Coordinates: 53°28′57″N 2°53′31″W / 53.4826°N 2.8920°W / 53.4826; -2.8920

Kirkby
St Chad's Church, a local landmark
Kirkby  Kirkby shown within Merseyside
Population	40,472 (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	SJ409988
- London	180 miles (290 km) SE
Metropolitan borough	Knowsley
Metropolitan county	Merseyside
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LIVERPOOL
Postcode district	L32, L33
Dialling code	0151
Police	Merseyside
Fire	Merseyside
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Knowsley
List of places: UK • England • Merseyside

Kirkby ⁱ/ˈkɜrbiː/ is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in the metropolitan county of Merseyside in England. Historically within Lancashire, the town was developed from the 1950s through 1970s as a means to house the overspill of Liverpool. It is situated roughly 5 miles (8 km) north of Huyton, the administrative HQ of the borough and about 6 miles (10 km) north-east of central Liverpool. The population of the town as of the 2001 census is 40,472.^[1] It is traditionally believed to be founded in 870 although there is archaeological evidence for settlement from the Bronze Age.^[2]

History[link]

Historically a part of Lancashire, Kirkby is believed to have been founded circa 870,^[3] although archaeological digs have produced evidence of habitation in the Bronze Age.^[2] The name Kirk-by, literally meaning "church" and "settlement" is of Old Norse origin^[2] whose settlers arrived via Ireland around 900. The first direct evidence of a settlement dates from 1086 and the Domesday Book, with a reference to Cherchebi – population 70.^[3][4] Ownership of the land containing modern-day Kirkby – established as the West Derby Hundred in the 11th century – passed through many hands, until 1596, when the Molyneux family purchased the hundred in its entirety. After a brief loss of patronage in 1737, as a result of the head of the family taking holy orders, in 1771 the Molyneux family were made Earls of Sefton and regained their lands.

Although remaining largely farmland until the mid 20th century, initial transport links to the area began in 1848, with the building of the Liverpool and Bury Railway through Kirkby. The East Lancashire Road (A580 road) added road connections in 1935, and industrial development was being considered prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. A Royal Ordnance filling factory – ROF Kirkby – was established in 1939, being completed in 1941. At its peak, the factory employed over 20,000 workers.

After the war, Liverpool had suffered much damage from the Blitz and much of its remaining housing stock was poor and considered slums. In an effort to improve these conditions Liverpool Corporation began a policy of buying surrounding areas and moving industry and people to newly developed 'overspill' estates. This process culminated with the purchase of 4,070 acres (16.5 km²) of land, including the land comprising Kirkby from the Earl of Sefton in 1947 for £375,000 (£10.9 million inflation adjusted^[5]). Kirkby would become the largest of these overspill estates for Merseyside. As development of the town grew Liverpool requested to have it officially designated a new town in 1949 but this was rejected.^[6] Large-scale development began in February 1950 with the construction of the Southdene neighbourhood with the first houses being finished in 1952, the 5,000th in 1956 and the 10,000th in 1961, with a population in 1951 of 3,000 swelling to over 52,000 by 1961, making it the fastest growing community in the UK by far. The Kirkby Urban District was created in 1958.

Such a vast growth rate caused many problems, not the least of which was that the construction of local amenities had not kept the same pace. For example, while occupation of the council estates of Southdene had begun in 1952, the first shops were not completed until 1955 and the first public house was not open until 1959. Additionally, the people who were being moved into Kirkby during this period came from the poorest areas of Liverpool. During this time Kirkby Industrial Estate was steadily expanding to become one of the largest in England until at its peak in 1971 the estate provided employment for over 26,000 people.

Kirkby achieved independent Urban District status in 1958. This was then abolished and on 1 April 1974 its former area combined with that of Huyton with Roby Urban District, Prescot Urban District, parts of Whiston Rural District and parts of West Lancashire Rural District to form the present-day Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley.

Following the 1993 murder of Kirkby toddler James Bulger, UK tabloid and broadsheet newspapers attacked Kirkby, and Liverpool in general, accusing them of false grief ('self-pity city'^[7])^[8] and blaming the town's decrepit state for his death – much in a similar vein as editorials and comments following the Hillsborough disaster.

Geography[link]

Kirkby lies 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Liverpool and roughly within the geographic centre of Merseyside in North West England. It is 180 miles (290 km) north-west of London, 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Huyton, the borough administrative headquarters.

The River Alt flows through the extreme south west of the town, with the Kirkby Brook tributary passing through the centre.

Demography[link]

The current population of the town stands at 40,472 as of the 2001 census.^[1] This represents just over a quarter of the total population of the borough of Knowsley and is somewhat down from its peak of 52,207 in the 1961 census, largely due to falling birth rates and the slow decline of the industrial estate forcing workers to look elsewhere. However, housing demand has increased in recent years, with significant developments being built across the town. This demand can somewhat be attributed to the demolition of high-rise flats and maisonettes – built during the 1960s, but fallen into disrepair – on a town-wide basis, and the resultant need for replacement housing stock.

According to statistics of the British Government, the borough of Knowsley, including Kirkby, had a population of 150,459 at the 2001 census with a balance of 53% female and 47% male.

The borough is overwhelmingly of a white ethnic background at 98.42% against a national average of 90.9%. In order of population size other ethnic groups are represented as multiracial at 0.83%, Chinese at 0.24%, other Asian at 0.23% and black at 0.22%.

The borough is mostly Christian at 85.63% compared to the national average of 71.74%, with the next most significant grouping at 5.84% describing themselves as non-religious much lower than the national average of 14.59%. Just 0.17%, 0.11%, 0.07% and 0.03% would describe themselves as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish, respectively.

Population change[link]

Below is a table outlining population change of the town since 1861. As can be seen the population of the town was on a gradual downward trend from 1861 to 1931 before beginning to soar when Liverpool Corporation began to develop the area on a mass-scale. The annualised growth rate from 1951 to 1961 was over 30%, making it by far the fastest growing town in the country. The total population of Kirkby peaked in 1971 at 59,917, and has since seen a steady decline. Recently the town's population has been growing however and the town is estimated by the NHS to total around 44,120 as of 2006.^[9]

Economy[link]

Kirkby Industrial Estate, formerly ROF Kirkby still employs many of the town's workers, however the town's industrial heritage has largely faded away, with service industries moving in to replace the factories. Major employers currently active in the town include QVC and Barclaycard, with several other call centre companies also based in Kirkby.

Regeneration efforts[link]

Kirkby has seen considerable regeneration efforts in recent years. The Kirkby Sports Centre, one of the main athletic and cycling tracks in the region, was replaced by a new facility in summer 2007.

In December 2006, a proposal was made by Tesco and Everton F.C. for an extensive redevelopment of the town centre, including a new 50,000 seater stadium for the football team and associated retail developments.^[11] The proposals also include a hotel, leisure and retail facilities. It has also been stated there the town's public amenities would be increased including a walk-in health centre. But this is at the cost of losing one of the largest open public green spaces in the town.

Public response to regeneration plans[link]

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (May 2012)

According to local reports, Knowsley Borough Council hosted public consultation events about possible redevelopment options in summer 2007, which indicated most respondents showed they had reservations about the proposed football ground.

It is claimed that a majority support regeneration in general but is not clear whether residents favour this particular development which is to include a Tesco superstore, new town centre shops and the Everton stadium. Results of the public consultations have not been released into the public domain. Reports suggest local support for the Tesco/Everton F.C. scheme appears to be tempered by concern over the effect the stadium will have on residents.^[12] According to local reports, there was an alternative scheme where an Asda would have been built in Kirkby but Tesco has bought up most of the town centre. The Asda scheme seems to have fallen by the wayside to a new shop where the old Netto was, it is called Ugo.

Public meetings about the Tesco development have also been held by local pressure group Kirkby Residents' Action Group and in other forums. These include a public meeting in St. Chad's Church, where 500 people attended and a public march was organised to demonstrate against the stadium proposals.

The action group was formed to campaign for a referendum of the people of the town. It appears that public opinion is not clear as to support for or opposition to the proposals for a Tesco/Everton F.C. development.

Another action group called Kirkby Residents In Support of Progress (KRISP) who support the scheme was formed specifically to back Tesco's claims about the development. However, KRISP has not been heard of since the inquiry ended

Knowsley MBC Planning Committee were 'minded to approve' the Tesco/Everton F.C. scheme and the decision has been made by UK Government to 'Call it in' which led to a public inquiry. All sides gave evidence and await the inspector's recommendations. The decision may not be made until November 2009.

It now seems that the majority of residents who voted support the scheme as all wards in Kirkby returned Labour Party candidates into office in the May 2008 local government election. Opposers of the scheme point to overall votes (52% to 48%) to other parties and rightly claim this as a victory however they counted in this a newly formed political party to fight the campaign and other parties including the Lib-Dems and Tories. All were beaten, but 1st 4 Kirkby missed out on gaining a council seat by a mere 16 votes. At the original planning committee four Lib-Dem councillors voted in favour of the proposals. The Labour Party candidates openly supported the controversial and flawed development scheme. Alas this was to no avail as the Secretary of State rejected the application outright on 26 November 2009 and so ended the infamous fiasco known as "Destination Kirkby".

In 2012 Knowsley Council decided to close the Kirkby Civic Suite, the towns only multi-purpose venue for theatre/dance productions, Conferences, Marriages & other types of events.

Transport[link]

The M57 motorway runs adjacent to Kirkby, and the M58 connects just to the north of Kirkby. Other major routes include the A580 East Lancashire Road and the A506. The area is well served by public transport, with rail connections from Kirkby railway station to Liverpool city centre (on the Merseyrail Northern Line) and Manchester (via Wigan, on the Kirkby Branch Line). Stagecoach Merseyside provide the vast majority of bus routes in Kirkby and these connect Kirkby with several nearby districts of Liverpool and Merseyside. Kirkby was planned to be the terminus of the first line of the Merseytram tram service until the scheme's termination by the Government.

Education[link]

• Kirkby CE Primary School
• Millbrook CE Primary School
• Ravenscroft Primary School
• Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Primary School
• St Michael & All Angels Catholic Primary School
• St Joseph the Worker Catholic Primary School
• St Laurence's Catholic Primary School
• Northwood Primary School

Further education[link]

Kirkby's further educational needs are provided by Knowsley Community College which supports the whole of Knowsley, including a main centre based in Kirkby town centre. It has a yearly intake of over 12,000. Kirkby also has three secondary schools and sixteen primary schools.

Sports and recreation[link]

Kirkby is home to the youth academy of Liverpool F.C.. It was also the proposed new site for the new stadium for Everton F.C. which has recently been declined.

The most popularly supported football teams in the town are Liverpool and Everton, although in the past the town had its own non-league team, Kirkby Town, later renamed Knowsley United before they were dissolved in 1997.

The town has also been home to a number of notable footballers, including:

This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability or notability policies. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources cited within this article showing they are notable and residents or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (March 2011)

• Leighton Baines – current Everton player, formerly of Wigan Athletic
• Phil Boersma – retired Liverpool player
• Tommy Caton – retired Manchester City, Arsenal, Oxford United player
• Paul Cook – Retired Southport manager, former Wigan Athletic and Tranmere Rovers player
• Alan Dugdale – Retired Coventry City, Charlton Athletic and Barnsley player
• Ken Dugdale – Retired Wigan Athletic player and former New Zealand national team manager

Notable people[link]

This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability or notability policies. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources cited within this article showing they are notable and residents or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (March 2011)

• Robert Atherton – poet
• Leighton Baines - footballer
• Alan Bleasdale – playwright
• Aiden Byrne – youngest ever Michelin Awarded chef
• China Crisis – pop/rock band
• Margi Clarke – actress
• Craig Colton – contestant and finalist on The X Factor 2011^[13]
• John Conteh – boxer
• Stephen Graham – actor
• Paul Hodkinson – boxer
• Jamie Jones – footballer
• Tony Jones – musician – bass player in The Christians
• Tony Maudsley – actor
• Sharon Maughan – actress
• Tricia Penrose – actress
• Andrew Schofield – actor
• Alan Stubbs - footballer
• Phil Thompson - footballer

Public services[link]

Policing in Kirkby is provided by Merseyside Police. The force's Basic Command Unit in the Knowsley borough has a station in Kirkby on St Chad's Drive. Public transport is co-ordinated by the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, which has a station in Kirkby on Webster Drive.

Waste management is co-ordinated by the local authority via the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority. Kirkby's Distribution Network Operator for electricity is United Utilities. United Utilities also manages Kirkby's drinking and waste water.

Kirkby is served by Knowsley NHS Primary Care Trust. Fazakerley Hospital is the nearest hospital to Kirkby. There are nine GP surgeries and four dental practices. Ambulance services are provided by the North West Ambulance Service with a station based in Kirkby.

The British Telecom Simonswood exchange provides local telephone and ADSL internet services to the area,^[14] with a number of other companies offering services through local loop unbundling.^[14] Virgin Media services are also available to the town, providing television, telephone and cable internet.^[14]

'The local BBC radio station is Radio Merseyside and the local ITV franchise holder is Granada Television

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kirkby, Merseyside

• Liverpool Street Gallery – Liverpool 33
• Knowsley Local History – Kirkby
• Historical images of Kirkby
• St. Chad's Church website
• Kirkby Christian Fellowship's website
• St Kevin's Kirkby website
• Kirkby Baptist Church's website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2007)

Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, DBE (born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano singer and one of the world's most renowned early music specialists. She attended Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset and was a classics student at Somerville College, Oxford, and an English teacher before developing a career as a soloist. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours list.^[1]

Education and early career[link]

Emma Kirkby was educated at Hanford School^[2] and Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset. Her father was Geoffrey John Kirkby, a Royal Navy Officer.

Originally, Kirkby had no expectations of becoming a professional singer. As a classics student at Oxford and schoolteacher she sang for pleasure in choirs and small groups, notably Schola Cantorum of Oxford, always feeling at home most in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. The fact that her voice was not a particularly large one meant that her potential as a soloist was not recognised immediately.

Kirkby was a founding member of the Taverner Choir, and in 1973 began her long association with the Consort of Musicke. She took part in the early Decca Florilegium recordings with both the Consort of Musicke and the Academy of Ancient Music, at a time when most college-trained sopranos were not seeking a sound appropriate for early music instruments. She therefore had to find her own approach, with enormous help from Jessica Cash in London, and from the directors, fellow singers and instrumentalists with whom she has worked over the years.

Kirkby has built long term relationships with chamber groups and orchestras, in particular London Baroque, the Freiburger Barockorchester, L’Orfeo (of Linz) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and now with some of the younger groups – the Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium. She has also been the Patron of Derby Choral Union since 1993. She has taught for many years at Dartington International Summer School.

In 1994, she was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Music) from the University of Bath.^[3]

Recordings[link]

Kirkby has made well over a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegard of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, works of Mozart, Haydn and Johann Christian Bach. Recent recordings include: Handel: Opera Arias and Overtures 2 for Hyperion, Johann Sebastian Bach wedding cantatas for Decca, Bach Cantatas 82a and 199 for Carus; and four projects for BIS: with London Baroque, one of Handel motets and one of Christmas music by Scarlatti, Bach and others; with the Royal Academy Baroque Orchestra the first recording of the newly-rediscovered Gloria by Handel; and with the Romantic Chamber Group of London, Chanson d'amour, an album of songs by the American composer Amy Beach, who died in 1944.

More recent recordings: an anthology, Classical Kirkby, devised and performed with Anthony Rooley, on the BIS label, 2002; Cantatas by Cataldo Amodei, also for BIS, 2004; with Fretwork, consort songs by William Byrd, for Harmonia Mundi USA, 2005.; Scarlatti Stabat Mater with Daniel Taylor, for ATMA, 2006; Honey from the Hive, songs of John Dowland, with Anthony Rooley, for BIS, 2006: and Musique and Sweet Poetrie, also for BIS, 2007; lute songs from Europe with Jakob Lindberg.

In 1999 Kirkby was voted Artist of the Year by Classic FM Radio listeners and in November 2000 she received the Order of the British Empire. BBC Music Magazine in April 2007 published a survey of critics to nominate “The 20 greatest sopranos”, controversially^{[citation needed]} placing Kirkby at number 10 ^[4]

Despite all her recording activity, Kirkby prefers live concerts, especially the pleasure of performing favourite programmes with colleagues.

Personal life[link]

From 1971 to 1983 she was married to the conductor Andrew Parrott. ^[5]

She later married lutenist Anthony Rooley, with whom she has a son.

On 21 January 2011 it was announced that Dame Emma had been awarded the Queen's Medal for Music^[6], an award funded by the Privy Purse and given to an individual who has had a major influence on the musical life of the nation.^[7]

References[link]

1. ^ Rushdie and Eavis lead honours, BBC News, 15 June 2007
2. ^ "Hanford School". The Good Schools Guide. http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/index.php?option=com_schoollistings&fullwriteup=26633. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
3. ^ "Honorary Graduates 1989 to present". bath.ac.uk. University of Bath. http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/. Retrieved 18 February 2012. 
4. ^ Are these the 20 best sopranos of the recorded era?, Guardian, 14 March 2007
5. ^ [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Emma_kirkby_married
6. ^ The Queen’s Medal For Music 2010, 21 January 2011, Buckingham Palace, 21 January 2011
7. ^ The Queen's Medal for Music, 21 January 2011, Buckingham Palace, 21 January 2011

External links[link]

• EMMA KIRKBY: The Official Emma Kirkby website
• BIS records - artist's page
• Harmonia Mundi records - artist's page
• Hyperion records - artist's page
• ATMA records - artist's page
• Decca records - artist's page
• Goldberg, the early-music portal
• Sherborne Girls (Sherborne School For Girls)

Jasper Kirkby is a British experimental particle physicist currently with CERN. He originated the idea for the Tau-Charm Factory, an accelerator now under construction as BEPC II in Beijing. He has led several large particle accelerator experiments at SPEAR; the Paul Scherrer Institute; and most recently, the CLOUD experiment at CERN ^{[1] [2]}

The CLOUD experiment is investigating possible physical mechanisms for solar/cosmic ray forcing - a theory whereby cloud nucleation is affected by cosmic rays and the cosmic rays are affected by solar activity.^[1]

References[link]

This article about a physicist of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Henry Purcell by John Closterman

Engraved portrait of Henry Purcell by R. White after Closterman, from Orpheus Britannicus

Henry Purcell ( /ˈpɜrsəl/;^[1] 10 September 1659 (?)^[2]– 21 November 1695), was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.

Early life and career[link]

Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane Old Pye Street, Westminster. Henry Purcell Senior,^[3] whose older brother Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) was also a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England.^[4] Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry Purcell's death. Henry Purcell's family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from the year 1659 and onward.^[5]

After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle who showed him great affection and kindness.^[6] Thomas was himself a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel, and arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672),^[7] Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor.^[8] Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King.^[5]

Purcell is said to have been composing at nine years old, but the earliest work that can be certainly identified as his is an ode for the King's birthday, written in 1670.^[9] (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) It is assumed that the three-part song "Sweet tyranness, I now resign" was written by him as a child.^[6] After Humfrey's death, Purcell continued his studies under Dr. John Blow. He attended Westminster School and in 1676 was appointed copyist at Westminster Abbey.^[4] Henry Purcell's earliest anthem "Lord, who can tell" was composed in 1678. It is a psalm that is prescribed for Christmas Day and also to be read at morning prayer on the fourth day of the month.^[10]

In 1679, he wrote some songs for John Playford's Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues and also an anthem, the name of which is not known, for the Chapel Royal. From a letter written by Thomas Purcell, and still extant, we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of the Rev. John Gostling, then at Canterbury, but afterwards a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for Gostling's extraordinary basso profondo voice, which is known to have had a range of at least two full octaves, from D below the bass staff to the D above it. The dates of very few of these sacred compositions are known; perhaps the most notable example is the anthem "They that go down to the sea in ships." In gratitude for the providential escape of King Charles II from shipwreck, Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, opening with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.

Later career and death[link]

Another portrait of Henry Purcell

In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned his office in favour of his pupil.^[11] Purcell now devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music, and for six years severed his connection with the theatre. However, during the early part of the year, probably before taking up his new office, he had produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius, and Thomas d'Urfey's Virtuous Wife.^[11] Between 1680 and 1688 Purcell wrote music for seven plays.^[12] The composition of his chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, has been attributed to this period, and its earliest production may well have predated the documented one of 1689.^[11] It was written to a libretto furnished by Nahum Tate, and performed in 1689 in cooperation with Josias Priest, a dancing master and the choreographer for the Dorset Garden Theatre. Priest's wife kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen, first in Leicester Fields and afterwards at Chelsea, where the opera was performed.^[13] It is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera, though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis: as in Blow's work, the action does not progress in spoken dialogue but in Italian-style recitative. Both works run to less than one hour. At the time Dido and Aeneas never found its way to the theatre, though it appears to have been very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been extensively copied, but only one song was printed by Purcell's widow in Orpheus Britannicus, and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840, when it was printed by the Musical Antiquarian Society under the editorship of Sir George Macfarren. The composition of Dido and Aeneas gave Purcell his first chance to write a sustained musical setting of a dramatic text. It was his only opportunity to compose a work in which the music carried the entire drama.^[12] The story of Dido and Aeneas derives from the original source in Virgil's epic the Aeneid.^[14]

Soon after Purcell's marriage, in 1682, on the death of Edward Lowe, he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, an office which he was able to hold simultaneously with his position at Westminster Abbey.^[15] His eldest son was born in this same year, but his life was short lived.^[16] His first printed composition, Twelve Sonatas, was published in 1683.^[17][18] For some years after this, he was busy in the production of sacred music, odes addressed to the king and royal family, and other similar works.^[19][20] In 1685, he wrote two of his finest anthems, "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing", for the coronation of King James II.^[15] One of Purcell's most elaborate, most important and most magnificent works was a birthday ode for Queen Mary. It is titled Come ye Sons of Art, and was written by Nahum Tate and set by Purcell.^[21]

In 1687, he resumed his connection with the theatre by furnishing the music for Dryden's tragedy, Tyrannick Love. In this year, Purcell also composed a march and quick-step, which became so popular that Lord Wharton adapted the latter to the fatal verses of Lillibullero; and in or before January 1688, he composed his anthem "Blessed are they that fear the Lord" by express command of the King. A few months later, he wrote the music for D'Urfey's play, The Fool's Preferment. In 1690, he composed the music for Betterton's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger's Prophetess (afterwards called Dioclesian)^[22] and Dryden's Amphitryon. During the first ten years of his mastership, Purcell composed much- precisely how much we can only guess. In 1691, he wrote the music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur, with the libretto by Dryden and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843. Another one of Purcell's operas is King Arthur, or The British Worthy in 1691.^[13] In 1692, he composed The Fairy-Queen (an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), the score of which (his longest for theatre)^[23] was rediscovered in 1901 and published by the Purcell Society.^[24] The Indian Queen followed in 1695, in which year he also wrote songs for Dryden and Davenant's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (recently, this has been disputed by music scholars^[25]), probably including "Full fathom five" and "Come unto these yellow sands". The Indian Queen was adapted from a tragedy by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard.^[23] In these semi-operas (another term for which at the time was "dramatic opera"), the main characters of the plays do not sing but speak their lines: the action moves in dialogue rather than recitative. The related songs are sung "for" them by singers, who have minor dramatic roles.

Purcell's Te Deum and Jubilate Deo were written for Saint Cecilia's Day, 1694, the first English Te Deum ever composed with orchestral accompaniment. This work was annually performed at St Paul's Cathedral until 1712, after which it was performed alternately with Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate until 1743, when both works were replaced by Handel's Dettingen Te Deum.^[26]