Purcell was the outstanding musician and composer of his time in Britain. Like other seventeenth-century musicians, Purcell's career began in the church, first as a chorister at the Chapel Royal, then as organist at Westminster Abbey composing anthems. At court he enjoyed the favour of successive monarchs composing odes on special occasions, but his works for Mary II are the best known, composed when Purcell was reaching the height of his powers, just before his
premature death.
