The official list of musicians for the 1953 coronation service at Westminster Abbey includes 182 boy choristers. Most came from the choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, the Chapels Royal and St George's Chapel, Windsor. Overall, though, the geographical net spread far wider, not least to choristers selected via the Royal School of Church Music - only 20 such boys, but representing far-flung parts of Britain.
The 1953 RSCM choristers who survive have some of the most colourful stories to tell. Their narratives form one magical dimension in the University of Hertfordshire’s current ‘Choristers of the Coronation’ oral history project. Such choristers, who had no expectation of a coronation call-up, were selected in a variety of ways. Stanley Roocroft MBE learned he’d been chosen from his choirmaster at Blackburn Cathedral. ‘He called me in after a service and I thought, “Hello… am I in trouble? What have I done now?” And he said, “Next Sunday morning, I’d like you and your parents to see me after the service.” It was then he told us I was being invited to sing at the coronation. I was very surprised, obviously, but delighted and excited.’
Graham Neal, who sang with the choir of All Saints Parish Church at Eastleigh, near Southampton, recalls being ‘absolutely over the moon’ at his selection. As with many of the chosen RSCM choristers, one of the excitements was being pursued by the local press. ‘It wasn’t long before reporters started knocking on the door,’ says Neal. ‘You were a sort of minicelebrity. While out shopping people would stop me and say, “Are you Graham Neal?” A massive photograph of me was placed in a shop window.’
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Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av BBC Music Magazine.
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Discovering Donizetti - Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day
Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day. For most people, undertaking a lockdown project meant learning to bake sourdough bread, getting fit with Joe Wicks, or taking up a language. But Professor Roger Parker, the eminent historian of Italian opera and emeritus professor at King's College London, had something far more ambitious in mind. He set about unearthing songs by Gaetano Donizetti - many of which had been lost since the composer's lifetime - and the enterprise turned into a two-year labour of love.
Composer of the month - Bohuslav Martinů - Though the Czech absorbed many influences from his exile abroad, his colourful music was always distinctively his own
The youngest of six, Bohuslav was a sickly child, and his father or older sister often had to carry him the 193 steps up to the tower. He was shy at school, too, though showed an early talent for the violin and gave his first concert at 14. By the following year, the future composer was off to the Prague Conservatoire to take the first, if faltering, steps towards a career in music.
Symphonies Beside the Sea- Before cinema, the wireless and coach trips cast them adrift, seaside orchestras were once a major holiday attraction
Before cinema, the wireless and coach trips cast them adrift, seaside orchestras were once a major holiday attraction. It's a dimension of music-making that once was integral to many a British holiday experience, yet now has all but vanished. The tide went out, you might say, on the professional seaside (or pier, or spa) orchestra many decades ago. In their glory days, though - perhaps a quarter-century on either side of 1900-these ensembles were everywhere, from Bridlington to Eastbourne, New Brighton to Worthing, Blackpool to Bexhill-on-Sea, Cleethorpes to Brighton... the list is astonishing.
Richard Morrison- Do Classical Works About Mortality Reveal More To Us As We Get Older? Is it inevitably true that, as we journey through the decades, we are better able to interpret or empathise with a profoundly death-obsessed masterpiece such as Schubert's Winterreise?
As we get older do we respond differently to that vast canon of music dealing with mortality? Is it inevitably true that, as we journey through the decades, we are better able to interpret or empathise with a profoundly death-obsessed masterpiece such as Schubert's Winterreise? Or do human beings possess such a flexible sense of empathy that we can relate to virtually any state of mind if it is evoked convincingly enough by a composer?
Do Notes Win Votes? - There are multi-dimensional ways that music is used by political campaigners and their supporters today.
It was a little bit of history repeating when Rishi Sunak announced the UK General Election to the heckling of his political opponents blasting out D:Ream's 'Things Can Only Get Better'.
Västra Karup Sweden
The spirit of soprano Birgit Nilsson is alive and well in the town of her birth, home to a festival dedicated to her memory
Federico Colli
\"At this moment in time we don't need more virtuosi. We need musicians to engage with the philosophy of music
Harmonic Progression
What happens when classical music-style levels of ambition, invention and sheer length are brought to pop? The answer, as Meurig Bowen explains, is Prog Rock
Golden years
Young musicians may be physically fit, but with age come the advantages of wisdom and experience
Sweet Sixteen
As The Sixteen celebrates its 45th birthday, founder Harry Christophers speaks to Andrew Stewart about directing a choral powerhouse
