Of Purcell the man very little is known, and his personality has to be reconstructed through the age in which he lived, the circumstances of his professional life, the men and women who knew him, and above all through his music. Robert King weaves a masterly narrative, bringing together politics (always in the forefront of Purcell's fortunes), religion, society and the theater, relating all this to the state of music at the time - instruments, techniques, foreign influences, and formal innovations.