ABSTRACT
John Blow includes right-hand doublings for only the first two bars of the opening verse in his autograph of 'Lord, how are they increased', and subsequently notates a right-hand part only for the anthem's two chorus sections, leaving long stretches of blank right-hand staves. Purcell also notates a right-hand part in the opening section, in which the chorus alternates with ATB verse; and the final TrATB verse – which concludes with entries for chorus in the last few bars – also has parts for both hands notated. The fullness of the figuring in the opening three-part verse, and its tendency to follow the given right-hand part, suggests that the accompaniment style would have been chordal, based largely on the bass line and figures, with the right-hand part almost superfluous. Some solo sections right-hand doubling is replaced by an independent obbligato accompaniment, with blank bars between phrases.
