Music of the Monarchy with David Starkey

Music and monarchy.

They're two of the most powerful words in the language,

yet we seldom come across them together. We should.

For the next hour,

we'll be hearing some of our greatest music,

performed by our finest instrumentalists and singers

in the splendid historic locations for which it was first written.

And it's all, one way or another, royal.

Composed for a royal ceremony.

Was performed by a king or queen.

Even composed by one of the many talented musicians

to have sat on the throne.

We begin with the greatest, grandest piece of royal music of all -

Handel's anthem, Zadok The Priest,

composed by royal command for the coronation of George II in 1727.

We hear it performed

in the Coronation Theatre of Westminster Abbey,

for which it was written

and first performed almost 300 years ago.

# Zadok the priest

# And Nathan the prophet

# Anointed

# Solomon

# King

# And all the people rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# And all the people rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# And all the people rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# Rejoiced

# And said

# God save the King

# Long live the King

# God save the King

# May the King live for ever

# Amen, amen, hallelujah

# Hallelujah, amen

# Ah

# Amen, amen, amen, hallelujah

# Amen

# God save the King

# Long live the King

# May the King live for ever

# Amen, amen, hallelujah

# Hallelujah, amen

# Ah

# May the King live

# May the King live for ever!

# For ever! For ever!

# Amen, amen, hallelujah

# Hallelujah, amen

# Ah

# Amen

# Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen

# Amen, amen

# Amen, amen

# Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

# Amen!

# Long live the King

# God save the King

# Long live the King

# May the King live

# May the King live for ever!

# For ever! For ever!

# Amen, amen, hallelujah

# Hallelujah, amen

# Ah

# Amen, amen

# Ah

# Amen, amen

# Amen, hallelujah

# Amen

# Hallelujah, amen, amen

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah! #

If it weren't so damn difficult to sing,

Zadok The Priest would surely be our national anthem.

Indeed, for the first few decades after its composition,

it actually functioned as such,

appearing in concert programmes as "The Anthem, God Save The King".

But the real God Save The King

was born in very different circumstances.

It is a product of crisis - the Jacobite revolt of 1745 -

and not a royal ceremony of popular claim, and not a royal commission.

Even the tune is a kind of folk melody -

the sort of thing that was used for the congregational

singing of Psalms, that was then the staple of English church music.

Granted, it's not the most exciting tune in the world.

We leave that kind of thing to the French.

But at least it's easy to sing

and it is the world's first national anthem.

# God bless our noble King

# God said great George the King

# God save the King

# God bless our noble King

# God save great George, our King

# God save the King

# Send him victorious

# Happy and glorious

# Long to reign over us

# God save the King

# Send him victorious

# Happy and glorious

# Long to reign over us

# God save the King

# Oh, Lord our God, arise

# Scatter his enemies

# And make them fall

# Oh, Lord our God, arise

# Scatter his enemies

# And make them fall

# Confound their politics

# Frustrate their knavish tricks

# On him or hopes we fix

# God save us all

# Confound their politics

# Frustrate their knavish tricks

# On him or hopes we fix

# God save us all. #

Both Zadok The Priest

and God Save The King are big music for big occasions.

But that's only one end of the spectrum of royal music.

At the other, is music composed

for the personal pleasure of the sovereign

or for specific court occasions like royal birthdays.

This is music as a bouquet of flowers.

It is beautiful and it was intended as fleeting.

But here are three such pieces that,

thanks to the genius of their composers,

Purcell, Dowland and Handel,

have transcended the long-forgotten occasions

for which they were first written.

For who cares about or who remembers

the return of Charles II from Windsor to Whitehall,

that sickly love cult of Queen Elizabeth I,

or Queen Anne's birthday?

But who could forget the music?

Especially Handel's Eternal Source Of Light Divine,

the last piece of the three.

# Welcome

# Welcome

# Welcome Viceregent of the Mighty King

# That made and governs

# And governs everything

# Welcome from rural pleasures

# From rural pleasures

# To the busy throne

# In this head city, this imperial town

# The seat and centre of the crown

# Welcome

# Welcome to the seat and centre of the crown

# Welcome

# Welcome to the seat and centre of the crown. #

# Say, Love, if ever thou didst find

# A woman with a constant mind

# None but one

# And what should that rare mirror be

# Some goddess or some queen is she

# She, she, she

# She, she, she and only she

# She only queen of love and beauty

# But could thy fiery poison'd dart

# At no time touch her spotless heart

# Nor come near

# She is not subject to love's bow

# Her eye commands, her heart saith no

# No, no, no

# No, no, no and only no

# One no, another still doth follow

# How might I that fair wonder know

# That mocks desire with endless no

# See the moon

# That ever in one change doth grow

# Yet still the same and she is so

# So, so, so

# So, so, so and only so

# From heaven her virtue she doth borrow

# To her then yield thy shafts and bow

# That can command affection so

# Love is free

# So are her thoughts that vanquish thee

# There is no queen of love but she

# She, she, she

# She, she, she and only she

# She only queen of love and beauty. #

# Eternal

# Source

# Eternal

# Source

# Of love

# Divine

# With double warmth

# Thy beams display

# With double warmth thy beams display

# And with distinguished glory shine

# And with distinguished glory shine

# To add a lustre

# To this day. #

A coronation, when the Church clothes the nakedness of royal power and makes it sacred.

There's always been an opportunity for grand musical display.

Originally, the music was strictly segregated into the sacred and the profane.

Drums and trumpets to signify royal power,

choirs and organs to accompany the religious ritual.

It took the genius of Handel to combine the two in his coronation anthems.

We've already heard his Zadok The Priest.

Now, we're about to hear one of the very few works able to stand

comparison with it - Hubert Parry's I Was Glad.

Originally written for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902,

and extensively reworked for that of George V in 1911.

Parry not only writes in the fanfares

of the traditional acclamation of "Vivat, Vivat Rex" by the boys of Westminster School.

He even paces the music to match the length of time

that it takes to process along the nave, through the screen

and the choir of Westminster Abbey, where we hear the piece performed.

It's followed by two other coronation anthems.

# I was glad

# Glad when they said unto me

# We will go

# We will go

# We will go

# Into the house of the Lord

# Our feet shall stand in thy gates

-# Our feet shall stand in thy gates

-O Jerusalem

# Stand in thy gates

# Our feet shall stand

# Our feet shall stand

# Shall stand in thy gates

# Shall stand in thy gates

# Our feet shall stand

# Our feet shall stand

# In thy gates

# O Jerusalem

# Jerusalem is built

# Is built as a city

# Is built as a city

# That is at unity

# That is at unity with itself

# Vivat Regina!

# Vivat Regina Elizabetha!

# Vivat!

# Vivat!

# Vivat!

# Vivat Regina!

# Vivat Regina Elizabetha!

# Vivat!

# Vivat!

# Vivat!

# Vivat!

# O pray for the peace of Jerusalem

# They shall prosper that love thee

# They shall prosper that love thee

# Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

# They shall prosper that love thee

# They shall prosper that love thee

# Peace

# Peace be within they walls

# And plenteousness

# Plenteousness

# And plenteousness

# Plenteousness within thy palaces

# And plenteousness

# Within thy palaces. #

# She shall be brought unto the King

# In raiment of needlework

# She shall be brought unto the King

# In raiment of needlework

# She shall be brought unto the King

# In raiment of needlework

# The virgins that follow her

# The virgins that follow

# The virgins that follow her

# The virgins shall bear her company

# With joy and gladness

# Joy and gladness

# With joy and gladness

# With joy and gladness

# Shall they be brought

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# Joy and gladness

# With joy and gladness

# Shall they be brought

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# And shall enter, shall enter

# Into the King's palace, into the King's palace

# With joy and gladness shall they be brought

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# With joy and gladness, with joy and gladness

# Shall they, shall they be brought

# With joy and gladness, with joy and gladness

# Shall they be brought

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# And shall enter, shall enter

# Into the King's palace

# And shall enter, shall enter into the King's palace

# Into the King's palace. #

# O Lord, grant the King

# A long life

# That his years may endure

# Throughout all generations

# He shall dwell before God for ever

# O prepare thy loving mercy

# And faithfulness

# That they may preserve him

# That they may preserve him

# As for his enemies

# Clothe them with shame

# But upon himself let his crown flourish

# But upon himself

# Let his crown flourish

# Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

# Hallelujah, hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah. #

The enriched musical language with drums, trumpets

and majestic massed choruses,

which Handel had devised for his coronation anthems,

was re-used 20 years later by the English Sacred Oratorios.

These draw on the same rich source of the King James Bible,

but to tell the story of God's chosen people.

That is, of course, the English and their kings.

So, now we hear Arm, Arm Ye Brave from Judas Maccabaeus

which celebrates the Duke of Cumberland's crushing victory

over the Jacobite revolt whose nervous first moments

had spawned God Save The King.

It's followed by Thanks Be To God from Mendelssohn's Elijah

in which another German and favourite royal composer

revived the oratorio in the religious and imperial high noon of Victorian England.

# Arm, arm ye brave

# Arm, arm ye brave

# A noble cause

# Arm, arm, arm, arm ye brave

# Arm, arm, arm, arm ye brave

# A noble cause

# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands

# A noble cause

# Arm, arm ye brave

# A noble cause

# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands

# Your zeal

# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands

# In defence of your nation Religion and laws

# The Almighty Jehovah will strengthen your hands

# In defence of your nation

# Religion and laws

# The Almighty Jehovah

# Will strengthen

# The Almighty Jehovah

# Will strengthen

# Your hands

# Arm, arm, arm, arm ye brave

# A noble cause

# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands

# A noble cause

# Arm, arm ye brave

# Arm ye brave

# The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands. #

-# But the Lord

-But the Lord

-But the Lord

-But the Lord

# Is above them and Almighty

-# Thanks be to God

-Thanks be to God

-Thanks be to God

# He laveth the thirsty land

# The stormy billows are high

# Their fury is mighty

-# But my Lord

-But my Lord

-But my Lord

-But my Lord

# Is above them and Almighty

# But the Lord

-# But the Lord

-But the Lord

-But the Lord

# But the Lord is above them

# And Almighty

-# Thanks be to God

-Thanks be to God

# He laveth the thirsty land

# Thanks be to God

-# He laveth the thirsty land

-Thanks be to God

# Thanks be to God

# He laveth the thirsty land

# Thanks be to God

# Thanks be to God

# Thanks be to God

# Thanks be to God

# The waters gather, they rush along

# The waters gather, they rush along

# They rush along, they rush along

# Thanks be to God

# He laveth the thirsty land

# Thanks be to God

# He laveth the thirsty land. #

But monarchs didn't only listen to music.

Two of our queens, Queen Elizabeth I and Victoria,

were both skilled musical performers.

And two kings were composers.

One of them we have all heard of.

Henry VIII did not write Greensleeves

but he did write Pastime With Good Company

which was top of the Tudor pops,

and quoted by trendy Tudor vicars in their sermons.

But the real surprise is King Henry V who found time

to spare from conquering France to compose settings of the mass.

Or rather, because they pleased God,

he thought that his musical compositions

actually helped him to conquer France.

But probably the best royal composer of all was Prince Albert,

the consort of Queen Victoria, who,

unlike his fellow Germans in England,

set music in his own language

which Victoria was also able to speak and sing like a native.

# Pastime with good company

# I love and shall until I die

# Grudge who likes, but none deny

# So God be pleased, thus live will I

# For my pastance, hunt, sing, and dance

# My heart is set!

# All goodly sport for my comfort

# Who shall me let?

# Youth must have some dalliance

# Of good or ill, some pastance

# Company me thinks then best

# All thoughts and fancies to digest

For idleness

# Is chief mistress

# Of vices all

# Then who can say

# But mirth and play

# Is best of all?

# Company with honesty

# Is virtue vices to flee

# Company is good and ill

# But every man has his free will

# The best ensue

# The worst eschew

# My mind shall be

# Virtue to use

# Vice to refuse

# Thus shall I use me! #

# Gloria in excelsis Deo

# Et in terra

# Pax hominibus

# Bonae voluntatis

# Laudamus te

# Et benedicimus te

# Adoramus te, glorificamus te

# Gratias agimus tibi

# Propter magnam gloriam tuam. #

# Fand ich doch auf ird'scher Flur

# Fand ich doch die Liebe nur

# Die ich liebend denke

# Dass in sie der irre Geist

# Der sich wild durch Welten reist

# Liebevoll versanke

# Liebevoll versanke

# Oder nur ein teures Bild

# Das aus Himmelschonen mild

# Mir sich nieder neigte

# Auf den Pfad von ihm erhellt

# Aufwarts aus der dunklen Welt

# Meinen Flug mir zeigte

# Meinen Flug mir zeigte. #

The musicality of monarchs was one element in the story of royal music.

The other was the Chapel Royal.

From its re-foundation under that musically minded military genius Henry V,

the Chapel Royal not only provided the lavish round of services

that were the backbone of court ceremonial,

it was also the largest, the best paid

and the most distinguished group of musicians in the country.

The Chapel Royal reached its peak under that other great

musically minded King, Henry VIII.

We are going to hear the prayer for Henrico Octavo,

by Robert Fayrfax.

Fayrfax was one of Henry VIII's most distinguished

gentlemen of the Chapel Royal.

And the fantastic elaboration of the music is designed to give

visiting diplomats something to write home about.

But then, Henry VIII launched the Reformation

and that threatened to destroy everything.

For Protestants vehemently objected to elaborate church music

because it distracted from the pure Word of God

and stopped people from understanding it.

Only the music-loving Elizabeth I saved something from the wreck.

She protected the often Catholic composers and performers

of the Chapel Royal from Protestant ravages

which destroyed both choirs and church music everywhere else.

Here we hear two of the most beautiful works in this fragile

golden age of church music.

Thomas Tallis's If You Love Me and William Byrd, Sing Joyfully.

# Henrico Octavo

# Inclito

# Henrico Octavo

# Inclito

# Henrico Octavo

# Inclito

# Ac implora optanda

# Illi semper dari

# Gaudia nunc et tandem

# Immarcessibilem

# Gloriam. #

# Sing joyfully

# Unto God our strength

# Unto God our strength

# Unto God our strength

# Sing loud, sing loud

# Unto the God of Jacob

# Take the song

# Take the song

# And bring forth the timbrel

# And bring forth the timbrel

# The pleasant harp and the viol

# The pleasant harp and the viol

# The pleasant harp and the viol

# Blow the trumpet in the new moon!

# Blow the trumpet in the new moon!

# In the new moon!

# Blow the trumpet in the new moon!

# Even in the time appointed

# Even in the time appointed

# And at our feast day

# And at our feast day

# And at our feast day

# For this is a statute

# For Israel

# And a law of the God of Jacob

# The God of Jacob

# And a law of the God of Jacob

# And a law of the God of Jacob

# And a law of the God of Jacob

# And a law of the God of Jacob. #

# If ye love me

# Keep my commandments

# And I will pray the Father

# And I will pray the Father

# And he shall give you another comforter

# That he may bide with you for ever

# That he may bide with you for ever

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# That he may bide with you for ever

# That he may bide with you for ever

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth

# Ev'n the spirit of truth. #

The Chapel Royal had a final burst of glory after the Restoration,

when it produced the last great English musical genius

for most 200 years.

Henry Purcell.

But then the Glorious Revolution

and the accession of that austere Dutch Calvinist, William III,

put an end the Chapel Royal for ever

as the centre of English musical life.

It wasn't until almost 200 years later

that another, similar national conservatoire entered British life

in the form of the Royal College of Music.

The College nurtured most of the best composers of more recent times

and they repaid the debt by writing glorious, heart-wrenching melodies

that were inspired by the still lively ideal of king and country.

We hear two of the finest -

Hubert Parry's Jerusalem

and Gustav Holst's I Vow To Thee, My Country.

Composed in the final, tormented years of the First World War,

they've become definitive statements of our national identity.

# And did those feet in ancient time

# Walk upon England's mountains green?

# And was the holy Lamb of God

# On England's pleasant pastures seen?

# And did the countenance divine

# Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

# And was Jerusalem builded here

# Among these dark, satanic mills?

# Bring me my bow of burning gold

# Bring me my arrows of desire

# Bring me my spear

# O clouds, unfold

# Bring me my chariot of fire

# I will not cease from mental fight

# Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

# Till we have built Jerusalem

# In England's green and pleasant Land. #

# I vow to thee, my country

# All earthly things above

# Entire and whole and perfect

# The service of my love

# The love that asks no question

# The love that stands the test

# That lays upon the altar

# The dearest and the best

# The love that never falters

# The love that pays the price

# The love that makes undaunted

# The final sacrifice

# And there's another country

# I've heard of long ago

# Most dear to them that love her

# Most great to them that know

# We may not count her armies

# We may not see her King

# Her fortress is a faithful heart

# Her pride is suffering

# And soul by soul and silently

# Her shining bounds increase

# And her ways are ways of gentleness

# And all her paths are peace. #

And we end with perhaps the most breathtaking piece of music of all,

written by the German who gave England and her monarchy

their most triumphant musical voice.

Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

# Hallelujah!

# The kingdom of this world

# Is become

# The kingdom of our Lord

# And of His Christ And of His Christ

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# King of kings

# For ever and ever

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# And Lord of lords

# For ever and ever

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# King of kings

# For ever and ever

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# And Lord of lords

# For ever and ever

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# King of kings

# For ever and ever

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# And Lord of lords

# King of kings and Lord of lords

# And He shall reign

# And He shall reign

# And He shall reign

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# King of kings

# For ever and ever

# And Lord of lords

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

# King of kings

# And Lord of lords

# King of kings

# And Lord of lords

# And He shall reign for ever and ever

-# For ever and ever and ever and ever

-King of kings and Lord of lords

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

# Hallelujah! #

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen. #