An Evening Hymn - Henry Purcell - La Nuova Musica and Tim Mead

Countertenor Tim Mead sings Henry Purcell’s beautiful and serene ’An Evening Hymn’ to bring our Purcell’s Finest Verses series to a close. Evening hymn (‘Now that the sun hath veiled his light’) was first published in 1688. The words of both are by Dr William Fuller (‘late Lord Bishop of Lincoln’). It is a devotional piece, ostensibly a prayer on going to bed, and has allegorical implications of the feeling of resignation in the face of death, so that the ‘evening’ referred to could be the twilight of life itself. Purcell sets these subtle words to an expressive melody over a five-bar ground bass, with slowly-changing harmonies. We would be extremely grateful if you would consider supporting us with this project. Thank you to everyone who has already donated. We are accepting donations via Text (see below) and our Just Giving Campaign at If you would like to support this online series by SMS, please text LNM 5 to 7008