A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Yorkshire Feast Song, The

YORKSHIRE FEAST SONG, THE. An ode for solos, chorus, and orchestra, in fourteen numbers, composed by H. Purcell in 1689, for 'the Assembly of the Nobility and Gentry of the City and County of York, at the Anniversary Feast, March the 27th, 1690.' The feast was held in Merchant Taylors' Hall, London, and the anniversary was that of the proclamation of William and Mary (Feb. 13, 1689), the day originally fixed for the festivity having been Feb. 14. All this and much information will be found in Mr. Cummings's Preface to the edition of the Song by the Purcell Society, 1878. It had previously been published by Goodison in 1790. The title of the poem mentioned that the piece 'cost £100 the performing'—a sum quite equal to £200 of our present money.

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