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Purcell

Henry Purcell (1659–1695) was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey at twenty and became the most significant English composer of the Baroque period, his output ranging from anthems and odes to the opera Dido and Aeneas, which may have received its first performance at a boarding school for young women in Chelsea around 1689. He died at thirty-six and was buried beneath the organ at Westminster Abbey that he had played throughout his short career. His music was largely forgotten after his death, and its revival in the twentieth century owed much to Benjamin Britten, who edited and championed his work with particular dedication.

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