Music and Time Annotation << Back British Orpheus A.I. Demchenko The article is devoted to the work of the outstanding English composer Henry Purcell. The signifi cance of his legacy, in addition to its selfsuffi ciency, is determined by the fact that it refl ected many of the artistic aspirations characteristic of the Baroque era, including representing a wide range of stylistic manners inherent in it. One of the most important constants that distinguishes the musical art of this era is the strongest fi gurative contrasts, brought in some cases to the level of antitheses, which found expression in Purcell along a variety of lines: spiritualistic trends – sensual beginning, sophisticated aristocratic – folklore-grassroots, problematic-tragedy – carefree hedonistic. Despite the fact that the composer occasionally responded to the characteristic tendency of the Baroque era towards radical forms of artistic expression, the dominant of his work was determined by the desire for harmony, which was answered by the restraint and balance of the author’s statement, as well as the fully established criteria of reasonableness and measure. Keywords: Purcell's work, style constants of the Baroqueera. DOI: 10.25791/music.2.2024.1276 Pp. 03-11.