In this chapter, I will examine examples from several of the earliest eighteenth-century English cantatas written after the Italian style and in direct response to the growing popularity of Italian vocal music in England.3 The early English cantatas of three composers-John Eccles, Daniel Purcell, and Johann Christoph Pepusch-portend how each would fare in the new musical century, when the compositional ideals of an earlier era were foresaken as the focus on Italian vocal music, the \u27talk of the town\u27, broadened in scope and sharpened in intensity
