Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts

• This is a set of twelve trio sonatas (Z.790-801) which Henry Purcell composed around 1780 and which John Playford published in London in 1783.¹
  • A trio sonata is always written for three contrapuntal voices (not necessarily three instruments). In this case, the voices are given to two violins, plus a bass viol or cello, with continuo, taking the bass line.  
• The first edition’s title page highlights Purcell’s status as “Composer in Ordinary to his most Sacred Majesty, and organist of his Chappel Royall.” Purcell also included a paragraph dedicating the work to his boss, King Charles II.²
• The collection includes a preface “To the Reader” (which opens, “Ingenuous Reader,…”). In it, Purcell explains that he is trying to introduce an Italian style of music to English musicians. The trio sonata texture originated in Italy, most famously in works by Corelli. Purcell also offers his English readers definitions for Italian terms used in the scor – like “adagio and grave, which import nothing but a very slow movement” and “Allegro, and Vivace, a very brisk, swift or fast movement.”³
  • The introduction also suggests that Purcell was getting tired of a certain simplicity or informality in English instrumental music. 

“[The Author] has faithfully endeavour’d a just imitation of the most famed Italian Masters; principally, to bring the seriousness and gravity of that Musick into vogue, and reputation among our Country-men, whose humor, ‘tis time now, should begin to loath the levity, and balladry of our neighbors…”

From the preface to Purcell’s Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts⁴

“The Author has no more to add, but his hearty wishes, that his Book may fall into no other hands but theirs who carry Musical Souls about them; for he is willing to flatter himself into a belief, that with such his labors will seem neither unpleasant, nor unprofitable.”

From the preface to Purcell’s Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts⁵

Contents:

1. Trio Sonata in G minor, Z.790
2. Trio Sonata in B-flat major, Z.791
3. Trio Sonata in D minor, Z.792
4. Trio Sonata in F major, Z.793
5. Trio Sonata in A minor, Z.794
6. Trio Sonata in C major, Z.795
7. Trio Sonata in E minor, Z.796
8. Trio Sonata in G major, Z.797
9. Trio Sonata in C minor, Z.798
10. Trio Sonata in A major, Z.799
11. Trio Sonata in F minor, Z.800
12. Trio Sonata in D major, Z.801

1. “Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts (Purcell, Henry),” IMSLP, accessed August 20, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Sonatas_of_Three_Parts%2C_Z.790-801_(Purcell%2C_Henry). 
2. Henry Purcell, Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts (London: Playford and Carr, 1783). 
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.