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Old Radleians create a Hymn for the Golden Jubilee Andrew Motion (1966), Poet Laureate, has created the words, while Dr Andrew Gant (1976), Organist to the Chapel Royal, has set them to music.
In 1682 Henry Purcell, Organist of the Chapel Royal, took up residence in a room halfway up the clock-tower at St James's Palace, just above the Chapel itself, because his employers would not find him anywhere to live. His friend John Dryden, Poet Laureate, would regularly arrive at his door seeking refuge from his creditors, often staying for weeks on end. However haphazard these domestic arrangements, the partnership bore glorious fruit in the form a great series of Odes and Hymns marking the various anniversaries and celebrations in the lives of their employers, James II, William III and Mary II. More than four centuries later their respective positions are held by two Old Radleians; myself as Chapel Royal Organist, Andrew Motion as Poet Laureate. We have been honoured to be invited to recreate and continue the tradition of Dryden and Purcell by writing a work for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen this year. The request for the work came from the Lord Chamberlain's department at Buckingham Palace. The brief was quite detailed: the work should be suitable for use at some of the big national events around the time of the Jubilee weekend in June 2002, but must also be capable of being taken up widely by choirs across the country, and indeed the world. In practice this meant that it had to be clearly part of the great tradition of works by Elgar and Walton to which it belongs, but without re-heating sentiments and gestures which might have been appropriate fifty years ago. It had to be musically approachable, but not simplistic or clichéd. It should not be too long. It should not be too difficult. Andrew's poem approaches these varied objectives with sensitivity and skill, as readers of his work will readily believe. This is not, of course, the time to reveal what he has written, but suffice to say that he reflects on the Queen's role as a constant in a changing world and refers to some events of the last fifty years which make the piece unequivocally modern. These include references to cultural trends which Elgar would certainly not have recognised and which may even raise a few eyebrows in 2002. The music attempts to match this intelligent fusing of the traditional with the contemporary: attentive listeners will certainly hear the voices of its great predecessors in the background, but this is, I hope, a piece which is genuinely for and of the 21st century. The work will receive a number of performances in London at the time of the main Jubilee celebrations in early June, some of them broadcast. In addition, plans are well underway for the piece to be used by local communities as part of the wider marking of the Jubilee, both in this country and abroad. There has been considerable interest in this unusual project from choirs, choral societies, youth choirs, church choirs, all-male choirs, all-female choirs. To be as widely accessible to performers as possible, the piece has several different versions of its accompaniment. It can be performed with organ or piano alone (with or without percussion), with organ, brass and percussion, with a small orchestra or with a full symphony orchestra. There is a version for upper voices (sopranos and altos) alone. It takes about nine minutes to sing, and should not take an averagely ambitious group of musicians too long to learn. The Chapel Royal itself plays an integral and fascinating role in the link between music and the monarchy. In the days when the monarch had the power to "impress" all the best musicians from around the country (and pay them), the Chapel provided employment for a starry list of English church musicians, including Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Blow, Locke, Handel, Wesley and Sullivan, to name just a few. The choir went with Henry V to Agincourt, where it sang Mass on the field of battle, and with Henry VIII to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where the Children had to put on plays to impress the French. The choir is still constituted as it was in Byrd's day, with six men ("Gentlemen in Ordinary") and ten boys ("Children of the Chapel"), who wear the scarlet and gold state uniforms dating from the time of Charles II (and supposedly designed by him). Our services are held in the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, decorated by Holbein in honour of Henry VIII's short-lived marriage to Anne of Cleves, or in the Queen's Chapel a short distance outside the Palace, built by James I for the Catholic bride of his son, later Charles I, and designed by Inigo Jones. Henry Purcell's bedroom is now our song-school. There are further Radley connections in the Chapel Royal: Julian Wright has recently joined us as a bass; our former Sub-Dean was Canon Anthony Caesar, onetime Precentor of Radley, many of whose compositions we still sing. ORs would be extremely welcome to join us at a service at any time. In addition, look out for our Jubilee anthem on TV, radio and CD around the beginning of June. Better still, think about including the piece in the repertoire of your own choir and choral society. You will be taking part in a great tradition. Dr Andrew Gant Readers who are interested in finding out more about "A Hymn for the Golden Jubilee" or about the Chapel Royal are welcome to contact Andrew Gant at: |
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Fifty Years On
