In a remarkable case of musicological detective work, Dr Rebecca Herissone has cast doubt on the veracity of the sole surviving source for one of Henry Purcell’s best loved choral works. Furthermore, through careful analysis of the manuscript, and inspired by a fascinating historical ‘find’, she has established the probable text of the composer’s ode as it was first performed on 30 April 1694 for the birthday of Queen Mary. How an eighteenth-century copyist known to history only as Pindar amplif...