Henry Purcell's instrumental compositions occupy a major place in the landscape of English Baroque music. Although the composer is mainly known for his vocal and stage works, his instrumental output reveals remarkable inventiveness and a profound mastery of musical writing.

This repertoire includes trio sonatas, fantasias for consort of viols, dance suites, overtures, and a few suites and short pieces for harpsichord, probably intended for educational purposes.

They are mainly found in the collection A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinet, published a year after his death, which includes suites, dances, grounds, voluntaries, and character pieces.

Presented in the form of hastily and soberly notated themes, with little or no development, these isolated pieces offer a double appeal: they are easy to access while retaining an undeniable charm and real musical finesse.

Frédéric Cellier

Henry Purcell was born in September 1659 in London into a family of musicians and received a comprehensive musical education from an early age, including violin, organ, and composition. A child prodigy, he became a chorister at the Royal Chapel, where he perfected his skills in counterpoint and polyphony, the legacy of English and European traditions. This early education shaped his style: a combination of contrapuntal rigor, melodic clarity, and dramatic expressiveness.

Purcell worked mainly in London, in the service of the court and various religious institutions. He composed for the theater, the church, and the court, creating operas, semi-operas, religious music, odes, and keyboard pieces. His work for the theater, notably “Dido and Aeneas,” illustrates his genius for musical drama: he combines expressive harmony, poignant melody, and characterization of characters through music. His choral and religious works, such as the songs for the Royal Chapel, demonstrate his mastery of polyphony and a deep spiritual sensitivity.

Purcell also distinguished himself by his ability to fuse French and Italian influences with the English tradition, creating a style that was both national and European. His instrumental music, for violas, organ, or chamber ensemble, reveals an elegance and inventiveness that left a lasting mark on English Baroque music.

Henry Purcell died prematurely on November 21, 1695, at the age of 36, but left behind a monumental body of work that influenced English music for over a century. Today, he is recognized as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, whose refined, expressive, and dramatic music was capable of blending spiritual grandeur with the most intimate human emotions.

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).

He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).

Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, as well as his own arrangements for clarinet and harp of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes with the great French harpist Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, and for clarinet, piano, and string orchestra of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.

Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of light music pieces played around the world and a considerable number of arrangements of all styles and for all instruments, acclaimed by many personalities in the music world, including Michèle Auric, Jean Françaix, Adrian Gershwin, Wynton Marsalis, Yehudi Menuhin, Madeleine Milhaud, Manuel Rosenthal, Gabriel Tacchino, and Ornella Volta.

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation