ONE of Elizabeth II’s maids of honour, Lady Willoughby de Eresby, in later years reflected on how, during the long coronation ceremony in 1953, ‘the power of music carried you through’. Matthias Range, author of the definitive study of this dimension to British coronations, agrees: ‘In the best examples, like 1953, the quality and variety of the music has underlined the significance of what’s going on at any one moment in the service, emphasising the structure of the occasion.’
Music will surely ‘carry us through’ on May 6. Our new King, who takes his music seriously, has personally shaped this dimension to the coronation, as have musical monarchs before him: at a rehearsal for the preposterously lavish 1821 coronation, the sharp-eared George IV insisted the balance of choral and orchestral forces be radically and rapidly revised.
In 2023, we can look forward to groundbreaking soundscapes that reflect changes in the character of British society and culture over 70 years. Diversity and inclusivity are watchwords, observable in the introduction of girl choristers and a gospel choir, plus a Welsh royal harpist, Alis Huws. Alongside classic repertoire by Byrd and Handel will be new items from, among others, Judith Weir (Master of the King’s Music) and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose anthem will hopefully be a show-stopper. ‘Being true to tradition means not only tapping into the great inheritance of repertoire from the past, but ensuring the tradition of embracing change, which has always typified coronation music, is kept alive,’ observes Martin Neary, former Westminster Abbey Organist and Master of the Choristers.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 26, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 26, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.