This week will explore Purcell’s dramatic works such as Dido and Aeneas, King Arthur and the Fairy Queen, his court and other odes for special occasions, his magnificent church music and his glorious instrumental works such as the Fantazias for viols and the two sets of trio sonatas. We will also try to place Purcell in the musical context of his time by comparing his music with such composers as Blow, Locke and Lawes, and in the historical and social context of his era by examining the lavish courts of Charles II, his more austere brother James and their successors William and Mary.