It was in August 1911 that King George V commanded that the Edinburgh Choral Union be henceforth styled Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. What better way to celebrate this centenary than a concert of choral and organ music associated with British Royalty.
It was a happy occasion not only because we were invited to a glass of wine in the interval but because the programme of fourteen different pieces allowed Michael Bawtree four slots to tell us what was coming next. His enthusiasm and the support he was getting from over ninety singers ensured it was a musical treat. It took a few minutes to realise that some of the soprano voices were in the midst of the nine rows of singers and some of the alto voices in the front row - to good effect.
The earliest composer was William Byrd (1543-1623) whose setting of Psalm 21 was probably written for Queen Elizabeth’s Chapel Royal. John Blow and his pupil Henry Purcell both wrote for the 1685 coronation of King James II. Purcell’s I was Glad is a particular favourite.
It was as a schoolboy in Musselburgh that I first sang Handel’s Zadok the Priest. But we also heard another work Handel wrote for the coronation of King George II in 1727 - The King Shall Rejoice. And the pleasures continued with Vaughan Williams, Stanford, Mathias and Britten. Paul Mealor’s lovely Ubi Caritas was fresh in the mind from the recent wedding in Westminster Abbey. The final work, appropriately, was Parry’s I was Glad.
Morley Whitehead was at the console of Edinburgh’s largest organ and opened the concert with The Sovereign’s Fanfare by Arthur Bliss. Later in the first half he played Alfred Hollins’ King Edward Coronation March. Up to this point I had heard the music in churches and cathedrals but not William Walton’s composition as a film score for Henry V - certainly not in my time in the congregation of St Michael’s Cornhill, Morley’s Alma Mater, and where I am delighted he is to perform again shortly.
To quote Handel, I am Exceeding Glad to have been part of such a vibrant celebration.
Event: Saturday 12 November 2011 7.30 pm