0:00:02 > 0:00:04# God bless our noble king
0:00:04 > 0:00:08# God save great George our king
0:00:08 > 0:00:12# God save the King. #
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Give or take the odd note, and the gender of the Monarch,
0:00:17 > 0:00:22of course, Britons have been singing this since 1745,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25making ours the oldest national anthem in the world.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29# God save the King. #
0:00:29 > 0:00:33In this series, I'm exploring how the monarchy has shaped
0:00:33 > 0:00:35the story of British music.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39The 18th century produced more than its fair share of patriotic
0:00:39 > 0:00:42classics, yet this was a time
0:00:42 > 0:00:45when the monarchy had never looked more fragile.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51It had lost much of its political and religious power.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54It imported its ruling house from abroad.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58And it was under constant threat - from rival claimants,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03from vicious family feuding, even from madness.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07This was the age when Britain became the world's leading power.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Nevertheless, much of the century was spent searching for music
0:01:11 > 0:01:13that would reflect that new status.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16MUSIC: "Zadok The Priest" by Handel
0:01:19 > 0:01:22One musician would eventually rise to the challenge,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26writing music for the coronation, the royal fireworks,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30and operas and oratorios for British audiences.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35And yet the man who gave Great Britain its musical voice came,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38like the new royal dynasty, from Germany.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43# Hallelujah. #
0:01:57 > 0:01:59In 1707, the newly finished
0:01:59 > 0:02:03St Paul's Cathedral was the setting for a majestic ceremony,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07presided over by Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart dynasty.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11The event being marked was momentous.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15It cried out for a triumphant classic of royal music.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20Anne came here repeatedly
0:02:20 > 0:02:24to celebrate stunning military victories over the French,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28which were turning her nation into Europe's greatest power.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31But the achievement of her reign that Anne was most proud of
0:02:31 > 0:02:37was a peaceful one - the union, in 1707, of England
0:02:37 > 0:02:41and Scotland under a single crown and parliament.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The result was no less than the forging of a new nation -
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Great Britain.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49And Anne celebrated by holding the grandest thanksgiving
0:02:49 > 0:02:52service of her reign, here in St Paul's.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58No fewer than three composers were commissioned to provide the music.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01William Croft, John Blow, and Jeremiah Clarke.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06This is just a little of what they came up with.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11# Come as brethren
0:03:11 > 0:03:16# Love, love as brethren
0:03:17 > 0:03:21# Live in peace
0:03:21 > 0:03:25# In peace
0:03:25 > 0:03:30# Live in peace... #
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Don't feel embarrassed if you don't recognise it.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It hasn't been performed for centuries.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39This fragment by William Croft is in fact all that's
0:03:39 > 0:03:40survived from the occasion.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43# Love and peace
0:03:43 > 0:03:46# Peace, peace shall be with you
0:03:46 > 0:03:52# The God of love and peace, peace shall be with you
0:03:52 > 0:03:55# The God of love and peace... #
0:03:55 > 0:03:59So why, given the significance of the Act of Union in British
0:03:59 > 0:04:03history, has its celebratory music been so completely forgotten?
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Croft's anthem falls hopelessly short as the herald of a new nation.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Now, there are excuses, of course -
0:04:13 > 0:04:17the words of "Love As Brethren" are banal and utterly fail to
0:04:17 > 0:04:24set the world on fire - as, rather curiously, did the event itself.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28The Act of Union of 1707 is of major political
0:04:28 > 0:04:33and constitutional significance, but that - unlike, say, some spectacular
0:04:33 > 0:04:38military victory - is hardly the stuff of musical inspiration.
0:04:38 > 0:04:45# Hallelujah, hallelujah. #
0:04:45 > 0:04:51The grand celebrations of 1707 might look like business as usual.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56In fact, they are the last gasps of a dying tradition.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58ORGAN PLAYS
0:05:02 > 0:05:04In earlier centuries,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07the very greatest English music had been created by the musicians
0:05:07 > 0:05:13of the monarch's personal choir, the Chapel Royal, for sacred ceremony.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16In the 18th century, however, power had clearly shifted
0:05:16 > 0:05:20away from the monarchy and the church, and music followed it.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25London is certainly, by this point, the richest city in Western Europe.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30It's also a city which to a quite unusual extent acts
0:05:30 > 0:05:35as a national capital - it sucks the whole of the English elite into it.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40London then has to feed this appetite for pleasure,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43for leisure - leisure is a function of wealth.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47You therefore need what? Theatres.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53What audiences flocked to see was exotic,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57flamboyant and fashionable - Italian opera.
0:05:57 > 0:06:03And in 1710, the enthusiasm and the wealth of London's new opera goers
0:06:03 > 0:06:06drew a 27-year-old German to the city.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14George Frideric Handel had spent three years studying opera in Italy.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18His debut work for the London stage was called Rinaldo,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and it was an instant hit.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26# Lascia ch'io pianga
0:06:26 > 0:06:32# Mia cruda sorte
0:06:32 > 0:06:39# E che sospiri
0:06:39 > 0:06:44# La liberta
0:06:46 > 0:06:52# E che sospiri
0:06:52 > 0:06:57# E che sospiri
0:06:57 > 0:07:03# La Liberta. #
0:07:05 > 0:07:09"Let me weep my cruel fate and sigh for liberty."
0:07:13 > 0:07:16This great lament is sung by Almirana,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18the heroine of the opera,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22who has just been entrapped along with the hero, Rinaldo, by
0:07:22 > 0:07:27the snares of the wicked sorceress, Armida, Queen of Damascus.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It's a tale of derring-do
0:07:29 > 0:07:34and high passion, set amidst the delights of the fabled East.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38It gave Handel the opportunity to show his talents -
0:07:38 > 0:07:44genius, rather - as a composer, conductor and harpsichord soloist.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Handel never looked back.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53# E che sospiri
0:07:53 > 0:07:59# La liberta. #
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Rinaldo is the first Italian opera
0:08:16 > 0:08:20to be specifically written for the English stage.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Handel's librettist-cum-impresario, Aaron Hill,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27made the most of the fact in his dedication of the opera
0:08:27 > 0:08:31to the Queen herself, proclaiming that, "This opera was a native
0:08:31 > 0:08:36"of Your Majesty's dominions, and was consequently born your subject."
0:08:37 > 0:08:40But it's a funny kind of British subject, isn't it,
0:08:40 > 0:08:45that's written by a German and sung in Italian?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52But Queen Anne welcomed this immigrant music.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57In February 1711, Handel and his Italian singers were summoned
0:08:57 > 0:09:02to St James's Palace to perform for her birthday. Her Majesty was
0:09:02 > 0:09:06reported to be "extremely well pleased" with his music.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Some of her subjects, however, were less seduced.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16"From foreign insult save this English stage
0:09:16 > 0:09:20"No more the Italian squalling tribe admit
0:09:20 > 0:09:24"In tongues unknown, 'tis popery in wit."
0:09:24 > 0:09:28The learned author of these words, Richard Steele,
0:09:28 > 0:09:34was no xenophobic philistine - he went on to found The Spectator.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37But, like many in proudly Protestant Great Britain,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41he was suspicious of anything which savoured of Catholicism.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46"The songs theirselves confess from Rome they bring.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49"And 'tis high mass, for ought you know, they sing."
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Instead, Steele would invoke Britain's new greatness
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and call for a native culture whose distinction would
0:09:58 > 0:10:00match its military power.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05"Let Anna's soil be known for all its charms
0:10:05 > 0:10:08"As famed for liberal sciences as arms
0:10:08 > 0:10:11"Let those derision meet who would advance
0:10:11 > 0:10:14"Manners or speech from Italy or France
0:10:14 > 0:10:17"Let them learn you, who would your favour find
0:10:17 > 0:10:21"And English be the language of mankind."
0:10:23 > 0:10:26This search for a native music worthy of the greatness
0:10:26 > 0:10:29of Britain would be one of the crucial factors determining
0:10:29 > 0:10:32the development of music in the 18th century.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The man who gave Great Britain its voice, however, would turn out
0:10:36 > 0:10:41to be the very same German who was writing Italian operas.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46In 1711, Handel began studying the English language - and its music.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50In 1713, he was able to present this to Queen Anne.
0:10:52 > 0:11:00# Eterna-a-a-a-al...
0:11:17 > 0:11:20# ..source. #
0:11:20 > 0:11:24This is the English, or rather the Anglicised, Handel.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Eternal Source of Light Divine is a birthday ode,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31which is an English form.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35The words are English, by the sentimental poet Ambrose Phillips.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Even the musical forces were English too,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43as Handel originally wrote this for a favourite counter-tenor
0:11:43 > 0:11:47of the Chapel Royal, accompanied by trumpet in the manner of Purcell.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56But the melodic genius, which has led the piece to be appropriated
0:11:56 > 0:12:02by great sopranos and sung with gusto like this, was Handel's own.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08# Eternal source
0:12:08 > 0:12:15# Of li-i-i-ight
0:12:15 > 0:12:19# Divine. #
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It is a tricky piece to sing.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24It has incredibly long phrases, and the point of Handel
0:12:24 > 0:12:27is not to try and sing it in one breath.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29The point is to give it the beauty it deserves,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and the space that he really wrote into those bars.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36# ..Thy beams display. #
0:12:36 > 0:12:38'It was written very much in the English style.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41'Handel is pretty much trying to emulate Purcell,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43'and you can really hear that in the simplicity of it.'
0:12:43 > 0:12:46There's a lovely distance between the singer's notes
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and those of the orchestra, and I think that gives you a lovely gap
0:12:49 > 0:12:52which is so typical of English music.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57English music just has a depth, um, and yet a simplicity, a sort of
0:12:57 > 0:13:02transparency, which the Italian music tends to fill with notes.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03# ..Shine
0:13:03 > 0:13:12# And with distinguished glory shine. #
0:13:12 > 0:13:18Anne rewarded Handel with a royal pension - a handsome £200 a year.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Barely three years after arriving in England,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28he had already overshadowed home-grown talents - a process that
0:13:28 > 0:13:32would accelerate when the monarchy too ceased to be home-grown.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45In 1714, another German stepped off the boat here at Greenwich.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49In July, Queen Anne had died, aged 49,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53without having produced any children who lived to adulthood.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00Parliament had ruled out a Catholic successor, then and for ever.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09So, the new King of Great Britain was Georg Ludwig,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13elector of Hanover and, as James I's great grandson,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Anne's closest living Protestant relation.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18The House of Hanover had begun.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27This allegorical wall painting shows George arriving
0:14:27 > 0:14:29here in a Roman triumph.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34It's grand, if faintly preposterous to our eyes,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37but the reality was much more sober.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41George arrived at night and in ordinary travelling clothes,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44but at least his taste in music was magnificent,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and, as King of Great Britain, he could afford to indulge it.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57On 17th July, 1717,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01King George headed down the river in a royal barge.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Next to his boat travelled another barge with 50 musicians.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08It was the premiere of Handel's Water Music.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24George already knew and liked Handel's music,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28since before the composer came to London he'd already held
0:15:28 > 0:15:33a post as head of George's Chapel Royal in Hanover.
0:15:33 > 0:15:41But this time, Handel was to make his music bigger, better, louder.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Handel cleverly scored the music with instruments loud enough to
0:16:00 > 0:16:06carry across the water - trumpets, oboes, bassoons, flutes and violins.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11For volume and novelty value, he also used German hunting-horns.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Handel's music was an instant hit, both with the King,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24who liked it so much that he commanded the musicians to
0:16:24 > 0:16:28repeat it twice, and with the public, who clamoured to hear it,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33some of them lining the banks, others crowding on nearby boats.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36MUSIC: "Water Music" by Handel
0:16:48 > 0:16:51The scene must have resembled this later Canaletto image
0:16:51 > 0:16:53of a regatta on the Thames.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Water Music is a masterpiece.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03It's also perhaps the first example
0:17:03 > 0:17:06of royal music being used in a spectacle
0:17:06 > 0:17:11which had no spiritual or even very much obvious ceremonial purpose.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Instead, what George had done was to take the River Thames here
0:17:17 > 0:17:21and to turn it into a theatre-cum-concert hall with
0:17:21 > 0:17:25himself and his subjects as an enthusiastic audience.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26It was a turning point.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30For George and his Hanoverian successors, royal ceremony
0:17:30 > 0:17:34and its musical accompaniment, deprived of any kind of religious
0:17:34 > 0:17:38or even very much national raison d'etre would
0:17:38 > 0:17:42become merely, gloriously, theatrical.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And it was in the theatre that King George would spend much of his time.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00In person, George I could be stiff, reticent, and dour,
0:18:00 > 0:18:05but he enjoyed nothing more than the high passions of opera -
0:18:05 > 0:18:07especially when written by Handel.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18During the single season, George attended half of the 44 opera
0:18:18 > 0:18:22performances at the King's Theatre in London's Haymarket.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28In Hanover, George had been unable to afford his own court opera.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34The London theatre, however, provided new commercial
0:18:34 > 0:18:37opportunities for sponsoring his favourite kind of music.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51In 1719, George I put up seed money for a new opera company called,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54grandiosely, The Royal Academy of Music.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57It was based here, in Haymarket,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00in the newly developing West End of London.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06George's contribution amounted to £1,000 a year for seven years.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Where the King led, members of the nobility were happy to follow
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and stump up substantial subscriptions as well.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18This wasn't a court opera in continental style, rather it
0:19:18 > 0:19:23was a commercial venture with the King as patron-cum-impresario.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28George put Handel in charge of the Royal Academy, and sent him
0:19:28 > 0:19:31overseas to recruit the finest singers.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Handel's prize catch was the most famous singer of the day,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Senesino, the Italian castrato.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45He was lured to London by a salary of £1,000 for a single season.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48That's pushing a million in today's money.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52But then, Senesino had paid the ultimate price himself -
0:19:52 > 0:19:56castration before puberty - which left him with abnormally long
0:19:56 > 0:20:00limbs and a voice of child-like purity and manlike power.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05# Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera
0:20:05 > 0:20:08# Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera
0:20:08 > 0:20:11# Vendetta fara Quest'alma guerriera
0:20:11 > 0:20:15# Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera
0:20:15 > 0:20:24# Al lampo dell'a-a-a-a-armi
0:20:24 > 0:20:27# Quest'alma guerriera
0:20:27 > 0:20:29# Vendetta fara
0:20:32 > 0:20:33# Al lampo dell'armi
0:20:33 > 0:20:36# Quest'alma guerriera
0:20:36 > 0:20:43# Vendetta fara-a-a-a-a
0:20:44 > 0:20:46# Al lampo dell'armi Quest'alma guerriera
0:20:46 > 0:20:52# Vendetta fara-a-a-a-a
0:20:52 > 0:20:54# Quest'alma guerriera
0:20:54 > 0:20:57# Vendetta fara. #
0:20:57 > 0:21:01Senesino's performance in Giulio Cesare was praised
0:21:01 > 0:21:05by London newspapers as "beyond all criticism."
0:21:05 > 0:21:07Though his vanity and insolence
0:21:07 > 0:21:12provoked the equally short-tempered Handel to call him "a damned fool."
0:21:12 > 0:21:14He certainly pulled in the crowds, however,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16appearing in 13 Handel operas
0:21:16 > 0:21:19during his first eight-year stint in London.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22# La destra guerriera
0:21:22 > 0:21:25# Che forza le da. #
0:21:26 > 0:21:31Italian opera was massively popular. There was a huge public for it.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34And the public at that time was a very, very different kind of public
0:21:34 > 0:21:38from the opera audience that you would have today.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39It was almost an orgy.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42I mean, anything could happen in the opera house.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44They wouldn't necessarily pay attention the whole time.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46They would go to hear a certain singer.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Or, if they'd been once or twice before, they'd know which arias
0:21:49 > 0:21:52- they liked and which they would pay attention to...- They had boxes...
0:21:52 > 0:21:53They had boxes.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56- So the most surprising things could happen.- Anything could happen!
0:21:56 > 0:21:59So it was an incredibly different kind of theatre experience
0:21:59 > 0:22:01than we're used to today.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Of course, there were fierce factions, weren't there?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05- Huge factions.- Particular singers. - Exactly.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Rather like soccer - particular singers would have a following.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09There would be enemies.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13That's an incredibly good comparison, like a soccer crowd.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16# Al lampo dell'armi Quest'alma guerriera
0:22:16 > 0:22:21# Vendetta fara-a-a-a
0:22:25 > 0:22:26# Quest'alma guerriera
0:22:26 > 0:22:30# Vendetta fara! #
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Handel wrote over 40 operas.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37In the earlier decades of the 18th century,
0:22:37 > 0:22:42the royal and aristocratic appetite for Italian opera was insatiable.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Moreover, the desire for novelty meant that composers
0:22:46 > 0:22:50had to come up with new works all the time.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Fortunately, Handel was well suited to this kind of environment,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56as he was able to knock out an Italian opera
0:22:56 > 0:22:59in a matter of weeks, rather than months.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Handel's success, both in the theatre and at court,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13made him a rich man,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17and he took up residence in this fine Mayfair townhouse.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22He'd embraced life in Britain, just as Britain had embraced his talent.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27The same could not be said, however, for the monarch he served.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32King George I here, despite his years as King
0:23:32 > 0:23:36of Great Britain, never became remotely British, because
0:23:36 > 0:23:41he was a member of an international court culture that made love,
0:23:41 > 0:23:47war and peace in French, which George spoke perfectly, and sang in
0:23:47 > 0:23:52Italian, in the operas which George adored, and that Handel composed.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58In 1727, George died and was buried - fittingly, perhaps -
0:23:58 > 0:23:59in Hanover.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05George I's musical legacy lies in music written for pleasure
0:24:05 > 0:24:07rather than grand ceremony.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11George II, however, was very different.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17George II actually enjoys ceremony, and he produces the most impressive
0:24:17 > 0:24:21musical coronation in the whole of the history of the coronation.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27He was crowned in October 1727.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31And on this occasion, Westminster Abbey served not just
0:24:31 > 0:24:36as the royal church, but also as the grandest of grand concert halls.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41# The King shall rejoice
0:24:41 > 0:24:45# The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord
0:24:48 > 0:24:50# The King
0:24:50 > 0:24:53# Shall rejoice
0:24:53 > 0:24:58# Shall rejoice
0:24:59 > 0:25:01# Shall rejoice
0:25:01 > 0:25:05# In thy strength, O Lord
0:25:05 > 0:25:09# The King shall rejoice
0:25:09 > 0:25:13# The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. #
0:25:15 > 0:25:18There were two contenders to write the music.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19Dr Maurice Greene,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23the newly appointed Master of the King's Music, and Handel.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Precedent dictated that Greene should get the task,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30as a leading member of the royal musical household.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34But Handel was well placed too, and also, perhaps not
0:25:34 > 0:25:39coincidentally, he'd just been naturalised as a British subject.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43But what determined matters were George II's characteristically
0:25:43 > 0:25:47violent prejudices. According to his grandson, George III,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51he considered poor Greene to be "a wretched, little, crooked,
0:25:51 > 0:25:56"insignificant, ill-natured writer, player and musician."
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Forbad him absolutely to have anything to do with
0:25:59 > 0:26:03the coronation music, and instead gave the honour to Handel.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07# ..in thy strength, O Lord
0:26:07 > 0:26:11# The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. #
0:26:11 > 0:26:14The four coronation anthems he wrote for the occasion were a major step
0:26:14 > 0:26:17towards finding a musical voice for Great Britain.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21Handel addressed, head on,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26a paradox which had troubled the Protestant Church of England
0:26:26 > 0:26:29since its creation nearly two centuries earlier.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35# The King shall rejoice
0:26:35 > 0:26:40# The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. #
0:26:42 > 0:26:46The English Reformation, with its single-minded emphasis on the
0:26:46 > 0:26:52pure, unadulterated word of God, had been the great enemy of music.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Handel changed all that.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59More imaginatively than any Englishman,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03he responded to the power and poetry of the key texts
0:27:03 > 0:27:08of the Church of England to invent a new musical language.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12The texts of the coronation anthems were traditionally taken
0:27:12 > 0:27:16from those two great achievements of the English Reformation -
0:27:16 > 0:27:19the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25The verses were re-edited by the Archbishop of Canterbury
0:27:25 > 0:27:29to suit the circumstances of each coronation.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33But in 1727, the Archbishop, the story goes,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38was stunned to be told by Handel, "I have read my Bible very well,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40"and shall choose for myself."
0:27:42 > 0:27:45And he did, ruthlessly editing down the texts
0:27:45 > 0:27:49and rearranging the verses to serve his own musical ends.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58He was searching for words and ideas that were royal
0:27:58 > 0:28:01and that he could then orchestrate royally.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21What you get with Zadok the Priest
0:28:21 > 0:28:24is the most wonderful musical coup de theatre.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29You get a very, very long sort of slow-burning introduction, which
0:28:29 > 0:28:35has an immediate sense of dignity, and a sort of gliding, undulating
0:28:35 > 0:28:40pulsating, building up musical tension through harmonic means.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50And it builds up and builds up and builds up tension
0:28:50 > 0:28:54until the choir comes in as one voice with the word "Zadok."
0:28:54 > 0:28:58And the letter Z at the beginning of Zadok, sung by all the choir
0:28:58 > 0:29:02at once, with the addition, at that moment, of the trumpets
0:29:02 > 0:29:07and the drums, provides a sort of spine-tingling effect.
0:29:07 > 0:29:14# Zadok the Priest
0:29:14 > 0:29:21# And Nathan the prophet
0:29:21 > 0:29:32# Anointed Solomon king
0:29:36 > 0:29:41# And all the people rejoiced
0:29:41 > 0:29:43# Rejoiced
0:29:43 > 0:29:48# Rejoiced, and all the people... #
0:29:48 > 0:29:52The combination of this majestic musical language
0:29:52 > 0:29:54with English biblical texts
0:29:54 > 0:29:58was one that Handel would return to for the rest of his career -
0:29:58 > 0:30:02most famously with his oratorio Messiah, that would prove
0:30:02 > 0:30:05as glorious in the service of the heavenly King
0:30:05 > 0:30:08as it did here for the Hanoverian monarchy.
0:30:11 > 0:30:12# Rejoice
0:30:12 > 0:30:14# Rejoice
0:30:14 > 0:30:21# Rejoiced and said
0:30:22 > 0:30:24# God save the King
0:30:24 > 0:30:27# Long live the King. #
0:30:27 > 0:30:31Zadok the Priest, with its resounding,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34repeated acclamations of "God save the King!"
0:30:34 > 0:30:38would have been the perfect national anthem -
0:30:38 > 0:30:41if it weren't so damned difficult to sing.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44# For ever, for ever
0:30:44 > 0:30:45# Amen. #
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Indeed, for several decades following, it served much
0:30:50 > 0:30:54the purpose of the yet-to-be-written national anthem, and headed
0:30:54 > 0:30:57the programme of countless concerts where it was described
0:30:57 > 0:31:04as THE coronation anthem - or even "the anthem, God Save the King."
0:31:04 > 0:31:06# Long live the King
0:31:06 > 0:31:08# God save the King
0:31:08 > 0:31:12# Long live the King
0:31:12 > 0:31:14# May the King live
0:31:14 > 0:31:16# May the King live
0:31:16 > 0:31:19# For ever. #
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Handel was an opera composer,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24and I think he captured more than many of his predecessors
0:31:24 > 0:31:29the sense of transcendent moment and the drama of the occasion,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32almost painting it in musical terms,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35a bit like sort of the epics of Cecil B de Mille
0:31:35 > 0:31:36or something like that.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40It had this huge scale and this sense of kind of
0:31:40 > 0:31:42really portraying the significance
0:31:42 > 0:31:46and the sense of occasion in musical language.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49# Hallelujah
0:31:49 > 0:31:56# Halleluja-a-a-a-ah. #
0:32:02 > 0:32:05George II's coronation was remarkable
0:32:05 > 0:32:07not only for its magnificent music,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11but for the conspicuous absence of George's son and heir,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Frederick, who had been banned from attending.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Frederick loved music. He's pictured here playing
0:32:21 > 0:32:25the cello in front of the palace he made his own, Kew.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27He had rather less love for his parents.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30They clashed about everything,
0:32:30 > 0:32:33from the size of Frederick's allowance, to politics.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38So when, in 1740, Frederick commissioned a new musical work,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42he did not employ his father's favourite composer, Handel.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Instead, he chose Handel's closest rival, Thomas Arne.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Like Handel, Arne wrote for the theatre. Unlike Handel,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59his productions were in English - and he was too.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Arne wrote the music for a private entertainment,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09staged in the grounds of the prince's country estate, Cliveden.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The event was supposed to celebrate the birthday of Frederick's
0:33:16 > 0:33:18three-year-old daughter, Augusta.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22In reality, it had much more to do with Frederick's own
0:33:22 > 0:33:24political ambitions.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Now, openly estranged from his father, George II, Frederick
0:33:28 > 0:33:31was keen to establish his own political identity.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34So, he launched a carefully orchestrated campaign
0:33:34 > 0:33:38to present himself as the patriot prince,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42supporting a ruthless expansion of British power abroad.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55The musical performance itself took place here, in this amphitheatre,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58overlooking the wooded valley of the Thames.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03The audience sitting on the terraces here was the creme de la creme,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06for they had been summoned to see and hear
0:34:06 > 0:34:10the centrepiece of Frederick's "Patriot Prince" campaign.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15Everything was to be English. Hence the choice of form -
0:34:15 > 0:34:18an English masque rather than an Italian opera -
0:34:18 > 0:34:23of the composer - the English Arne, rather than the German Handel -
0:34:23 > 0:34:29and, above all, of the subject - the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Alfred was cultured, and learned.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40He was an heroic defender of his people
0:34:40 > 0:34:42against a barbarian invader...
0:34:44 > 0:34:46..and the founder of the Navy.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Alfred, the only English king to be called "Great",
0:34:50 > 0:34:52would be Frederick's model.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Only Frederick would be greater, because he would be ruler
0:34:56 > 0:35:02not of England, but of Britain - Great Britain.
0:35:02 > 0:35:08# When Britain first at heaven's command
0:35:08 > 0:35:12# Arose from out the azure main
0:35:12 > 0:35:18# Arose, arose, arose from out the azure main
0:35:18 > 0:35:21# This was the charter
0:35:21 > 0:35:24# The charter of the land,
0:35:24 > 0:35:29# And guardian angels sang this strain
0:35:29 > 0:35:32# Rule, Britannia
0:35:32 > 0:35:35# Britannia, rule the waves
0:35:35 > 0:35:40# Britons never shall be slaves.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43# Rule Britannia
0:35:43 > 0:35:45# Britannia rules the waves... #
0:35:45 > 0:35:48When Rule Britannia is sung at the Last Night of the Proms,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51it seems like a straightforward, if tub-thumping,
0:35:51 > 0:35:52expression of national pride.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Few now realise though that it was created to criticise,
0:35:57 > 0:35:59not celebrate, the reigning monarch.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Four years later, Arne's tune was taken up by still fiercer
0:36:08 > 0:36:10opponents of George II.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14It was sung by a rebel army marching south from Scotland,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18who wanted to put a Catholic king back on Britain's throne
0:36:18 > 0:36:20in the form of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26London waited nervously.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28From one of its theatres, however,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31came a statement of support for the embattled King George II.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Thanks, once again, to the entrepreneurial Thomas Arne.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42On the 28th of September 1745, here on this site,
0:36:42 > 0:36:44in the old Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48three of London's favourite singers came on stage
0:36:48 > 0:36:51in front of the curtain at the end of the performance.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55And there, to raise people's spirits in this time of crisis
0:36:55 > 0:36:59and emergency, they sang an old tune with new words
0:36:59 > 0:37:02and in a new arrangement by Arne.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06It was greeted with tears, cheers and thunderous encores.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11As the weeks went by, the numbers of performers swelled,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14and a chorus of 20 would appear to sing it,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18to a similar rousing reception at the end of each performance.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23It was, of course, God Save The King.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27# God bless our noble King
0:37:27 > 0:37:31# God save great George our King
0:37:31 > 0:37:35# God save the King
0:37:35 > 0:37:39# God bless our noble King
0:37:39 > 0:37:44# God save great George our King
0:37:44 > 0:37:48# God save the King
0:37:48 > 0:37:53# Send him victorious
0:37:53 > 0:37:57# Happy and glorious
0:37:57 > 0:38:01# Long to reign over us
0:38:01 > 0:38:06# God save the King
0:38:06 > 0:38:10# Send him victorious
0:38:10 > 0:38:14# Happy and glorious
0:38:14 > 0:38:19# Long to reign over us
0:38:19 > 0:38:24# God save the King. #
0:38:24 > 0:38:27By the end of the 18th century, God Save The King
0:38:27 > 0:38:32was firmly established as THE national anthem, making
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Britain the first country in Europe to have such a patriotic hymn.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41I suppose it's the royal-est piece of music of them all.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45But it had originated not in an official commission, but
0:38:45 > 0:38:50instead in an instantaneous response to a political and military crisis.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54And it depended on the public, not royal patrons,
0:38:54 > 0:38:55for its initial success.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59# Confound their politics
0:38:59 > 0:39:04# Frustrate their knavish tricks
0:39:04 > 0:39:09# On thee our hopes we fix
0:39:09 > 0:39:15# God save us all. #
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Public taste also determined the initial success of a work
0:39:26 > 0:39:30that was first heard three years later, not in court,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32nor at church, but in public parks.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37It was Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41and such was the composer's fame by the mid-18th century,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44even its rehearsal stopped the traffic.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49The rehearsal took place on this very spot.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Now, it's a scrubby patch of green.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56Then, it was the heart of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59whose verdant avenues and pretty pavilions were the principle place
0:39:59 > 0:40:04of public entertainment in 18th-century London.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07On the day of the rehearsal, London came to a standstill.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12There was a three-hour coach jam on London Bridge as some 12,000 people
0:40:12 > 0:40:15struggled to get here.
0:40:15 > 0:40:1712,000 people!
0:40:17 > 0:40:21That's probably the largest audience that had yet listened
0:40:21 > 0:40:24to a piece of music anywhere in Europe.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33But then everything about this occasion was on an epic scale.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37It was commissioned to mark the end,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41after eight long years, of the War of Austrian Succession.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45The Peace Treaty proved unpopular however, since the British agreed
0:40:45 > 0:40:49to give up many of the colonial gains they had won from the French.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52MUSIC: "Music For The Royal Fireworks" by Handel
0:41:04 > 0:41:07To win over sceptical popular opinion, the Government
0:41:07 > 0:41:11turned to the well-tried technique of bread and circuses,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and decided to throw a grand fireworks party.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16It was a theatrical idea
0:41:16 > 0:41:19that was executed in a thoroughly theatrical fashion.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26A 400-foot long set was built in Green Park,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29the site of the official celebrations.
0:41:29 > 0:41:34Presiding over it all was a giant sun representing George II
0:41:34 > 0:41:38and proclaiming "Vivat Rex" - "Long Live the King."
0:41:40 > 0:41:43Actually, neither the event nor the music were the monarch's idea.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49But once Handel had been commissioned,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52George made it clear what he wanted - martial music.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56Handel responded by scoring it for three pairs of kettle drums,
0:41:56 > 0:42:02nine trumpets, nine horns, 24 oboes and 12 bassoons.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07He described it as "a grand overture of warlike instruments."
0:42:08 > 0:42:12It might seem a paradoxical choice for celebrating a peace treaty,
0:42:12 > 0:42:17but George was a king who'd seen battle - the last British monarch
0:42:17 > 0:42:21to do so when he personally led the troops at Dettingen in 1743.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26He sees himself as a soldier.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30He wants his monarchy to have the sound of a soldier king,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34to have the sound of the drums and the trumpets and the horns
0:42:34 > 0:42:36that lead men into battle.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Despite Handel's efforts, however,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43the fireworks themselves were rather less than a triumph.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49The King inspected the gigantic set as Handel's music played.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51Then the fireworks themselves began.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57At first, all went well, and the rockets were much admired.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01But then, suddenly, part of the wooden set caught fire.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03With great difficulty, it was extinguished,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07but the delay threw the whole timing out, and the event,
0:43:07 > 0:43:12which had aroused such expectations, dribbled on to an inglorious close.
0:43:12 > 0:43:18The royal fireworks had begun as theatre - they ended as farce.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26In the midst of the chaos, however, Handel's music had established
0:43:26 > 0:43:30beyond doubt another characteristic of Great Britain's musical identity.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35A love of brass, volume, and all things military.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43But Handel was to make an even more important
0:43:43 > 0:43:45contribution to our musical culture.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51And for this he took inspiration once more from the theatre.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Now, though, he was creating very different
0:43:55 > 0:43:59productions from those that George I had loved so much.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06After 1741, Handel stopped writing Italian opera altogether.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10It was ruinously expensive to stage. It had almost bankrupted him,
0:44:10 > 0:44:14despite his shrewd commercial instincts.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Instead, he concentrated on English language oratorio -
0:44:18 > 0:44:20a less elaborate concert drama,
0:44:20 > 0:44:24which married operatic techniques to English sacred texts.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26# If God be for us
0:44:26 > 0:44:29# Who can be against us?
0:44:33 > 0:44:35# Who can be against us?
0:44:35 > 0:44:38# Who can be against us?
0:44:41 > 0:44:44# If God be for us
0:44:44 > 0:44:47# Who can be against us?
0:44:55 > 0:45:05# Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
0:45:06 > 0:45:10# Of God's elect. #
0:45:10 > 0:45:14Usually performed without sets, costumes or action,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17the oratorio was much cheaper to stage.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19It could be performed on religious feast days,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22when the theatres were otherwise dark.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25# Of God's elect. #
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Whilst the biblical stories on which it was normally based
0:45:29 > 0:45:34appealed to the religiosity of an important new audience.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39Not to the immoral, cosmopolitan aristocracy who'd been the great
0:45:39 > 0:45:41patron of Handel's Italian operas.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45But, instead, to the ever more prosperous,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49numerous and politically powerful middle class, who grew
0:45:49 > 0:45:53and thrived in the long economic boom of Georgian England.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59These people were English, and they were proud of it.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04# See the conquering hero comes
0:46:04 > 0:46:08# Sound the trumpets... #
0:46:08 > 0:46:10The subjects of Handel's oratorios
0:46:10 > 0:46:13were more English than they looked, too.
0:46:13 > 0:46:14On the surface,
0:46:14 > 0:46:18Judas Macchabaeus was the story of an Old Testament military leader
0:46:18 > 0:46:22who heroically defeats a rebellion and unites a doubting people.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27The audience at the Covent Garden premiere in 1747 would have
0:46:27 > 0:46:31instantly thought of a much more contemporary figure -
0:46:31 > 0:46:34George II's younger son, The Duke of Cumberland,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38who had just smashed the Jacobite army at Culloden.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43The parallel is made explicit in the dedication,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46which refers to the Duke as,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49"Truly Wise, Valiant and Virtuous Commander."
0:46:49 > 0:46:55Handel's oratorio had given voice to the nation's sense of triumph
0:46:55 > 0:46:59and relief, far more effectively than any thanksgiving service.
0:47:00 > 0:47:06# See the conquering hero comes
0:47:06 > 0:47:12# Sound the trumpet, beat the drums. #
0:47:12 > 0:47:16The unique power of oratorio was its ability to dramatise
0:47:16 > 0:47:20the national myth of the new Holy Land - Great Britain.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29For season after season at the London theatres, Handel would
0:47:29 > 0:47:33present a new instalment of the story of God's chosen people.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37The righteous struggle of an elect nation.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42# In defence of your nation, religion, and laws
0:47:42 > 0:47:47# The Almighty Jehovah will strengthen your hands
0:47:49 > 0:47:56# In defence of your nation, religion, and laws
0:47:56 > 0:48:08# The Almighty Jehovah will stre-e-e-e-e-ngthen
0:48:08 > 0:48:15# The Almighty Jehovah
0:48:15 > 0:48:23# Will strengthen your hands. #
0:48:23 > 0:48:28The idea of a divinely ordained monarchy no longer held sway
0:48:28 > 0:48:31in Hanoverian England.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Instead, it had been replaced by the idea of a divinely ordained nation.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41Oratorio was the soundtrack to this new ideology.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44# Arm, arm, ye brave!
0:48:44 > 0:48:46# A noble cause
0:48:46 > 0:48:51# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands
0:48:51 > 0:48:53# A noble cause
0:48:53 > 0:48:55# Arm, arm, ye brave!
0:48:55 > 0:48:57# Arm ye brave!
0:48:57 > 0:49:05# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands. #
0:49:06 > 0:49:11Oratorio combined religious zeal with a strident national pride.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16It stood on its head the old Puritan objection to religious music -
0:49:16 > 0:49:19that it brought the theatre into church -
0:49:19 > 0:49:23by bringing religion triumphantly into the theatre.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26And it would be elevated into a new national cult,
0:49:26 > 0:49:31and given royal endorsement by the next Hanoverian King, George III.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Unlike the previous Hanoverian monarchs,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46this King George was actually born in Britain.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51When he acceded to the throne in 1760, he proclaimed to Parliament,
0:49:51 > 0:49:57"Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain."
0:50:04 > 0:50:07George III believed that Britain should be as pre-eminent in the arts
0:50:07 > 0:50:11as in military power, and Somerset House,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14in whose magnificent courtyard I'm standing now,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18is the monument to his cultural ambitions.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21The north block was built at George's insistence
0:50:21 > 0:50:24as a kind of clubhouse-cum-exhibition space
0:50:24 > 0:50:28for the elite of Britain's scientists, artists and historians.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33George, who was a keen musician himself, was also the patron
0:50:33 > 0:50:36of the Academy of Ancient Music, which was set up to study
0:50:36 > 0:50:40and perform the works of the great composers of the British past.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45And, incomparably, the greatest of them all in George's view
0:50:45 > 0:50:47was Handel.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54One year before George III came to the throne,
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Handel had died at the age of 74.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02His passing was marked with something close to a state funeral.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06He was buried in Westminster Abbey, on a regal scale,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08with 3,000 people in attendance.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14Many years before, Handel had observed of the young Prince George,
0:51:14 > 0:51:19"Whilst that boy lives, my music will never want a protector."
0:51:19 > 0:51:21George would fulfil that prophecy.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27George III kept a private band to play for him in both London
0:51:27 > 0:51:30and his favourite residence at Windsor.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Its leader was the accomplished German violinist
0:51:32 > 0:51:35George Georg Griesbach.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Each day, it would seem, the King gave him a play list
0:51:38 > 0:51:42of the music that he would want to hear in the evening.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46A handful of these, written on any scrap of paper that the King could
0:51:46 > 0:51:52find, have survived, and they consist of Handel, Handel
0:51:52 > 0:51:56and Handel. And not just any old Handel.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01Instead, they cover the whole range of the composer's music -
0:52:01 > 0:52:05overtures, concerti grossi, and movements from operas
0:52:05 > 0:52:09and oratorios from every decade of the composer's career.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13In other words, George not only loved Handel,
0:52:13 > 0:52:15he really knew his music,
0:52:15 > 0:52:21and here is hands-on evidence in the King's own handwriting.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26And Handel's music was not merely a private passion for George III.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29It also led him to put Westminster Abbey
0:52:29 > 0:52:32to a quite unprecedented public use.
0:52:33 > 0:52:39In 1784, 4,000 of the richest, most powerful and fashionable people
0:52:39 > 0:52:42in London packed into the newly decorated nave
0:52:42 > 0:52:47of Westminster Abbey here. It was the biggest national event
0:52:47 > 0:52:51since George III's own coronation some 20-odd years previously.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56But they didn't come to give thanksgiving for a great
0:52:56 > 0:53:00military victory, or a royal anniversary.
0:53:00 > 0:53:06Instead, they came to honour a musician, plain Mr Handel,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10and celebrate the supposed centenary of his birth
0:53:10 > 0:53:14with a series of grand concerts of his works.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16The King was chief patron of the event,
0:53:16 > 0:53:21involved in everything, from the programme to the decorations.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26And each day, seated in a great Gothic throne, the King led
0:53:26 > 0:53:32the nation in homage to the man who had given it its musical voice.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37Before the celebration began, the Royal Family visited Handel's
0:53:37 > 0:53:41tomb nearby, in the south transept, to pay their respects.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Then they processed to their box and listened, rapt,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49as Handel's Messiah was performed.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51# Hallelujah
0:53:51 > 0:53:54# Hallelujah
0:53:54 > 0:53:56# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:53:56 > 0:53:58# Hallelujah
0:53:58 > 0:54:01# Hallelujah
0:54:01 > 0:54:03# Hallelujah
0:54:03 > 0:54:05# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:54:05 > 0:54:09# Hallelujah. #
0:54:09 > 0:54:11There is a story that explains why,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15by the later 18th century, it was customary
0:54:15 > 0:54:17when there was a performance of Handel's Messiah
0:54:17 > 0:54:20that you actually rose for the Hallelujah chorus -
0:54:20 > 0:54:24at some point, the King must have risen.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27And of course when the King gets to his feet,
0:54:27 > 0:54:28everybody gets to his feet.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:54:30 > 0:54:31# Hallelujah!
0:54:31 > 0:54:33# Hallelujah... #
0:54:33 > 0:54:36The reversals are astonishing.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41Music at the Abbey had once honoured kings -
0:54:41 > 0:54:44now the King led the nation in worshipping music.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51And music written to the glory of God became instead
0:54:51 > 0:54:54part of the cult of the musician Handel.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59# Hallelujah
0:55:02 > 0:55:06# The kingdom of this world
0:55:09 > 0:55:12# Is become
0:55:12 > 0:55:17# The kingdom of our Lord
0:55:17 > 0:55:19# And of his Christ
0:55:19 > 0:55:22# And of his Christ. #
0:55:22 > 0:55:29The 1784 celebrations featured 250 singers and 250 instrumentalists.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34The British had acquired a taste for musical giganticism.
0:55:36 > 0:55:42All the newspaper reports emphasise scale, numbers, power of sound.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46So this is literally the music of a great power.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It's booming brass and sounding drum.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52# For ever and ever
0:55:52 > 0:55:54# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! #
0:55:54 > 0:55:58All the time, the fusion of the sacred and the soldierly,
0:55:58 > 0:56:03the sacred and the military, it becomes the language of ceremony.
0:56:03 > 0:56:04# King of kings
0:56:04 > 0:56:07# For ever and ever
0:56:07 > 0:56:09# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:56:09 > 0:56:12# And lord of lords. #
0:56:12 > 0:56:16The commemoration was repeated at the Abbey in following years,
0:56:16 > 0:56:18with ever growing numbers of musicians,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and then replicated across the country.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23To this day, of course,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Messiah is a favourite of British choirs everywhere.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29# King of kings
0:56:29 > 0:56:32# And lord of lords. #
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Everything that Handel gave to Great Britain is exemplified
0:56:36 > 0:56:40by this one work - above all, the way he uses the music to serve
0:56:40 > 0:56:44the power and majesty of the English language itself.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47# King of kings
0:56:47 > 0:56:49# For ever and ever
0:56:49 > 0:56:51# And lord of lords
0:56:51 > 0:56:54# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! #
0:56:54 > 0:56:58It was the approach he'd first taken with the coronation anthems,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01then perfected with the oratorios.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04# King of kings. #
0:57:04 > 0:57:06At the beginning of the 18th century,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09the Act of Union gave life to Great Britain.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13By the end of the century, the new superpower had, at last,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19found its musical voice - thanks to Handel, and his royal patrons.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22# For ever and ever
0:57:22 > 0:57:24# Hallelujah
0:57:24 > 0:57:26# Hallelujah
0:57:26 > 0:57:27# Hallelujah
0:57:27 > 0:57:28# Hallelujah
0:57:31 > 0:57:39# Hallelujah! #
0:57:42 > 0:57:44Next time, our story comes to its end.
0:57:44 > 0:57:51# And did those feet in ancient time
0:57:51 > 0:57:53# Walk... #
0:57:53 > 0:57:56The Monarchy rediscovers its sacred role
0:57:56 > 0:57:58in response to scandal and crises.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03Royal pageantry is reinvented, with spectacular success.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07And royal patronage creates the greatest generation of British
0:58:07 > 0:58:10composers for several centuries.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14It defines the sound of a nation in the age of imperial power.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18# And did the countenance divine
0:58:18 > 0:58:26# Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
0:58:26 > 0:58:34# And was Jerusalem builded here
0:58:34 > 0:58:40# Among those dark satanic mills? #
0:58:42 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd