THE anniversary in 1959 of Purcell's birth was also that of Handel's death, and for any assessment of the current state of our knowledge of Purcellian performance practice Handelian scholarship provides a useful yardstick. As a result particularly of further Handelian celebrations in 1985, a great deal of detailed research was undertaken that can now assist the performer and thereby illuminate in performance the music of England's great adopted son, while even with plans for 1995 firmly in place, it is clear that the pace of equivalent research into our Orpheus Britannicus has been decidedly slower. It may be argued, though, that substantial advances in understanding, while perhaps not yet reflected in musicological literature, are evident in live performances and recordings, especially in those involving period instruments. Yet it is not long since, in a prestigious London concert of Purcell's church music, given by an all-male choir and a period-instrument band, that oboes were unapologetically added to Purcell's strings and several pieces tacitly transposed. More disturbingly, these and other questionable decisions seem to have passed entirely without comment. The example – by no means isolated – serves to illustrate two general points. First, that in the absence of any sophisticated appreciation of Purcellian conventions, performers will tend to fall back on more familiar Handelian practices. Second, that details of performance practice can rarely be viewed in isolation: dubious instrumentation, for instance, may lead to the adoption of an inappropriate pitch standard, and in turn to wholesale transpositions, both of which will influence intonation, colour and balance.

In short, much work lies ahead if full justice is to be done in performance to Purcell's rich legacy, and in this chapter I can only hope to take the process a few steps further. A straightforward summary of published research would achieve little; instead I have chosen to concentrate on issues that seem to me to be of critical importance and to demand particular attention, ignoring other broad areas of performance practice (notably rhythm and tempo) and many very specific ones, too. I have also aimed to draw together as much of the available evidence as possible and to allow it to speak for itself.