This collection of essays marks the tercentenary in 1995 of Purcell's death. The essays represent the best recent research and deal mainly with the autograph manuscripts, Purcell's compositional technique, the relationship between Purcell and his teacher John Blow, a reassessment of Purcell court odes, performance practice and wordsetting, and eighteenth-century reception history, particularly regarding King Arthur. The book contains the first written reports on the discovery of two important autograph manuscripts.