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In this study, every effort has been made to cover the principal factors in the solos from the incidental music which are peculiar only to this part of Purcell's work. The melody and text have been of primary concern. The effects of the social and economic background of the times and the actual dramatic setting of the songs are given careful attention. It is not the purpose of this work to study the harmonic style of Purcell. This is admittedly a most intriguing and attractive subject. However, as the principal accompaniment is the continuo and the implied harmonies of his figured bass are not always clear the harmonic style will not be treated as an element of the solos. It is fully worthy of individual treatment which would be free to draw upon the vast instrumental examples of his work in a comprehensive study of his style. A complete survey of the songs is included in Appendix D for reference and for the information of the reader. It is hoped that the reader will be encouraged to pursue a closer study of these songs, and to consider their possible use today.

This work largely concerns the roles of Matthew Locke and Henry Purcell in the history of English keyboard music as reflected in their keyboard suites. Both, as composers of the Restoration period, integrated the French style with the more traditional English techniques--especially, in the case of Purcell, the virginalist heritage-- in their keyboard music. Through a detailed examination of their suites, I reveal differences in their individual styles and set forth unique characteristics of each composer. Both composers used the then traditional almain-corant-saraband pattern as the basis of the suite, to which they added a variety of English country dances. At the same time they modified the traditional dances with a variety of French and Italian idioms, thereby making distinctive individual contributions to the genre.