A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/D'Urfey, Thomas

by William H. Husk

D'URFEY, Thomas, the son of a French Huguenot father, who fled from Rochelle before the siege in 1628 and settled at Exeter, was born (as is supposed, of an English mother) in Exeter about 1649. He was educated for the law, but abandoned that profession for poetry and the drama. Between 1676 and his death he produced upwards of thirty plays, which were at first very popular, but were in the course of a few years afterwards banished from the stage on account of their licentiousness and indecency. The songs in a few of them still survive, being preserved through having had the good fortune to be allied to the music of Henry Purcell. These are in 'A Fool's Preferment,' 1688; 'Bussy d'Ambois,' 1691; 'The Richmond Heiress,' 1693; and the three parts of 'Don Quixote,' 1694–96. His comic opera, 'Wonders in the Sun,' 1706, was set by Giovanni Baptista Draghi. Much of his fame was owing to his songs and to the lively manner in which he himself sang them, which procured him the favour of Charles II, William III, and Queen Anne. In this he resembled Tom Moore, and like him he was particularly apt at adapting his verses to existing music. He published, between 1683 and 1685, three collections of songs written by himself, and set to music by the best composers of the period. About 1706 he collected and published, in four small volumes, a large number of songs by himself and others, many of them with the tunes prefixed, under the title of 'Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to purge Melancholy.' This he republished with variations and the addition of two more volumes in 1719–20. D'Urfey wrote several of the birth day and New Year's odes which were set to music by Purcell and Blow, and supplied the former with the words for his fine ode known as 'The Yorkshire Feast Song.' In the latter part of his life he was reduced to great distress, from which he was relieved by the profits of a performance of his own comedy 'The Fond Husband; or, The Plotting Sisters,' which the managers of the theatre generously gave for his benefit on June 15, 1713. D'Urfey died Feb. 26, 1723, and was buried at St. James's, Piccadilly, where, against the outer south wall of the tower of the church, may be seen a tablet with the simple inscription, 'Tom D'Urfey, Dyed Feb^ry y^e 26th, 1723.'

[ W. H. H. ]