A TEAM of musicologists at Royal Holloway, University of London have unearthed the printed score of a previously lost Henry Purcell song after searching the online archive’s of Worcestershire County Council’s Explore the Past website.
Henry Purcell was the leading English composer of the 17th century, known for masterpieces such as Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen.
The song was listed on the website as ‘Purcell song.’
Through the expertise of the Royal Holloway team, they were able to identify the song’s significance, further expanding our understanding of Purcell’s work.
This find was made possible by Worcestershire County Council’s ongoing Online Archive Catalogue project, which is making the county’s extensive historical collections more easily searchable and accessible to a wider local, national and international audience online.
Original archive material can be requested and retrieved for research at the Council’s Explore the Past service at The Hive.
Hannah Perrott, assistant director for communities at Worcestershire County Council said: “The Online Archive Catalogue project is an essential step in preserving our county’s history while making it accessible to everyone.
“The discovery of the Purcell song is just one example of what’s possible when archive catalogues are made available online.
“The work we’re doing now has the potential to uncover countless more significant findings in the future, and we’re excited to see what comes next.”
Visit www.explorethepast.co.uk for more information.
