ENGLAND, MY ENGLAND

Considered one of the finest composers in English history, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) remains a shadowy figure despite innumerable attempts to know him better. Indeed, Purcell has become something of an obscure object of desire for the English. He is honored with a burial plot near the organ inside Westminster Abbey, his grave adorned with a fawning epitaph claiming that he has gone to the only place where „his harmony can be exceeded”.  He earned the admiration and praise of poets, and his music continues to exert influence over composers such as Benjamin Britten, and is even presented in modern cinema (Wendy Carlos adapted „Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” for use as the title music in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange).
Tony Palmer’s film sets out with the goal to paint a more comprehensive portrait of Purcell with the script launching a group of actors in the 1960s on a voyage of discovery into the 1660s & late-17th century England, the extraordinary period in which the composer lived.