BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
It’s official: Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in British royal history. And 65 years on the job certainly calls for celebration.
That’s why the Australian Chamber Choir has put together A London Coronation as part of its 2017 season, and sings an epic compilation of Britain’s finest choral music spanning five centuries. Herbert Howells, William Byrd, and a spot of George Dyson grace the program among many others.
Ahead of the choir’s much anticipated Melbourne concert, directed by Douglas Lawrence, we bring you three of the best British choral works (for your right proper enjoyment).
3. O clap your hands, Orlando Gibbons
O clap your hands is known as one of the most substantial anthems from this composer, who wrote about 40 of them among his other religious works. It was debuted in Gibbons’ hometown of Oxford in 1622, at a ceremony in which Gibbons received his Doctor of Music. The piece incorporates an eight-part sonority and it’s said the composer may have written it as part of his degree. O clap your hands was later included in the William Boyce’s Cathedral Music anthology. Gibbons was also a renowned organist of Westminster Abbey and Chapel Royal.
2. Mass in G minor, Ralph Vaughan Williams
‘I’m quite sincere when I say that it is the work one has all along been waiting for. In your individual and modern idiom you have really captured the old liturgical spirit and atmosphere.’
Pretty kind words about the work, don’t you think? These came from Westminster Cathedral choirmaster Sir Richard Runciman Terry in 1922. The piece had its secular premiere in the Birmingham Town Hall that year before Terry gave its liturgical performance. The work was dedicated to Gustav Holst and the Whitsuntide Singers. With his British work ethic, Vaughan Williams completed The Pastoral Symphony in the same year.
1. Zadok the Priest, George Frideric Handel
Handel’s Zadok the Priest is just one of the composer’s four coronation anthems – and the first piece of music he wrote after becoming a British citizen. This one was written for King George II in 1727, and has been sung in every coronation ceremony since. The piece, for which Handel chose the text himself, has become a hallmark of musical patriotism for the Brits, having been used in royal weddings and also played as a theme at Champion League football matches (would Handel have approved?).
See the Australian Chamber Choir present A London Coronation on April 2 in Melbourne and June 11 in Flinders. Bookings online, discounted tickets for CutCommon subscribers.
Images supplied.
