Although nowadays it is performed as a stand-alone concert piece, this work derives its name from the fact that it was originally commissioned for an educational documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra. It has in fact sometimes been referred to as a “theme and variations on Purcell”.

English composer Benjamin Britten took Purcell’s Baroque-era melody and harmony, morphed it through his own 20th century aesthetic, and from there created a massive set of themes and variations that concludes with the magnificent counterpoint and chorale excerpted here.