Blow's position in relation to Purcell, the great genius of English music, is rather like that of Haydn in relation to Mozart: Blow outlived Purcell by thirteen years, though he was the older by a decade; and the two composers wre linked by reciprocal ties of admiration and friendship, and shared between them virtually every musical position at the English court. The Ode on the Death of Purcell is a setting of a fine poem by John Dryden, a writer with whom Purcell had frequently collaborated. This is indeed one of the finest 'monuments' ever erected to the memory of a great artist.
This title was released for the first time in 1970.