To Örebro University

This article discusses Henry Purcell’s theatre song ‘If love’s a sweet passion’ (from The Fairy Queen, 1692) and its journey into various contexts in England and abroad. The article analyses the song’s appearance in printed songbooks, broadside ballads and single-sheet engravings, and the Dutch manuscript songbook Finspång 9096:7 (now in Norrköping, Sweden), to show how the song was adapted to various contexts and conventions. The appearance of ‘If love’s a sweet passion’ in Finspång 9096:7 further suggests that there was greater reciprocity in the exchanges between England and continental Europe than hitherto thought. I nuance this claim by arguing that such exchanges were dependent on translation and mediation by musicians such as John Abell (1653–after 1716) or translators such as Abel Boyer (?1667–1729). Boyer used ‘If love’s a sweet passion’ in his Compleat French-Master (1694) and his French lyrics appear in Finspång 9096:7. The article shows the variety of uses and adaptations of ‘If love’s a sweet passion in English and French-language contexts. This both challenges notions of “elite” and “popular” music as entirely separate, and invites scholars and performers to imagine Purcell’s theatre songs performed and consumed in new ways.

This article discusses the function of Vincenzo Albrici and Charles II's Italian ensemble at the English Restoration court. The article cites newly discovered archival evidence to suggest that Albrici arrived at the English court in 1664 to become the leader of an exclusive ensemble performing Italian chamber music. The employment of the Italian ensemble imitated Mazarin's patronage of Italian music at the French court, arguably to rehabilitate the recently restored Stuart dynasty in the eyes of Continental courts. The article suggests that the ensemble performed chamber music privately at court, and also occasionally appeared in the queen's Catholic chapel after 1666. The recruitment of Albrici and the Italian ensemble shows that the English court participated in Continental musical fashions after the Restoration, and illustrates the complex webs of cultural exchange in mid-seventeenth-century Europe.