Talk:Harmonia Sacra

I'm a bit confused: IMSLP gives 1693 and Henry Playford for Harmonia Sacra at the Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP) Richard Mix (talk) 03:38, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

You're right, Richard. But I was more confused, and I did it first! John Playford 1623-1686 was the son of another John Playford; his only surviving son was Henry Playford 1657-ca.1707. (There was another John Playford, "the younger", for whom no dates are given!) John Playford 1623-1686 did publish a number of books of Christian music, including a Psalter (1677) which went to quite a few editions (barely mentioned on the Wikipedia page). I think this is the source of my confusion, that John published much more Christian music than Henry, at least according to The Hymn Tune Index.

There is a short biography of Henry in John's Wikipedia article; this biography doesn't mention Harmonia Sacra; it seems to be set on deprecating Henry's business decisions and tastes, apparently too lower-class for the writer. The much shorter biography on Henry's page does mention Harmonia Sacra. (Unfortunately Archive.org has been down for a while due to a bad hacker attack, you might pray for them.)

If I knew more about these people, I would definitely look to rewriting the Wikipedia articles.

I changed it as you suggested. Thanks for catching this! — Barry Johnston (talk) 20:57, 20 October 2024 (UTC)