This Welcome Song was written for King Charles II as he returned to London from Newmarket on Oct. 12, 1681. The words are a hymn to the river Isis to protect and bring the monarch home. The text is full of water images of fountains, rivers, channels, and full hearts. Here the King is likened to the sun, and his presence like Spring. All blessings are said to flow from King Charles, and even music should honor him.

The opening symphony is slightly angular, with a rhythmically complex theme. The Allegro that follows is all flowing eighth notes set in an imitative texture. The opening voice is given to the Alto. Full of energy, it is commanding and flowing at the same time. When the choir responds, it is with a flowing accompaniment as well, as Purcell imitates the flowing of the river Isis.

An instrumental ritornello, full of dotted rhythms in counterpoint, intervenes before the solos and choruses take off in earnest. "Hark! Hark!" is given to Alto. The return of the King is sung of to florid passages and expressive dissonances. "Let bells ring" is set apart on ringing half notes and "Welcome dread Sir" is an Allegro moderato in triple time with a dance-like simple texture. The mood changes for a dramatic bass solo, a slow duple time Adagio to "But with as great devotion". It is in a free, declamatory style, and Italianate in its floridity. It features sighing, dropping figures.

Purcell loved writing for two sopranos. "The King whose Presence" is for two sopranos over a constantly running bass line. Sorrows vanish in this movement and daybreak clears. A grand chorus on "Then since, Sir" begins the closing portion of music. It is an Allegro in three and features a trumpet motive on "No trumpet be heard". The closing words are again "Long Live the King", in a grand and glorious ending.

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