This Ground in C minor is one of several "Grounds" composed by Purcell, and one of the most interesting. A Ground is a repeating bass sequence over which different variations are presented. In the Purcell's C minor Ground, the first statement of the theme is quite unusual in Baroque music, because it is almost all syncopated (on the off-beats). And after every subsequent variation, it returns again to this same syncopated statement again. So all the odd-numbered variations are essentially the same with minor differences. And all the even-numbered variations are different, and follow a typical pattern that you might see in a theme and variations. The ground is 3 and a half bars long, but it feels like it should be 4 bars to return to the tonic (the home note of C minor). So you get the impression that the repetitions of the ground overlap or flow into one another. If this description is confusing, just listen to the audio and you will hear what we mean.
Below you will find a video of the music, midi and mp3 files to download, and the piano sheet music. Alternatively you can use the links in the left-hand menu to download the various files.
Here is a video of Purcell's Ground in C Minor:
The audio controls below allow you to play the mp3 version of Purcell's Ground in C Minor or you can download the MP3 file. You can also download the midi version of Purcell's Ground in C Minor.
The image below is the first page of the sheet music, and here you can download the full sheet music for Purcell's Ground in C Minor in PDF format.
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