Z. 58B, were written in polyphony, written perhaps to complete sentences by Henry Cooke, and possibly composed already in 1672.[6] The setting for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Z. 58C, was written mostly in homophony, to complete sentences by Thomas Morley, whose setting of this particular sentence was rediscovered only later. Purcell used an older style to match Morley's music.[6]

The setting of the sentence in the Funeral music[7] was published individually by Carus in 1978.[8]

Text

The text is one of the Anglican sentences from the Burial service in the Book of Common Prayer:[9]

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;
Shut not thy merciful ears unto our pray'rs;
But spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty.
O holy and most merciful Saviour,
Thou most worthy Judge eternal,
Suffer us not at our last hour,
For any pains of death to fall away from Thee.

References

  1. ^ Zimmerman, Franklin B. (1963). Henry Purcell 1659–1695: An Analytical Catalogue of his Music. London: MacMillan & Co.
  2. ^ a b King, Robert (1988). "Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z58c". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  3. ^ Buelow, George J. (2004). A History of Baroque Music. Indiana University Press. pp. 339–339. ISBN 978-0-25-334365-9.
  4. ^ a b Shay, Robert (August 1998). "Purcell's Revisions to the Funeral Sentences Revisited". Oxford Journals. 26 (3): 457–467. JSTOR 3128703. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. ^ Palmer, John. "Henry Purcell / Thou know'st, Lord (2nd version of 1st setting), anthem for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, chorus & organ, Z. 58b". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b Shay, Robert (August 1996). "Performing the Music of Henry Purcell. Edited by Michael Burden. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996". Society for Seventeenth-Century Music. 26 (3): 457–467. JSTOR 3128703. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. ^ Kemp, Lindsay (1995). "Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z58c". Gramophone. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Henry Purcell / Thou knowest Lord / from: Funeral Music of Queen Mary". Carus-Verlag. 1978. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Henry Purcell: "Thou Knowest, Lord" from Funeral Anthem for Queen Mary, Z27". Emmanuel Music. 1978. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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