William Walton - Belshazzar's Feast Masterworks: Six Pieces of Britain

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# Praise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# The god of gold

CHORUS: # Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye-e-e

# The go-o-od o-o-of

# Go-o-old

# Praise ye, the god of silver... #

Leeds Town Hall and a score that breathes England's choral tradition.

It's gone on to become a robust bastion of the repertoire.

# Praise ye, the god of iron

# Praise ye, the god of iron... #

This programme brings Walton's oratorio, Belshazzar's Feast,

back to the city in which it was first performed nearly 70 years ago.

# Praise ye, the god of wood... #

Belshazzar's Feast, I think, is one of the great choral works of the century.

# Praise ye, the god of stone

# Praise ye, the god of brass

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# The god of bra-a-ass... #

'Belshazzar's Feast comes from a long tradition of choral music in England,

'especially in the north of England.'

At 33, I would like less from the tenors, but I want to hear the orchestra here.

Walton grew up in this milieu, and also with the brass band.

Brass bands, can you play this standing?

'Walton was very happy, I think,

'when someone suggested he should have two brass bands in addition to a symphony orchestra,

'so he grabbed it as a true northerner would.'

Let's... Can we try it, please?

# Prai-ai-aise ye-e-e... #

It's very punchy, very daring. It departs from what we understand oratories to be.

It makes this bold statement using rhythms and certain instruments

that have hardly ever been recognised and accepted

as something to make a religious statement.

Once again.

For this performance, the BBC Symphony Chorus is joined by the Leeds Festival Chorus,

who originally gave the premiere.

# ..By the wa-a-aters

# Of Babylon

# By the wa-a-aters of Babylon... #

'The structure of the piece is very clear.

'You have this opening lamentation, "By the waters of Babylon

"we sat down and wept".

# ..Where we wept

# Where we wept... #

'It's very much in the English tradition, harmonically.'

There's this sense of bitter-sweetness, as I say,

and a melancholic sense that runs through a lot of English music through the centuries.

The work goes on to depict the worship of pagan gods at the Feast of the Babylonian king, Belshazzar.

Then, there's his dramatic fall as a mysterious hand condemns him with Writing On The Wall.

The music ends with the hallelujahs of the Israelites freed from captivity in Babylon.

Let's do a little Handel.

'The supreme choral work, of course, that all our choral societies have lived on is the Messiah.'

ORGANIST PLAYS INTRO TO "Handel's Messiah"

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah...! #

'The most famous chorus from the Messiah is the Hallelujah Chorus

'and that must have been somewhere in the back of Walton's mind

'when he wrote his own hallelujahs in his piece, as the Israelites rejoice at the defeat of Babylon.'

# ..Hallelujah! Hallelujah...! #

Walton's hallelujahs have much more bounce and are more 20th century - they swing in a way Handel doesn't!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Praise ye... #

When you say, "Hallelu-u-ujah", make sure that's really full.

# Hallelu-ujah! Hallelu-u-ujah! #

Hallelujah Chorus stands there as one of the great tributes to God.

'Walton's hallelujahs are bound to man and his elation at the expense of somebody else.

'That's a feeling that comes very definitely across.'

# ..Praise ye, the go-o-ods

# Praise ye, the gods... #

'I think Belshazzar's Feast represents a reaffirmation'

of the fact that the English choral tradition is not dead

and can be renewed by a genius.

William Walton was born in the industrial Lancashire town of Oldham,

but seemed keen to escape it.

Walton had little to say about Oldham, but then he WAS a reluctant interviewee.

Your home life when you were a boy in Oldham -

that wasn't grand or posh, was it?

It was not at all, anything but.

-Tough?

-Tough it was, yes.

William was a very private person, so he felt offended at questions.

So he had a wonderful solution. He used to say yes, no or maybe.

-Could you look after yourself on a desert island?

-Yes.

-Cook?

-No. Yes.

The poor interviewer didn't know what to say!

I'm a bit stuck here!

Even Ted Heath told me once that when he saw William, he said,

"That's the solution! Say yes, no or maybe."

-I can't tell you how I do it.

-I won't press you further.

-Are you busy writing on Ischia? Are we going to hear...?

-Not really, no.

-Do you ever turn to Facade?

-Not if I can help it.

William, isn't it time we had a full-length biography of you?

Er...I don't think just yet, no. I'm rather young for that.

This is where William Walton was born - at 93 Werneth Hall Road

in March 1902.

It's hardly the most deprived area. It's a better-off area of Oldham.

Both my parents were singers. My father, in particular, was choirmaster

in the local church of St John's, and he made me sing in it.

I loathed it. He used to rap me over the knuckles when I sang a wrong note.

That way I learnt to be rather accurate.

# Drop, dro-op, dro-op, dro-o-op

# Drop, dro-op, dro-op... #

Here we are in the church where Walton's father was organist and choirmaster for over 20 years.

Looking around us now, it's a carpet shop!

Young Walton learnt to sing here.

It's said he could sing the Messiah from memory before he could speak!

I think this is where the seeds of Belshazzar's Feast were sown.

# ..Prince of pea-ea-eace

# Cease not

# Cease not, wet eyes... #

This small piece was written by Walton when he was 14 and lay in a library in America until I found it.

As far as I know, this is its first performance.

# ..To cry-y-y for vengeance

# Sin doth never cea-ease... #

For a small boy of 14, the harmony is very sophisticated.

# ..Drop, dro-op, drop Dro-o-op... #

He hadn't had much harmony tuition.

I suspect he acquired this knowledge from singing a lot of church music

before he went to Oxford.

It's not the music you expect from a schoolboy.

# ..In you-our

# Dee-ee-eep floo-oo-ood

# Drown all

# My faults

# And fea-ea-ears... #

His mother saw an advert for a choral scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford,

and so they arranged to go to Oxford by train to have an oral examination.

Family legend says the money which had been saved for the train journey

was taken by Father down to the pub the night before and spent on booze.

When the mother came to look for it the next morning, it had all gone.

She had to borrow the train fare, they caught a later train, they missed the time for the examination,

but the examiner very kindly heard William and gave him the place.

From Christ Church Choir School, Walton became an undergraduate at Oxford,

but despite musical promise, he didn't do well academically.

One valuable achievement was to befriend Sacheverell Sitwell, the youngest of that fashionable family.

So when Walton was sent down, the Sitwells asked him to London and he didn't have to go back to Oldham.

William wouldn't come back to Oldham because there was no chance then of making a living as a composer.

There was very little chance anywhere else

so he was lucky to meet the Sitwells who put a roof over him and kept him under a comfy umbrella for 15 years!

Otherwise, William would have never been heard of, ever!

In all the right London circles, the Sitwell family were making a name for themselves.

Osbert, Edith and Sacheverell's belief in Walton as a composer led to Facade, which put him on the map.

He set Edith's eccentric poems, which she recited from behind a curtain, through a megaphone.

It was interesting to see him work on these poems, because he wrote so quickly

and is not very fond of poetry, but he has an instinct for words.

It was remarkable for a boy under 20.

# Daisy and Lily

# Lazy and silly

# Walk by the shore of the wan grassy sea

# Talking once more 'Neath a swan bosomed tree

# Rose castles, tourelles Those bustles where swells

# Each foam-bell of ermine They roam and determine

# What fashions have been and what fashions will be

# What tartan leaves born What crinolenes worn. #

Facade is very much influenced by jazz and popular music

and he took the brilliance of the jazz world and married it to the texts.

Edith Sitwell was a remarkable explorer of words,

but without Walton's music, we wouldn't remember these poems now.

# Tra-la-la!

# See me dance the polka Said Mr Wagg like a bear

# With my top hat and my whiskers that tra-la-la trap the fair

# Where the waves seem chiming haycocks, I dance the polka there

# Stand Venus's children in gay frocks, maroon and marine and stare

-# To see me fire my pistol

-Through the distance blue as my coat

# Like Wellington, Byron the Marquis of Bristol Busbied great trees float

# While the wheezing hurdy gurdy Of the marine wind blows me

# To the tune of Annie Rooney sturdy over the sheafs of the sea

# And bright as a seedsman's packet With zinias, candy-tufts chill

-# Is Mrs Marigold's jacket

-As she gapes at the inn door still

# At dawn in the box of the sailor Blue as the decks of the sea

# Nelson awoke, crowed like the cocks, back to the dust sank he

# And Robinson Crusoe rues so The bright and foxy beer

# But he finds fresh isles in a negress' smiles, the poxy doxy dear

-# As they watch me dance the polka

-Said Mr Wagg like a bear

-# In my top hat...

-And my whiskers that...

-Tra-la-la trap the fair

# Tra-la-la-la tra-la-la-la-la! #

Walton did spend some time when he was short of cash, which was most of the time in this period,

writing foxtrots for the Savoy house orchestra,

and there are legacies from Facade

and the time when he was fascinated by jazz in Belshazzar's Feast.

A saxophone is in the orchestra.

I can't think of any holy piece up to that period which had a saxophone in use!

This is followed by a passage for the chorus which again shows the syncopated feel...in...

# Babylon, Belshazzar the King made a grea-ea-eat feast

# MADE a feast to... #

And so on, which is kind of swung.

# In Ba-a-abylon

# Belshazzar the King Made a grea-ea-eat feast

# Made a feast to a thousand of his lords

# And drank wine before the thousand... #

The commission for Belshazzar's Feast was one of the first given by the BBC to a British composer.

The BBC suggested I write a piece on a subject everybody knew about.

It sounds simple to find such a subject. It isn't, really.

Osbert Sitwell suggested Belshazzar's Feast and The Writing On The Wall,

which is a fairly universal subject.

The first London performance was broadcast in November of 1931,

but it had been premiered in Leeds Town Hall in October, conducted by Malcolm Sargent.

-I was there, terrified. It sounded like nothing on earth,

-I

-thought!

-What did the audience think?

-They were mesmerised into accepting it.

DRILL DRONES

The Town Hall was opened in 1858. It was designed by Cuthbert Broderick

and is where the Leeds Festival Chorus does most of its concerts.

Ever since 1858, the chorus has been singing here,

and in 1931 the hall would have looked as it looks now.

The hall was revamped to original specifications not too long ago,

and the crushed strawberry pillars came as quite a shock to the singers.

It is in a long line of very notable northern town halls,

and especially notable for the moralistic slogans - "Trial by jury",

"Honesty is the best policy", etc.

It's a great uplifting experience to sing in here and see these things.

-# Boom...boom...boom! #

-Yes, absolutely!

-It's frustrating, isn't it, playing piano...

-If you're so inadequate.

-Yes.

For this Masterworks performance, the BBC's Symphony Chorus and Leeds Festival Chorus are joining forces.

In the Clothworkers' Hall,

this is their first rehearsal together with Andrew Davis and BBC chorusmaster Stephen Jackson.

It falls to me

to say what an enormous pleasure it is for the BBC Symphony Chorus to join you.

It's a bit complicated in that we have firsts and seconds in the BBC

in both choir one and choir two,

so that you might just find yourself standing next to somebody singing a part that you would not expect.

This is either because the person has not been to enough rehearsals, or for better reasons.

# By the wa-a-aters...

# By the wa-a-aters

# Of Babylon... #

Belshazzar's Feast is notorious for the problems it gave the choir at the first performance,

and, despite familiarity, it still has its challenges, even for experienced choruses.

# ..There we sat down

# Yea, we wept

# We-e-ept

# Yea, we wept

# We-e-ept... #

'We didn't do very well there, did we?'

Um...

Yeah.

Belshazzar is the icing on the cake for the Leeds Festival Chorus.

We've had music from Elgar, Parry, Sullivan, Dvorak and, more recently, Michael Berkeley and others,

but Belshazzar has just taken off ever since we did it in 1931.

It's a great experience and we are very proud it is part of our history.

This is my father's score of Belshazzar's Feast from 1931.

He has sung from it many times since.

It was autographed by William Walton.

It's always been in the family and will always stay there.

I don't want any Sunday morning sound here.

The altos are still flat on page 17, the sopranos are still flat on 18, so we need the works.

Upbeat to the bar before nine.

# ..Above my chief joy

# Jeru-u-usalem

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Jeru-u-usalem

# Jeru-u-usalem... #

Down, down, down.

Less.

My father was in the Leeds Chorus when the first performance was given.

He told my mother that it was a very strange piece, quite unusual, he'd never sung anything like it before,

and wasn't quite sure what he felt about it.

As rehearsals progressed, he got excited about it.

He told my mum, "Whichever concert you come to, come to this one. It's going to be really something!"

# ..Praise ye

# Praise ye! Praise ye! Praise ye! Praise ye...! #

This whole thing wants to swing a bit more.

It's all too straight English choral tradition.

I've been in Leeds Festival Chorus a long time and so was my father. We were in the Chorus together.

When I first sang Belshazzar, I remember saying how difficult I found it,

and he said to me, "How do you think we first coped with it in 1931?"

Give me more of the actions and really... # Grea-ea-eat! #

Bit more Count Basie, if you know what I mean.

# Prai-ai-aise ye!

# Praise ye... #

Belshazzar's Feast was seen, when it first appeared, as very radical,

but underneath the superficial modernity of it,

there's a lot that does link it to the past.

It had its new qualities, but basically it's a glorious panoply,

a great use of chorus and orchestra in a huge sort of romp.

MUSIC DROWNS SINGING

Leeds Festival Chorus mythology has it that the brass bands were placed on either side of the organ.

We've tried it in different places, but I think it's better up there.

Although William was born in Oldham, he had never used brass bands,

so this was the first opportunity he had to blow his own trumpet!

It is a marvellous effect, this sound reverberating from one side of the hall to the other.

'Only once or twice in the life of each of us comes such a day as this,

'when we realise that we're watching history in the making,

'when future generations will look back on this day.'

The authorities in England were very impressed with Belshazzar's Feast

and asked William to write the first Coronation March.

They realised they had a man who could produce the grand sound you'd have for a coronation,

and William was so thrilled because Crown Imperial was so enormously successful.

Walton's English "Pomp and Circumstance" style

was part of an amazing creative output in the '20s and '30s, including the First Symphony,

his first major work after Belshazzar.

The fast scherzo of the symphony is quite original and it's a legacy from Belshazzar.

This brilliant, hard-edged writing and the brutality of some of it is taken from the choral piece,

but put into more abstract symphonic terms.

Good. Could you in the strings really GRIP this first note - "rag-a-dum" - each time it happens?

Very biting and nasty everywhere.

DRUMS AND VIOLINS CREATE MENACING TONE

The scherzo is marked "com malizia" - "with malice" -

and he needn't have written it, really, because it's so obvious!

There's a dangerous quality that is present in much of the culture of Europe between the two world wars.

This dynamic rhythm and energy is one side of Walton's music.

But there's also a great lyrical beauty in which the Sitwells had a hand.

The day the Sitwells took William to Italy

was one of the best turns they did him,

because Italy became so important to him and influenced his music

and, of course, eventually he lived there for the major part of his life.

The beginning of the Violin Concerto, commissioned by Jascha Heifetz, then the world's greatest violinist,

was probably the most beautiful tune he ever wrote.

Oh, it really does convey this wonderful sense of Mediterranean sunlight and sunshine

and lazy afternoons, and also of love.

SUSANA WALTON: Italy was a most enormous influence in William's life.

As he came from Oldham, and the weather there is rather on the grey side,

the moment William was brought by the Sitwells to Amalfi, he discovered a new world -

the light!

This is the main thing for a composer.

You write on white paper with black lines in a pencil or a pen

and you always in England must have electric light.

Here, the light was white and he could work without an electric light.

This made an enormous difference.

Walton first came to Ischia with his wife Susana just after the war,

and then in 1961 they built this house and garden as an environment in which Walton could work.

The garden was designed by Russell Page. It's now one of the most magnificent in the Mediterranean.

The langour of the Violin Concerto might seem to belong to a very different world to Belshazzar,

but all may not be what it seems.

I think it's not the sort of music

that you can lean back and let it bask all over you.

On its world premiere they spoke about it being a personal, intense, direct and straightforward piece,

which, for me, says frankly rather more about Oldham than Ischia.

There's something all the time urging the music forward

and there is that same quality there in so much of his music.

There's a quirkiness about his music, there's a twinkle in the eye.

Only he could have written it.

Great.

That was great.

MUSICAL CLOCK CHIMES

-How does Oldham regard Walton?

-He was a bit of a forgotten figure. He moved to Italy

and he only came back to visit his mum.

It was only after his death that people began to remember him again.

-Is there a permanent memorial?

-We're doing two things.

There's a living memorial in the annual Walton Festival,

and in this shopping centre there's a permanent memorial!

You've seen the clock which chimes a bit of Crown Imperial every hour.

-Just a reminder.

-I'm sure the shoppers say, "That's Crown Imperial"(!)

If one more does every day, good!

-Up here there's some very beautiful coloured glass.

-This was a tribute by fellow Oldhamer, Brian Clark,

and it tells his life through these tableaux.

This one looks at his letter home to his mum from Oxford, asking for money when he was 16,

and takes us through to a page of Belshazzar's Feast.

-You get a flavour of Italy.

-He'd have liked the palm trees.

I think you do get a feeling of what it might have been like to sit and soak up the sun, even in Oldham.

I don't think William's music ever came easily, and he used to say

it was worse than having a baby - it lasted longer and was more painful.

But Belshazzar was one of the wonderful occasions in William's life when everything came together.

I don't hear enough gong.

It needs as much low pitch as you can give it.

'The overall structure of the piece is extremely satisfying.'

The tension builds up and then just at the right moment something happens to release it,

the most marvellous one being, of course, The Writing On The Wall.

It's one example of Walton's very imaginative use of the orchestra.

# And if this was the writing that was written... #

'The castanets making a creaking noise, low moanings in the percussion and the double basses.'

# ..Mene

# Tekel upha-a-arsin... #

'It's one of the eeriest passages in music.'

# Thou art weighed in the balance

# And found wa-a-anting

# In that night was Belsha-a-azzar the King slain

# SLAIN

# And his kingdom divided... #

I never thought I'd have to do this,

but "slain" sounds a bit cheerful.

Coming out of this really sort of creepy music,

it now needs to sound very shocked and horrified and ghastly, really.

Let's do a ghastly "slain" once just to...

"Slain!"

"Slain".

SLAIN!

Oh, yes, that's better.

I think when the dust settles, we will see Walton as a very important figure who did break new ground

and we do wonder at the sheer barbaric splendour of it all.

I think it continued a glorious tradition,

yet showed a new direction this tradition could move in.

'Belshazzar is one of these landmark pieces.'

He wanted a splendid, dramatic work for a choral festival and that's what he gave us, without any frills.

That's why it's such a damn good piece.

# Thou spake Isaia-a-ah

# Thy sons that thou shalt beget

# They shall be taken away

# And be eunuchs

# In the palace of the Ki-i-ing of Babylon

# Ho-o-owl ye

# Ho-o-owl ye

# Therefore

# For the day

# Of the Lo-o-ord

# Is at ha-a-and

# By the waters

# By the wa-a-aters

# Of Babylon

# By the wa-a-aters of Babylon

# There we sat down

# There we sat down

# Yea, we we-e-ept

# We-e-ept

# Yea, we we-e-ept

# We-e-ept

# And ha-a-anged

# Our ha-a-arps

# Upon the wi-i-illows

# For they, they that hath wasted us

# Wasted us

# Required of us mirth Mirth

# They that carried us away captive

# Captive

# Required of us a song

# Song

# Sing us one of the songs of Zion

# Sing us one of the songs of Zion

# How shall we si-i-ing the Lord's so-o-ong?

# How shall we si-i-ing

# The Lo-o-ord's song

# How shall we si-i-ing

# The Lord's song

# In a stra-a-ange

# La-a-and?

# In a stra-a-ange

# La-a-and?

# I-I-If I forge-e-et thee

# Forge-e-et thee

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Oh, Jerusalem

# Let my right hand forget her cunning

# Let my right hand forget her cunning

# If I do not remember thee-ee

# Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth

# Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth

# Yea, if I prefer not

# Jerusale-e-em

# If I prefer not Jerusalem

# Jeru-u-usalem

# Above my-y-y chief jo-o-oy

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Oh, Jeru-u-usalem

# Jeru-u-usalem

# If I prefer not thee

# Above my chief

# Jo-o-oy

# By the wa-a-aters

# Of Babylon

# By the wa-a-aters

# Of Babylon

# There we sat do-o-own

# Yea, we we-e-ept

# We we-e-ept

# Yea, we we-e-ept

# O daughter of Babylon Who art to be destroyed

# Happy shall he be that taketh thy children

# And dasheth them against a stone

# For violence

# Shall that great city Babylon

# Be thrown down

# Thrown down

# Thrown down

# And shall be found

# Shall be found

# No more at a-a-all

# No more at a-a-all

# Shall be fou-ou-ound

# No mo-o-ore

# At a-a-all

# Ba-a-abylon was a great city

# Her merchandise was of gold and silver

# Of precious stones, of pearls Of fine linen

# Of purple silk and scarlet

# All manner vessels of ivory

# All manner vessels of most precious wood

# Of brass, iron and marble

# Cinnamon, odours and ointments

# Of frankincense, wine and oil

# Fine flour, wheat and beasts

# Sheep, horses, cha-a-ariots

# Sla-a-aves

# And the sou-ou-ouls

# Of me-e-en

# In Ba-a-abylon

# Belshazzar the King made a great feast

# Made a feast to a thousand of his lords

# And drank wine before the thousand

# Belshazzar

# Whiles he tasted the wine comma-a-anded us

# To bring the gold and silver vessels

# Yea, the golden vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out

# Of the temple that was in Jeru-u-usalem

# He commanded us to bring the golden vessels

# Of the temple of the house of God

# That the King, his princes His wives

# And his concubines might dri-i-ink therein

# Then the King comma-a-anded us

# The Ki-i-ing commanded us

# Bring ye the cornet

# Flute, sackbut, psaltery

# And all kinds of mu-u-usic

# All kinds of music

# They drank wine again

# The-e-ey drank from the sacred vessels

# And the-e-en

# Spa-a-ake

# The-e-en spake

# The Ki-i-ing

# Praise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# The god of go-o-old

# Prai-ai-aise ye-e-e

# Prai-ai-aise ye-e-e

# The god of go-o-old

# Prai-ai-aise ye, the god of silver God of silver

# Prai-aise ye, the god of iron Praise ye, the god of iron

# Praise ye, the god of wood

# Praise ye, the god of stone

# Praise ye Praise ye, the god of brass

# Praise ye

# Praise ye, the god of brass

# Praise ye

# Praise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Praise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Praise ye, praise ye

# Praise ye, the gods

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Praise ye-e-e

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# Praise ye

# Praise ye

# Prai-ai-aise ye

# The go-o-ods

# Prai-ai-aise ye-e-e

# Praise ye-e-e

# The go-o-ods

# Thus in Babylon the mighty city

# Belshazzar the King made a great feast

# To a thousand of his lords

# And drank wine before the thousand

# Belsha-a-azzar whiles he tasted the wine

# Commanded us to bring the gold and silver vessels

# That his princes, his wives

# And his co-o-oncubines

# His concubines

# Might rejoi-oi-oice

# And drink therein

# After they had praised their strange gods

# The idols and the devils

# False gods

# False gods who can neither see nor hear

# Called they for the ti-i-imbrel

# And the pleasant harp

# To extol the glo-o-ory

# O-O-Of

# The Ki-i-ing

# Then they pledged the King before the people

# Crying

# Thou-ou-ou, O Ki-i-ing

# Art Ki-i-ing

# Of Ki-i-ings

# O Ki-i-ing

# O Ki-i-ing

# Li-i-ive

# For e-e-ever

# Live for ever, live for ever

# Live for e-e-ever

# And in that same hour

# As they fea-ea-easted

# Came forth fingers of a man's ha-a-and

# And the King saw the part of the hand that wrote

# And this was the writing that was written

# Mene

# Mene

# Tekel upha-a-arsin

# Thou art weighed in the balance

# And found wanting

# In that night

# Was Belsha-a-azzar the King

# Slain

-# SLAIN

-And his ki-i-ingdom divided

# Then sing aloud to God our strength

# Make a joyful noise unto the God The God of Jacob

# Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob

# Take a psalm Bring hither the ti-i-imbrel

# Blow up the trumpet Blow the trumpet in the new moon

# Blow up the trumpet Blow the trumpet in the new moon

# Blow the trumpet Blow the trumpet

# Blow the trumpet Blow the trumpet

# Blow the trumpet Blow the trumpet

# In Zi-i-ion

# For Ba-a-abylon the great

# Babylon is fallen Babylon is fallen

# Fallen

# Fa-a-allen

# Fa-a-allen

# Fa-a-allen

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Then sing Sing aloud to God our strength

# Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob

# Then sing Sing aloud to God our strength

# Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob

# While the Kings of the ea-ea-earth

# Lame-e-ent

# And the merchants of the ea-ea-earth weep

# Wai-ai-ail

# Wee-ee-eep

# Wai-ai-ail, wee-ee-eep

# Wail and rend their raiment

# Rend their rai-ai-aiment

# They cry alas that grea-ea-eat city

# A-A-Alas that great city

# A-A-Alas that great city-y-y

# In o-o-one hou-ou-our

# Is her ju-u-udgment come

# In one hour

# Is her ju-u-udgment

# Co-o-ome

# The trumpeters and pi-i-ipers are silent

# And the harpers have ceased

# To ha-a-arp

# And the li-i-ight

# Of a candle shall shine no mo-o-ore

# Shall shi-i-ine no more

# Shine no mo-o-ore

# No-o-o mo-o-ore

# Shall shi-i-ine

# No-o-o

# Mo-o-ore

# Then sing

# Sing aloud

# Sing aloud to God our strength

# Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob

# Then sing Sing aloud to God our strength

# For Babylon Babylon the great is fallen

# Sing aloud for Babylon is fallen

# Sing Sing aloud for Babylon is fallen

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelu-u-ujah

# Hallelu-u-ujah

# Hallelu-u-ujah

# Hallelu-u-ujah

# Hallelu-u-ujah

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Ha-lle-lujah!

# Then si-i-ing

# Sing alou-ou-oud

# To God our stre-e-ength

# Make a joyfu-u-ul noi-oi-oise

# To the God of Jaco-o-ob

# Then sing

# Sing alou-ou-oud

# Sing alou-ou-oud

# Sing aloud

# To God our strength

# For great Babylon's fallen

# Great Babylon's fallen

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelu-u-u

# Hallelu-u-u

# Hallelu-u-u

# Hallelu-u-u

# Hallelu-u-ujah!

# Ha-a-allelu-u-ujah! #

MUSIC BOX PLAYS TUNE FROM "Facade"

Subtitles by Keir Murray BBC Scotland - 1999