Henry Purcell is constantly employed in writing music for the public theaters.

These productions include some that gave scope for more than merely incidental music—notably music for Dioclesian (1690), adapted by Thomas Betterton from the tragedy The Prophetess, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger; for King Arthur (1691) by John Dryden, designed from the first as an entertainment with music; and for The Fairy Queen (1692), an anonymous adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the texts set to music are all interpolations.

In these works, Purcell shows not only a lively sense of comedy but also a gift of passionate musical expression that is often more exalted than the words.

The tendency to identify himself still more closely with the Italian style is very noticeable in the later dramatic works, which often demand considerable agility from the soloists.

Kettledrums had been introduced into the orchestra about 1675–90 by, among others, Jean-Baptiste Lully in Thésée (first performed 1675) and by Purcell in his Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1692).

With the development of new playing techniques, modified drumstick heads, and the possibility of notating their music (hitherto prohibited by the rules of secrecy imposed upon guild members), kettledrums, henceforth called timpani, triumphantly enter orchestra, opera, and church, soon becoming the most important percussion instrument in the orchestra.