Both the introductory and closing passages are taken from the Funeral Sentences of Henry Purcell (1659–1695), the greatest English composer of the Baroque period. Purcell composed the work for the funeral of Queen Mary II in March of 1695, incorporating music he had written as early as the 1670s as well as passages composed following the death of Queen Mary in November of 1694.

The text of the Sentences is taken from the Book of Common Prayer:

In the midst of life we are in death
Of whom may we seek for succour,
But of thee, O Lord,
Who for our sins art justly displeased?

The performance here is sung by the Choir of Clare College at the University of Cambridge, Timothy Brown conducting. We gratefully acknowledge the Choir and its Director of Music, Graham Ross, for its permission to use these brief excerpts. *

While the Funeral Sentences was not extant at the time of the visitation, the sentiments it invokes, and its solemn and dolorous tone, are entirely consistent with the religious and social responses attendant upon this terrible epidemic.

Finally, the sounding of the bells that introduces Defoe’s text in each episode are from St. Paul’s Cathedral. These bells were not cast until 1878 and thus would not have been those heard by the citizens of London during the plague of 1665

* Copyright © 2020 Clare College Cambridge. Used by permission.