0:00:06 > 0:00:09From Glastonbury to Glyndebourne, from the glitter of London's
0:00:09 > 0:00:12West End shows to our thriving regional choirs
0:00:12 > 0:00:16and amateur orchestras, Britain today is alive with music.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21But while we think of the 21st century
0:00:21 > 0:00:26as the era of impresarios and celebrities, gossip magazines
0:00:26 > 0:00:29and social networking, pop stars and groupies,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33all these were first forged in the energy and inventiveness
0:00:33 > 0:00:34of 18th-century Britain.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41In this series I've seen how music was a galvanising force,
0:00:41 > 0:00:45creating a powerful sense of identity in the new nation state
0:00:45 > 0:00:47of Great Britain.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And I've experienced the heady pleasures of the moneyed classes
0:00:50 > 0:00:53eager for glamour, leisure and musical novelty.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01But as the century went on the quest for empty pleasure and sensation
0:01:01 > 0:01:07was wearing thin. Britain acquired a new seriousness of purpose.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11It was a society in search of the sublime and the perfect.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18This green and pleasant land was becoming more urban and industrial.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21People began to search for a new model of society,
0:01:21 > 0:01:26digging deep into their own pasts to find a blueprint for the future.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Religious evangelists blazed a trail of spiritual idealism
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and a new social conscience gave voice to Britain's have nots -
0:01:34 > 0:01:37the poor, the dispossessed and the enslaved.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40MUSIC SUNG: "The Negro's Complaint" by William Cowper
0:01:40 > 0:01:43# Men from England bought and sold me
0:01:43 > 0:01:47# Paid my price in paltry gold... #
0:01:47 > 0:01:53Music now channelled righteousness and virtue into every British heart.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57# Minds are never to be sold. #
0:02:12 > 0:02:17"Up in the forest of Rossendale," wrote a Lancashire author,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20"there is a little-known valley, a green cup in the mountains
0:02:20 > 0:02:24"called Dean. The inhabitants of this valley are so notable
0:02:24 > 0:02:27"for their love of music that they are known all through the
0:02:27 > 0:02:32"vales of Rossendale as the Deighn Layrocks or the Larks of Dean."
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The Larks of Dean were a local Baptist choir
0:02:37 > 0:02:40who had come from miles around to make music together.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44In order to do so, they had to walk the paths that crisscrossed
0:02:44 > 0:02:47these moors, which are treacherous at best,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49and in winter, absolutely perilous.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52The fact that they were prepared to do it says a lot
0:02:52 > 0:02:57about their commitment to music and also to worship.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05When the Larks of Dean found their numbers growing so quickly
0:03:05 > 0:03:09they had to move to a bigger venue. one of their devoted members,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Lawrence Ashworth, trudged for miles over these moors
0:03:12 > 0:03:15lugging his much-loved old church seat with him
0:03:15 > 0:03:17to his new spiritual home.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25This is Goodshaw Chapel, built in 1760
0:03:25 > 0:03:28by a congregation of Baptists
0:03:28 > 0:03:31as a temple to music in the service of God.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40DOOR CLOSES
0:03:40 > 0:03:44What a blessed relief it must have been to turn up
0:03:44 > 0:03:48in this chapel after a long walk over the blustery moors.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51I think it's absolutely beautiful here. It's...
0:03:51 > 0:03:55It's small, it's completely unpretentious,
0:03:55 > 0:04:00simple flagstone floor and these lovely box pews,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04really small and intimate, a place to, to sing together,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07absolutely, as part of a community.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10And they must have sung their hearts out.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14It's said that in the chapel's heyday, the music could be heard
0:04:14 > 0:04:16in Cribden, two miles away.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21HYMN SINGING
0:04:21 > 0:04:24We can still here how they sounded because the Larks' original
0:04:24 > 0:04:27manuscripts were rediscovered by local enthusiasts
0:04:27 > 0:04:30and the tradition brought back to life in the 1990s.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41# A sovereign balm for every wound
0:04:41 > 0:04:44# A cordial for our fears
0:04:44 > 0:04:46# A sovereign balm for every wound... #
0:04:46 > 0:04:51It's not sombre music at all but full of red-blooded life and vigour.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56# Salvation! O Thou bleeding Lamb
0:04:56 > 0:04:58# Salvation...
0:04:58 > 0:05:00So, what is it then that connects you to
0:05:00 > 0:05:03what those 18th-century worshippers and singers were doing?
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Is it an emotional or a religious connection?
0:05:05 > 0:05:06Well, both really.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10It feels personal.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I'm from this area and it's part of my heritage, really.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17And something that you're determined to keep as a living tradition?
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Absolutely, a revived tradition
0:05:19 > 0:05:23because it was dead for a number of years.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26But we revived it, found all the old manuscripts again
0:05:26 > 0:05:30and studied them, and we sing it.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34What is it, then, that makes a Larks of Dean hymn to you?
0:05:34 > 0:05:37What gives it a special quality?
0:05:37 > 0:05:39The harmonies really.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43It's quite folky, in a way. There's nothing pretentious about it.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47# Salvation! Let the echo fly... #
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Not pretentious then but it was rich and complex music.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53There isn't one tune going on here,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57but four - all woven together in counterpoint.
0:05:59 > 0:06:06# While all the armies of the sky... #
0:06:06 > 0:06:11The original Larks of Dean, mostly hand-loom weavers or farm workers,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14were typical of working people across Britain who started
0:06:14 > 0:06:18using music as an escape from the toil of daily life.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Local composers developed.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Shoemakers, craftsmen of various sorts,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30in their spare time would write music, would take part in the choirs.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32It may not have been wonderful music by national
0:06:32 > 0:06:35or international standards but it was often quite intricate
0:06:35 > 0:06:37and exciting music to perform.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47Religious music was a kind of glue for rural communities
0:06:47 > 0:06:50but for many urban dwellers, in place of hope
0:06:50 > 0:06:53and self respect, there was poverty and despair.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59City slums were everywhere, known as rookeries
0:06:59 > 0:07:04because of their similarity to the filthy, jam-packed nests of rooks.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Across cities like London, Edinburgh
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and Manchester sanitation was virtually non-existent
0:07:10 > 0:07:13and dense alleyways and gloomy streets were home
0:07:13 > 0:07:15to the helpless and destitute.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20No wonder people self-medicated.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Drunkenness, starkly depicted by Hogarth in his scathing print,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30Gin Lane, was rife thanks to a flood of cheap alcohol.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37"Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for tuppence. Straw provided,"
0:07:37 > 0:07:41read the grimly welcoming sign at many a slum drinking joint.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47It's said the average Londoner consumed seven gallons of gin a year.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51The widespread depravity, disease
0:07:51 > 0:07:55and hopelessness began to prick the conscience of many Christians.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Increasingly, people were asking -
0:07:57 > 0:08:01"Where in our society is the love for one's neighbour,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03"where is our social justice,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07"where is God in all this grit and grubbiness?"
0:08:08 > 0:08:10For two devoutly religious brothers studying
0:08:10 > 0:08:15at Oxford University, the call to arms began in the 1720s.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17They started a movement to try
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and make a real difference in the lives of Britain's poorest people.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26They set up a small religious club, their aim - to replace the moral
0:08:26 > 0:08:28vacuum they saw all around them
0:08:28 > 0:08:31with the power of prayer and social action.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34They were John and Charles Wesley.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35They got up early each day,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38studied the Bible, visited the poor -
0:08:38 > 0:08:41their work carried out so methodically that they were
0:08:41 > 0:08:45called by their peers, as a sneering insult - 'the Methodists'.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51But the brothers were frustrated -
0:08:51 > 0:08:55their zeal to change lives was achieving little.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59The vital missing ingredient for success was revealed to them not
0:08:59 > 0:09:04in Britain at all, but on a voyage in 1735 to the American colonies.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09It was to be a transformative journey,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12but not in the way the Wesleys imagined.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Most of the passengers were English colonists
0:09:19 > 0:09:22but there were also 26 Moravians on board,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Protestant missionaries from Europe
0:09:24 > 0:09:28travelling to preach the gospel to the 'heathen American Indians'.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37One night, during the four- month-long journey to America,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41the Moravians had just begun singing their evening psalms, when a
0:09:41 > 0:09:45violent storm came up. It snapped the main mast of the ship in two.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50The wind lashed at them. The rain poured across the decks.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52The English passengers were running,
0:09:52 > 0:09:57screaming in fear for their lives, but the Moravians kept on singing.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Charles Wesley was overwhelmed with the power of their faith
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and the way that music bonded them to it.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17It was the music he encountered on that fateful sea voyage
0:10:17 > 0:10:20that was to be Charles's salvation.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24On his return to England, he began writing hymns in earnest and over
0:10:24 > 0:10:30the next 50 years he poured out some 9,000 of them, making him one of
0:10:30 > 0:10:34the most prolific and influential musical figures who ever lived.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41MUSIC SUNG: "Love Divine" by Charles Wesley
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Hymns like Charles Wesley's Love Divine are now part
0:10:51 > 0:10:55of the fabric of national life sung by many denominations
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and an essential feature of the great occasions of State.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00When they were created though,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04they couldn't have been further from the mainstream establishment.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Prior to going to America, as far as the Wesleys were concerned
0:11:08 > 0:11:12they would have accepted the norm of the day, which was that hymns
0:11:12 > 0:11:16were something you used for personal meditation and prayer.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20But they didn't see it as something that was sung by people,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23and certainly not in a congregational setting within a church,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27and the trip across to America is actually the pivotal point.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31It makes them realise that actually there is a power to hymn singing
0:11:31 > 0:11:36that is far greater than just meditating upon poetry.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40# Hark the herald angels sing... #
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Charles Wesley seized on existing music to set his words to.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Since then, each generation has set them to new tunes,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51making them some of the best-known verses in English.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57To their early followers, Methodism's power came as much
0:11:57 > 0:12:01through Charles's hymns as it did from his brother John's sermons.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07This wasn't music you sat and listened to inertly.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12It was music that you created - with your heart, your soul
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and, above all, your lungs.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Singing brought you closer to your fellow man and to God.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20It was a pathway to the sublime.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28# Glory to the newborn King. #
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The Wesleys' ground-breaking hymns were a radical challenge
0:12:38 > 0:12:42to the ultra-conservative Church of England.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45The brothers were banned from preaching in Anglican churches,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49so instead they held vast open-air meetings where crowds of up
0:12:49 > 0:12:52to 10,000 people would come and listen.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54The clergy were upset
0:12:54 > 0:12:59because they felt that these men were invading their parishes.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03The gentry were upset because they wrongly believed it was all
0:13:03 > 0:13:09a cover for political activity. They hired mobs to drown them out and
0:13:09 > 0:13:14that meant shouting verbal abuse. It meant throwing whatever you chose to
0:13:14 > 0:13:18throw at them - parts of dismembered cats and stones and bricks.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22It meant hosing them down with water, hiring bands to play music
0:13:22 > 0:13:24so you couldn't hear what they were saying.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28That didn't stop Charles Wesley, picking up music for his hymns.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Anything would do, as long as it roused a crowd.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34There were tunes from the theatre, the pub, the street
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and the quayside.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39There's a famous story of Charles on one occasion in Portsmouth
0:13:39 > 0:13:43hearing people sing a sea shanty song, to very rude words!
0:13:43 > 0:13:48And deciding he'd write a hymn to that tune.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57The Wesleys weren't revolutionaries but a groundswell of radical
0:13:57 > 0:14:02social change was given added momentum by their fervent hymns.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Their movement is a movement to encourage the ordinary person
0:14:07 > 0:14:11to realise that they can make a difference to their own life,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15and if enough of you change your lives then you begin to get the
0:14:15 > 0:14:19whole neighbourhood changing and then you begin to get society changing.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22So, inevitably there is a political outcome to this demand
0:14:22 > 0:14:26that you look at yourself and look at society and to change it.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Evangelical Christians felt they had an opportunity - if they could
0:14:32 > 0:14:36radicalise working communities, why not the entire country?
0:14:36 > 0:14:39They seized on one issue in particular.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Britain's maritime interests were expanding across the globe,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46making the nation rich.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50And the engine driving this consumer boom was the slave trade.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59The smarter parts of port cities like Bristol
0:14:59 > 0:15:03owe their existence to the great fortunes made from slavery.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Slaves were taken in chains from Africa,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11shipped to the West Indies in conditions of unspeakable indignity.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17The ships then sailed to Britain laden with rum and tobacco,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21cotton and sugar - all essentials for the well-to-do.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30But despite the riches that the slave trade brought
0:15:30 > 0:15:33to British merchants, and the luxury goods it placed on
0:15:33 > 0:15:36fashionable British tables, there was a growing realisation
0:15:36 > 0:15:39that slavery simply wasn't a defensible way
0:15:39 > 0:15:41of treating one's fellow man.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44MUSIC SUNG: "Amazing Grace" by John Newton
0:15:44 > 0:15:46# Amazing grace... #
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It was the slave trade that created one of the best-known
0:15:49 > 0:15:51songs ever written.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57The words of this famous hymn date from the 1770s.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01The tune we sing today was added several decades later.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13# I once was lost
0:16:13 > 0:16:19# But now I'm found
0:16:20 > 0:16:23# Was blind
0:16:23 > 0:16:29# But now I see. #
0:16:35 > 0:16:37"Amazing grace,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39"(how sweet the sound),
0:16:39 > 0:16:41"that sav'd a wretch like me.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44"I once was lost but now am found,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48"was blind but now I see."
0:16:48 > 0:16:52This anthem to salvation is as powerful today as it was
0:16:52 > 0:16:55when it was first published in 1779,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59and it's still one of the best-known songs of the English-speaking world.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It's the work of a man whose guilt drove him to save others,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09through the transformative power of music.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11This was a redemption song.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15But its author had only found the light after being plunged
0:17:15 > 0:17:17into the heart of darkness.
0:17:17 > 0:17:24# The hour I first believed... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Amazing Grace was written by John Newton.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34He'd been press-ganged into the navy and ended up by his own admission
0:17:34 > 0:17:38as a foul-mouthed unprincipled rake and a blackguard.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41He became a ship's captain in that most exploitative
0:17:41 > 0:17:44of 18th-century industries, the slave trade.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49And then he had an epiphany, during a terrifying storm at sea,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54when Newton said he finally felt "the gift of God's amazing grace".
0:17:55 > 0:18:01# We've no less days
0:18:01 > 0:18:07# To sing God's praise
0:18:09 > 0:18:16# Than when we've first begun. #
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Newton eventually became a Church of England clergyman.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Having renounced the evils of his former trade,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31he became one of the leading opponents of slavery.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Newton was convinced that the abolition of the slave trade could
0:18:43 > 0:18:48only happen through a combination of political activism and artistic
0:18:48 > 0:18:53rallying cries, what today we would call hard power and soft power.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58So, alongside lobbying politicians like William Pitt the Younger
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and putting pressure on parliament, Newton used music
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and poetry to advance his cause.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13By the late 1780s, there's a widely-based opposition
0:19:13 > 0:19:16to the slave trade and it recruits all the arts.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19So music is tremendously important, pottery, Wedgewood,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23of course, famously produces works to attack the slave trade
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and obviously literature and engravings.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29There is a whole range of attack and assault
0:19:29 > 0:19:33on the slave trade in the 1780s and 1790s.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38So the arts are very much signed up for a providential,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42reforming movement that helps to link people across the country.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50In 1788 Newton asked his friend, the poet William Cowper,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53to write something that would wake the British up
0:19:53 > 0:19:55to the evils of slavery.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01This is an original manuscript in Cowper's own hand
0:20:01 > 0:20:04of the brilliant polemical poem he produced.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08It's called The Negro's Complaint, and this is how it begins -
0:20:08 > 0:20:11"Forced from home and all its pleasures,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"Afric's coast I left forlorn,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"To increase a stranger's treasures,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20"O'er the raging billows borne..."
0:20:20 > 0:20:23This is the voice of a lone African slave,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26a voice of innocence, directness and simplicity.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31It doesn't advocate anger or rage or retribution.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36Instead this poem challenges us to look at our own prejudices,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39to look inside ourselves at our own hypocrisy.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44And, to me, it is that quiet challenge that makes this one of the
0:20:44 > 0:20:47most radical and revolutionary pieces of writing
0:20:47 > 0:20:49of the whole 18th century.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55And once it was set to music, there was no stopping its popularity.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57# Forced from home
0:20:57 > 0:20:59# And all its pleasures
0:20:59 > 0:21:04# Afric's coasts I left forlorn
0:21:04 > 0:21:09# To increase a stranger's treasures
0:21:09 > 0:21:13# O'er the raging billows borne
0:21:13 > 0:21:16# Men from England
0:21:16 > 0:21:18# Bought and sold me
0:21:18 > 0:21:23# Paid my price in paltry gold
0:21:23 > 0:21:28# But though slave they have enrolled me
0:21:28 > 0:21:33# Minds are never to be sold... #
0:21:33 > 0:21:37The Negro's Complaint, sung to a popular tune by Handel, was heard
0:21:37 > 0:21:41in pleasure gardens and published in colourful editions for children.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44It became a kind of campaigning anthem,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48as the movement to abolish slavery unstoppably gained ground.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53# Me to torture, me to task?
0:21:53 > 0:21:58# Fleecy locks and dark complexion
0:21:58 > 0:22:02# Cannot forfeit nature's claims
0:22:02 > 0:22:06# Skins may differ, but affection
0:22:06 > 0:22:11# Dwells with white and black the same
0:22:13 > 0:22:18# By our blood in Afric wasted
0:22:18 > 0:22:23# Ere our necks receiv'd the chain
0:22:23 > 0:22:27# By the miseries that we tasted
0:22:27 > 0:22:32# Crossing in your barks the main
0:22:32 > 0:22:37# By our suff'ring since ye bought us
0:22:37 > 0:22:41# To the man-degrading mart
0:22:41 > 0:22:46# All sustain'd by patience, taught us
0:22:46 > 0:22:52# Only by the broken heart. #
0:22:56 > 0:23:00It became impossible to ignore the effects of this mass,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03forced migration of people, not least
0:23:03 > 0:23:07because around 15,000 Africans were thought to be living in Britain.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Many were servants, or doomed to live on the streets in poverty,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14but some managed to rise through the ranks of society.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16The story of one of the most remarkable of them
0:23:16 > 0:23:18has only recently been rediscovered.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Joseph Emidy was a man with a passion for music.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27He arrived here in Cornwall
0:23:27 > 0:23:31and immediately threw himself into music-making of every sort -
0:23:31 > 0:23:35teaching, composing, performing, setting up a local orchestra.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39What made Emidy different from any other visiting musician
0:23:39 > 0:23:43was that he had travelled to Britain not as a free man but as a slave.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Emidy had been taken from Guinea in Africa
0:23:53 > 0:23:56and enslaved in Brazil around 1780.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00There, he'd been taught to play the violin to entertain his master.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Then he was freed and ended up in Lisbon,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06where he was hired as a violinist at the city's opera house.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10One evening, his playing caught the attention of a visiting
0:24:10 > 0:24:13British navy captain, Sir Edward Pellew.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Sir Edward asked one of his lieutenants to get together
0:24:17 > 0:24:19a press gang.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22The next night they jumped Emidy as he left the theatre,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25forcing him into the service of His Majesty's navy.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Joseph had been kidnapped for a second time.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36At the opera, Emidy had played the most refined and elegant music.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Now he was demeaned to playing cheap little ditties,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43jigs and hornpipes for the sailors aboard that creaky ship.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46And when he wasn't performing he was completely alone,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49shunned by the crew, confined to his quarters,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53he wasn't allowed a moment's shore leave in case he tried to escape.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01After four years confined to his quarters, Emidy was finally
0:25:01 > 0:25:04set free when the Indefatigable docked here in Falmouth.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And, at last, his fortunes began to change.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11There are reports of brilliant concerts and fizzing new pieces.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13The Cornish public loved him.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Joseph married a local woman and had eight children with her.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27He became a respected performer and composer,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31a well-regarded member of his new community.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Sadly for us, none of his music survives.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40He's buried in this quiet, unfussy graveyard in Truro.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Jack Buzza is his only surviving British descendant.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48I know you've spent years looking into what Joseph Emidy himself did.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52- Yes.- What was it that really impressed you about his achievements?
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Well, from humble beginnings,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59it was so fascinating to find someone like that, you know.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05To achieve as he did from playing in bars and on the seafront
0:26:05 > 0:26:08to running his own school, teaching all the gentry,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12then playing with all the gentry in Truro in the Assembly Rooms,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16then to be asked to play with the Philharmonic Orchestra.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21And just recently I found out he had the title Professor Joseph Emidy.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24And to end up as a professor,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26don't you think it's a beautiful achievement?
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Cos I do.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29HE CHUCKLES
0:26:31 > 0:26:36This painting is the only likeness of Emidy that survives.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40His triumph was that he lived long enough not only to be fully accepted
0:26:40 > 0:26:42and celebrated in society,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47but also to see slavery abolished across the British Empire in 1833.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53The religious and social awakening that had inspired
0:26:53 > 0:26:56the abolitionist movement had been slowly bubbling away
0:26:56 > 0:26:59in Britain for the best part of 100 years.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05But it wasn't all about rabble-rousers and evangelicals.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09From the 1730s, the social conscience of the British mainstream
0:27:09 > 0:27:11had started to be mobilised.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13As he'd done so many times before,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18a composer called George Frideric Handel saw an opportunity.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20FEMALE OPERA SINGING
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Handel built his early career on the British passion for Italian opera -
0:27:30 > 0:27:33tailored to the tastes of the aristocracy,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and written in a language that hardly anyone understood.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41The craze inevitably passed but Handel was determined to come up
0:27:41 > 0:27:45with something else to please his fickle public.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48ORATORIO SINGING
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Like the opera Handel had made so fashionable earlier in the century,
0:27:59 > 0:28:04oratorio was an Italian import but with a crucial difference.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07This was a Biblical drama, sung, but not "acted out".
0:28:07 > 0:28:10There were no costumes or scenery -
0:28:10 > 0:28:13making it respectable enough to be performed in church.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19It was sung in English, and unlike Italian opera where the spotlight
0:28:19 > 0:28:24was on virtuoso soloists, Handel's oratorios were all about the chorus.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28So many of Handel's oratorios have these great choruses in up to
0:28:28 > 0:28:32eight parts, and there's some evidence that he was aiming
0:28:32 > 0:28:35for what we might now call surround sound.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38You've got this sense of spaciousness and grandeur.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41The chorus...
0:28:41 > 0:28:46added a huge dimension to the sense for the audience that this
0:28:46 > 0:28:49was something they were all but participating in.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Here was a community.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53MUSIC SUNG: "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel
0:28:53 > 0:28:58# Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah... #
0:29:00 > 0:29:03I first sang Messiah as a young teenager so I thought I'd join
0:29:03 > 0:29:09a choir rehearsal to remind myself of the visceral thrill you get when
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Handel unleashes the full force of his musical imagination on a chorus.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:29:18 > 0:29:24# For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth
0:29:24 > 0:29:28# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! #
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Greg, Handel was a master of rousing mass emotions
0:29:31 > 0:29:35and he doesn't do it better, I think, than in the Messiah, does he?
0:29:35 > 0:29:37He knows exactly how to move you,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40he knows exactly what instruments to use at the right time.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42And he is a real master.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45The thing I think is so brilliant in a way is the simplicity.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49When you think of the Hallelujah Chorus and you get Ha-lle-lu-jah.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51It's so simple, it's a syllable to a note
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and he just slowly ratchets it up, doesn't he, as the thing goes on.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58Absolutely, and shifts key and takes it up one note at a time
0:29:58 > 0:30:01and that certainly increases the tension.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03# King of kings
0:30:03 > 0:30:05# For ever and ever
0:30:05 > 0:30:07# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:30:07 > 0:30:09# And Lord of lords
0:30:09 > 0:30:12# For ever and ever
0:30:12 > 0:30:14# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:30:14 > 0:30:16# King of kings
0:30:16 > 0:30:18# For ever and ever
0:30:18 > 0:30:20# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
0:30:20 > 0:30:22# And Lord of lords
0:30:22 > 0:30:24# King of kings
0:30:24 > 0:30:27# And Lord of lords... #
0:30:27 > 0:30:32Messiah was a triumph when it was first heard in Dublin in 1742.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35But a performance in a London theatre the following year
0:30:35 > 0:30:37was less successful.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Critics were scandalised that the sacred subject of Christ's life
0:30:40 > 0:30:44was being sung about in a place they saw as a den of iniquity.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50But Handel cracked how to make it a success - perform it for charity
0:30:50 > 0:30:53at the Foundling Hospital, an institution for abandoned babies,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and you guaranteed the British public would love it.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00# King of kings And Lord of lords... #
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Staging oratorios became particularly associated with
0:31:03 > 0:31:05raising money for charitable sources
0:31:05 > 0:31:07so it reinforces this element of morality
0:31:07 > 0:31:11that you are performing your civic and your moral duty.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16So the combination of morality, virtue, philanthropy,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20plus artistic excellence, which the oratorio could offer,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23was a very winning combination.
0:31:23 > 0:31:33# Hallelujah! #
0:31:33 > 0:31:38The audiences at an oratorio listened in hushed silence.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42This wasn't about concert-going to see and be seen.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45More, it was an opportunity for contemplation
0:31:45 > 0:31:49and spiritual reflection, a kind of sacred activity in itself.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Handel, for England, represented this turning point.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00The great English tradition of hymn singing is, interestingly,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04born around the same time as the great English tradition of oratorio.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Handel's oratorios provided a way
0:32:06 > 0:32:10for bringing communities together in musical terms.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Across England, music societies sprang up
0:32:13 > 0:32:17to perform these works in tiny, tiny places.
0:32:17 > 0:32:23And we mustn't forget the power of communal song.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28In the 18th century, the idea that choral singing could have
0:32:28 > 0:32:32this effect of uniting the nation was a relatively new one.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39As the go-to composer for pretty much any state occasion,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Handel was in a unique position
0:32:41 > 0:32:44to harness the forces of Protestantism, nationhood
0:32:44 > 0:32:48and communal singing and to channel them into a musical product
0:32:48 > 0:32:53that reinforced Britain's idea of its own special destiny.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56The Britons saw themselves as being the modern version
0:32:56 > 0:32:59of the chosen people of the Old Testament.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04They were God's people now as the Israelites had been then.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08And Handel's oratorios really established Handel
0:33:08 > 0:33:11as our national composer,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15largely because, I think, of Handel's association
0:33:15 > 0:33:18of his music with Protestantism
0:33:18 > 0:33:24and the great association of political identity in Britain
0:33:24 > 0:33:27with the Protestant religion in the 18th century.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31You didn't have to look far to see the parallels.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Handel and his lyricists made an art of portraying
0:33:34 > 0:33:37glorious Biblical victories, which deliberately echoed
0:33:37 > 0:33:40the military might of the 18th-century British.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49In his chorus, See, The Conquering Hero Comes,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Handel celebrates in music the Crown's crushing of the Jacobite Rebellion.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57An uprising, set on restoring the Catholic Stuarts to the throne,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00ended in slaughter at Culloden in 1746
0:34:00 > 0:34:03and Handel doesn't let us forget it.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09BAGPIPES PLAY
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Following the Battle of Culloden,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22the Crown tried to suppress the Highland clans and their culture.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26It was a deep wound for many Scots and led to a desperate clinging-on
0:34:26 > 0:34:31to a host of traditions, now celebrated every January in Burns Night -
0:34:31 > 0:34:34an evening devoted to Scotland's national poet.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Robert Burns was born on a smallholding in Ayrshire in 1759.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48Educated by his father,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50he was determined to overcome his background
0:34:50 > 0:34:53and to change the world around him
0:34:53 > 0:34:55through the power of poetry.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Burns was a natural spokesman for the poor and the disenfranchised.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03He was also a vocal defender of Scots culture,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08its ancient art of poetry and song passed through the generations.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11He was an unstoppable womaniser and a hard drinker -
0:35:11 > 0:35:15in short, he had all the makings of a cultural hero.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Burns was writing at a time of cataclysmic change,
0:35:21 > 0:35:23and not just in Britain - the French Revolution,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27with its call for brotherhood, freedom and equality,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30stirred up in Burns, and others like him, the call to arms.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Their work must be a rallying cry
0:35:32 > 0:35:35for a freer, fairer and more just society.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43# Is there for honest poverty
0:35:43 > 0:35:47# That hings his head, an' a' that
0:35:48 > 0:35:52# The coward slave, we pass him by
0:35:52 > 0:35:56# We dare be poor for a' that!
0:35:57 > 0:36:02# For a' that, an' a' that
0:36:02 > 0:36:06# Our toils obscure an' a' that
0:36:07 > 0:36:11# The rank is but the guinea's stamp
0:36:11 > 0:36:17The Man's the gowd for a' that... #
0:36:22 > 0:36:25What, to you, does that Burns song mean, A Man's A Man,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28when you're singing that?
0:36:28 > 0:36:32Well, I kind of think it's about egalitarianism.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And everyone's equal, whether you're a pauper or a king,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38remember to recognise that at the end of the day we're all the same.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41But it's a very modern idea, that, isn't it?
0:36:41 > 0:36:43We take it for granted that everyone should be equal.
0:36:43 > 0:36:44But in the 18th century,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47that must have been a really incendiary song to sing.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Well, it must have been, and quite dangerous, actually, at that time.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56# For a' that and a' that
0:36:56 > 0:37:00# It's coming yet for a' that
0:37:00 > 0:37:06# That man to man the world o'er
0:37:06 > 0:37:11# Shall brothers be for a' that. #
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Burns' genius was that he transcended the specifics
0:37:20 > 0:37:24of what he knew and experienced - his own politics and his beliefs -
0:37:24 > 0:37:27to reach out to the broadest possible audience,
0:37:27 > 0:37:33as much to an Edinburgh elite as to poor countryfolk and urban radicals.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Burns is born in very humble circumstances
0:37:37 > 0:37:40and yet rises to the highest echelons of Edinburgh society.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42How much is he a paradox?
0:37:42 > 0:37:45We have heaped history onto Burns in one very key way,
0:37:45 > 0:37:50which is to think of him as a jolly plough boy, if you like,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52as a labouring class poet.
0:37:53 > 0:38:00In Burns's last few years, his annual income exceeded Jane Austen's.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Burns, even in Edinburgh, always dressed in boots,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06he never took them off,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10because he wanted to present himself as a bucolic figure
0:38:10 > 0:38:12and that was always part of the plan.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Burns wrote some of his own tunes,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19more often he set his words to existing melodies.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23Like this song, which has become famous the world over...
0:38:23 > 0:38:28# For auld lang syne, my dear
0:38:28 > 0:38:33# For auld lang syne
0:38:33 > 0:38:38# We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
0:38:38 > 0:38:42# For the sake of auld lang syne... #
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Millions of us sing Auld Lang Syne every New Year's Eve.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49When we strip off all the kind of modern layers
0:38:49 > 0:38:51that have accrued onto that,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54what is the 18th-century essence of that song?
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Auld Lang Syne has a long history dating back to the 17th,
0:38:58 > 0:38:59if not the 16th century.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03It first appears in large numbers of variants
0:39:03 > 0:39:05in the early 18th century.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Then, it's a Jacobite song, it's about the world we've lost,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13but by then, of course, it also encapsulates
0:39:13 > 0:39:15displacement for economic reasons,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18from the Highlands and from rural Scotland,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21which is so much part of the 18th-century Scottish story,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25and of course there is also the universal human emotion.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28And that's typically how Burns works.
0:39:28 > 0:39:34He piles emotional connotations on each other in a hierarchy
0:39:34 > 0:39:38which enables people to respond at some level
0:39:38 > 0:39:40from very different backgrounds.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44# Should auld acquaintance be forgot
0:39:44 > 0:39:49# And never brought to mind?
0:39:49 > 0:39:54# Should auld acquaintance be forgot
0:39:54 > 0:39:59# And auld lang syne
0:40:00 > 0:40:05# For auld lang syne, my Jo
0:40:05 > 0:40:08# For auld lang syne
0:40:09 > 0:40:14# We'll tak a cup of kindness yet
0:40:15 > 0:40:18# For auld lang syne
0:40:20 > 0:40:25# For auld lang syne, my Jo
0:40:25 > 0:40:29# For auld lang syne
0:40:30 > 0:40:36# We'll tak a cup of kindness yet
0:40:36 > 0:40:45# For auld lang syne. #
0:40:48 > 0:40:51That deep emotional connection to singing
0:40:51 > 0:40:55was what countless Scots, Welsh, English and Irish emigrants
0:40:55 > 0:40:58took with them, when they travelled far from home
0:40:58 > 0:41:00to British colonies, like America.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Thousands and thousands of people wanting a better life went there
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and they took music with them.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10What do you take with you if you're emigrating
0:41:10 > 0:41:12on a crowded emigrant ship,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15you know, you take songs that you know, you can take those.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18If you've learnt them by heart, you take them in your head.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24This song, from north-east England,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26one of many that travelled to America,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30still sounds as vibrant today as it did 300 years ago.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34# Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?
0:41:34 > 0:41:35# The wife who sells the barley, hinny?
0:41:35 > 0:41:38# She lost her basket and all of her money
0:41:38 > 0:41:39# A' back o' the bush i' the garden, hinny
0:41:39 > 0:41:41# Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?
0:41:41 > 0:41:43# The wife who sells the barley, hinny?
0:41:43 > 0:41:45# She lost her basket and all of her money
0:41:45 > 0:41:47# A' back o' the bush i' the garden, hinny.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49# Elsie Marley's grown so fine
0:41:49 > 0:41:51# She won't get up to feed the swine
0:41:51 > 0:41:53# She lies in bed till eight or nine
0:41:53 > 0:41:55# Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?
0:41:55 > 0:41:57# Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?
0:41:57 > 0:41:59# The wife who sells the barley, hinny?
0:41:59 > 0:42:01# She lost her basket and all of her money
0:42:01 > 0:42:03# A' back o' the bush i' the garden, hinny
0:42:03 > 0:42:05# Elsie Marley is so neat
0:42:05 > 0:42:07# It's hard for one to walk the street
0:42:07 > 0:42:09# But every lad and lass ye meet
0:42:09 > 0:42:11# Says, "Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?"
0:42:11 > 0:42:13# Di ye ken Elsie Marley, hinny?
0:42:13 > 0:42:15# The wife who sells the barley, hinny?
0:42:15 > 0:42:17# She lost her basket and all of her money
0:42:17 > 0:42:19# A' back o' the bush i' the garden, hinny
0:42:19 > 0:42:21# The farmers, as they come that way
0:42:21 > 0:42:23# They drink with Elsie every day
0:42:23 > 0:42:25# And call the fiddler for to play
0:42:25 > 0:42:27# The tune of "Elsie Marley", hinny. #
0:42:34 > 0:42:36And here's a not dissimilar version,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40channelling the spirit of today's American country music.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45AMERICAN BLUEGRASS MUSIC PLAYS
0:42:50 > 0:42:52When you hear American country, bluegrass,
0:42:52 > 0:42:56do you feel resonances of the British 18th-century tradition?
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Oh, immensely.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01The tunes are recognisable, we have similar repertoires,
0:43:01 > 0:43:02we have overlaps in repertoire.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Some tunes, you actively recognise as being played here
0:43:06 > 0:43:08as well as over there.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Similar instruments, so the fiddle is really dominant in music from here,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16and that really drives bluegrass in a big way,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19so it's very recognisable, definitely close cousins.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25Close cousins they may have been,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28but Britain and America fought a bitter war in the 1770s,
0:43:28 > 0:43:33when the Americans decided they had had enough of British rule
0:43:33 > 0:43:35and paying punitive British taxes.
0:43:35 > 0:43:41# Oh, say, can you see
0:43:41 > 0:43:47# By the dawn's early light... #
0:43:47 > 0:43:53On the 4th July, 1776, America declared its independence.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56But the next time you hear Beyonce sing the Star Spangled Banner,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58allow yourself a little smile,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01because while we may have lost the colonies, as a parting shot,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05we gave the Americans one of our dirtier drinking songs.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11What became their national anthem began its life
0:44:11 > 0:44:15in one Britain's rowdiest and most bawdy institutions -
0:44:15 > 0:44:18the gentleman's singing society.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Catch and glee clubs were all the rage in the late 18th century,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24from the lowliest taverns
0:44:24 > 0:44:28to the most upmarket hangouts of royalty and aristocracy.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32And one of the most notorious was the Anacreontic Society.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36# To Anacreon in Heav'n
0:44:36 > 0:44:38# Where he sat in full glee... #
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Named after the Greek poet Anacreon,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44whose verses celebrated wine, women and song,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47the society's party piece was its signature tune,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51a jolly little number in praise of heavy drinking and sex.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53You can imagine the members of the society -
0:44:53 > 0:44:56the doctors and the lawyers and the bankers -
0:44:56 > 0:44:58must have loved singing this song,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01with its debauched and rather risque lyrics.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03# ..No longer be mute
0:45:03 > 0:45:06# I'll lend you my name
0:45:06 > 0:45:09# And inspire you, to boot
0:45:09 > 0:45:12# And besides I'll instruct you
0:45:12 > 0:45:15# Like me to entwine
0:45:15 > 0:45:21# The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine... #
0:45:21 > 0:45:25Now, myrtle was the plant associated with the goddess of love, Venus,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28celebrated for its pure-white scented flowers.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32In ancient Rome, it was thought of as a potent aphrodisiac,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35and the female genitalia, particularly the clitoris,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38was known as "murtos" - myrtle.
0:45:38 > 0:45:44# And long may the sons of Anacreon entwine
0:45:44 > 0:45:47# The myrtle of Venus
0:45:47 > 0:45:52# With Bacchus's vine. #
0:45:52 > 0:45:56When the Americans came up with new lyrics for the Anacreontic Song,
0:45:56 > 0:46:01in 1814, all trace of the rudery was, unsurprisingly, removed.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05But that catchy little tune clung on, wryly smiling in the background.
0:46:05 > 0:46:11# O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
0:46:11 > 0:46:18# O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? #
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Nationalists and romantics, heavy drinkers and evangelicals,
0:46:22 > 0:46:24philanthropists and antiquarians -
0:46:24 > 0:46:28whatever your political stripes, your personal concerns,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31by the late 18th century, one thing was becoming clear.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Music, for many, was a central part of life.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42As Britain was becoming increasingly industrial and international,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46many began to sense their own history, stories and culture
0:46:46 > 0:46:47were being swallowed up.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Holding onto those ancient traditions was fundamental
0:46:50 > 0:46:53to the quest for Celtic identity and belonging.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58At the same time Robert Burns was seducing the British
0:46:58 > 0:47:01with his Scottish music and poetry,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Wales was undergoing a cultural awakening of its own.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Leading the charge was the intriguing figure
0:47:08 > 0:47:10of Edward Williams, better known by the name
0:47:10 > 0:47:15he chose for himself as a modern-day bard, Iolo Morganwg.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22Iolo was an antiquarian, polymath and laudanum addict who saw himself
0:47:22 > 0:47:26as a descendant of ancient British bards and druids.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29He brought a certain "poetic licence"
0:47:29 > 0:47:32to his passion for collecting Welsh verse and song,
0:47:32 > 0:47:37forging piles of manuscripts and "ancient" documents.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42He claimed to have rediscovered the rituals of Britain's pagan druids,
0:47:42 > 0:47:48and decided he would do everything in his power to keep them alive.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50He, and only Iolo, could do this,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53he's behind this weird and wonderful institution,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55the Gorsedd of the Bards of the Island of Britain.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00The Gorsedd or "Throne" of Bards was a druidic order
0:48:00 > 0:48:03whose mission statement was the elevation
0:48:03 > 0:48:06of Wales's distinct poetic and musical traditions.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Wales is in danger of dropping off the cultural map, I think,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13during the 17th and 18th century,
0:48:13 > 0:48:18of losing its language of losing its own unique culture.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21So Iolo sets about trying to turn it into a cultural institution
0:48:21 > 0:48:26which will sustain the Welsh language, sustain its literature,
0:48:26 > 0:48:28and its music and its oral traditions.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32SINGING IN WELSH
0:48:32 > 0:48:35Iolo's energy and visionary oddball genius
0:48:35 > 0:48:37would kickstart the Eisteddfod -
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Wales's annual celebration of poetry and song.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46It's still a musical powerhouse today, nurturing fantastic talents
0:48:46 > 0:48:48like bass-baritone Bryn Terfel,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50a man who has never held back
0:48:50 > 0:48:54on an opportunity to celebrate his Welshness.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57SINGS IN WELSH
0:49:07 > 0:49:11Welsh attempts to explore and resurrect traditional culture
0:49:11 > 0:49:13were echoed across the British Isles.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16People started collecting and publishing local ballads
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and folk songs, putting them down in print
0:49:18 > 0:49:21to give them an air of authenticity and authority.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31That urgency to preserve the past as a model for the future
0:49:31 > 0:49:34reached its high-water mark in 1784.
0:49:34 > 0:49:3925 years after Handel's death, a celebration of his music was staged
0:49:39 > 0:49:41in the symbolic heart of political, cultural
0:49:41 > 0:49:44and religious British life - in Westminster Abbey.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48Handel's position as a demi-god was complete.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57There is a sense for a need for a national identity in Britain
0:49:57 > 0:50:02and that's expressed not only through interest in Handel's works
0:50:02 > 0:50:08but also the Shakespeare revival led by David Garrick.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12So Handel's canonisation really needs to be seen
0:50:12 > 0:50:16as part of that broader interest, growing interest,
0:50:16 > 0:50:24in musical antiquity and in creating a cultural canon of British greats.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28To me, Handel's genius is not just
0:50:28 > 0:50:31about the notes that he wrote on the page.
0:50:31 > 0:50:36He completely redrew the map of what it meant to be an artist.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39In refusing to be the servant of any one master,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42he utterly reimagined what a composer could be.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46The status of musicians had changed utterly
0:50:46 > 0:50:48over the course of the century.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52Once thought of as pedlars of musical amusement and entertainment,
0:50:52 > 0:50:57they were now semi-divine figures, channelling the spirit of God
0:50:57 > 0:51:00through their own invention and creativity.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10This profound change in attitude towards the value of music
0:51:10 > 0:51:14and musicians had been spearheaded in Britain, so it was no wonder
0:51:14 > 0:51:18that the very best composers from across Europe pitched up here.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Joseph Haydn arrived in London in 1791
0:51:27 > 0:51:29for the first of two long visits.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34He'd had spent most of his career working for his wealthy patrons,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38the Esterhazys, shipped around their various palaces
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and made to dress in their household livery.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45In England, he was toasted at grand dinners,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48given gold snuff boxes set with diamonds,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51even a parrot specially shipped over from the West Indies.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55In return, he wrote some of his greatest pieces of music
0:51:55 > 0:52:00including 12 London Symphonies, as well as concertos and chamber works.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04Haydn would repay the grace and favour of his hosts
0:52:04 > 0:52:08by writing the last great piece of British music of the whole century.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Handel had died three decades earlier
0:52:12 > 0:52:15but his influence was still felt across Britain.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19And now Haydn was to feel the full force of that legacy
0:52:19 > 0:52:23when he was taken to hear Handel's oratorios for the very first time.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34And what he heard was Handel's Messiah,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38that magical union of music and charity,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41uplifting moral virtue and barnstorming choruses.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Haydn immediately told a friend he wanted to write something
0:52:44 > 0:52:49on the same ambitious scale, but that he was stuck for a subject.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53The friend advised him to take the Bible and begin at the beginning.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57He did, and the result was arguably his finest work of all -
0:52:57 > 0:52:59The Creation.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The Creation begins in complete darkness.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07It's music that stares out into the void.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10The opening section is called Chaos
0:53:10 > 0:53:12and it depicts the birth of the universe.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17And the really radical thing about it is that there are no cadences -
0:53:17 > 0:53:20these are the moments where music naturally comes to a rest,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22where there's a sense of closure.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Instead, what Haydn does is to keep his music unfolding
0:53:26 > 0:53:30and unfolding in front of us, stretching into nothingness.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02The Creation was published simultaneously in both English
0:55:02 > 0:55:06and German - performed first in Austria in 1798
0:55:06 > 0:55:10and two years later at the King's Theatre in London.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22I'd argue it was the last great British
0:55:22 > 0:55:28piece of music of the 18th-century inspired by Haydn's trip to London.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32It set English words - Milton's Paradise Lost
0:55:32 > 0:55:34and the English version of the Bible.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38It followed in the wake of Handel's great English oratorios
0:55:38 > 0:55:43and it took a very British musical model - mass choirs,
0:55:43 > 0:55:47public concert halls and improving religious music.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10The Creation was the high point of music as spiritual revival,
0:56:10 > 0:56:14part of the same movement that had inspired hymns and oratorios.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22But crucially it was also a commercial venture -
0:56:22 > 0:56:24not one sponsored by church or state
0:56:24 > 0:56:29but rather a triumph of that British invention, the public concert.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37When Haydn comes to London,
0:56:37 > 0:56:42he is taking part in what is a forcing house of culture,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45that money can be spent to put on culture to a degree
0:56:45 > 0:56:48that isn't going to happen anywhere else in Western Europe.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51Now this looks towards the modern age.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54The world of the entrepreneur, the world of the impresario,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57the world of the great concert which is the world you see
0:56:57 > 0:57:01in the 1780s and 1790s for both choral and orchestral music.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Looks towards 19th and 20th century music-making.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11By the end of the 18th century,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15music had become an agent of social and moral change.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18It had played its part in promoting national identity
0:57:18 > 0:57:20and spiritual improvement.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23It had helped to make Britain a better society
0:57:23 > 0:57:26but also one that knew how to enjoy itself.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30Every time we click on a playlist today, we are benefiting
0:57:30 > 0:57:32from that musical revolution.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36We are living that 18th-century dream of freedom, choice
0:57:36 > 0:57:38and cultural democracy.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46What this music reflects back at us across the centuries is a vivid,
0:57:46 > 0:57:51energetic and diverse world where taste and fashions changed quickly.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56Stars were made and broken, whole new forms were invented
0:57:56 > 0:57:58and an enterprising army of publishers, artists
0:57:58 > 0:58:03and promoters created what, today, we call the music business.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06It was 18th-century Britain that produced
0:58:06 > 0:58:09the soundtrack to the modern world.