1. In 1690 he wrote the songs for Dryden's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest , including Full fathom five and Come unto these yellow sands, and the music for Betterton 's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger 's Prophetess (afterwards called Dioclesian ) and Dryden's Amphitryon . In 1691 he produced his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur , also written by Dryden, and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843.

Bereits von Zeitgenossen mit diesem Titel gewürdigt, galt Purcell vor allem durch seine Vokalwerke lange Zeit als größter englischer Komponist.