Music has evolved over the centuries into a crucial part of a British coronation, and that of King Charles III will feature perennial favourites alongside new commissions.
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“The ritual really can only survive and actually produce the emotional response if it has this enormous swell of music going through it,” historian Simon Schama told AFP.
“It won’t work without it.”
British coronations became much more of a national celebration in the early 20th century, largely thanks to the appearance of Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” marches as well as Hubert Parry’s “Jerusalem”.
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Prior to that, coronations had been centred on the church and their choirs.
But Elgar gave Britons “a musical expression of what it meant to love the country… a feeling of national communion,” said Schama.
That was particularly the case with the first march, composed by Elgar in 1901. A year later, for the coronation of Edward VII, the famous lyrics were added that gave it the title “Land of Hope and Glory” and it became Britain’s unofficial anthem.
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It was used without the words for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, and is still a regular before many rugby and football matches.
The lyrics, which praise the British Empire, were at the heart of a controversy in 2020 when the BBC announced they would not be sung as is traditional on the last night of The Proms, though the decision was reversed after an uproar.
The march is also well known in the United States where it is used during graduation ceremonies.
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Edward VII’s coronation also included a new version of the well-known hymn “I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me” created by Parry.
King Charles III is a big classical music fan
The hymn had been used as the entrance hymn for every monarch since the coronation of Charles II in 1661, but the composer added a new twist.
“Parry famously paced the length of the Abbey so that the monarch arrives at the choir stalls at the exact time to be welcomed by the shouts of Vivat Rex (“Long live the King”),” said Peter Linnitt, librarian of the Royal College of Music.
The anthem was also sung at William and Kate’s wedding in 2011.
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Another perennial favourite is “Zadok The Priest” by German composer Handel, which has been used at every coronation since George II’s in 1727.
“It may seem old and dusty now, but every time one hears it I recognise how timeless it is,” said Susan Wollenberg, music professor at Oxford University.
Based on a story from the Old Testament, the song is played at the crucial anointing moment of the coronation, with lyrics evoking the way in which Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed King Solomon.
The tune is also recognisable to football fans as the inspiration for the UEFA Champions League anthem, created in 1992 by Tony Britten.
King Charles III, a big classical music fan, has commissioned 12 composers to write new music for his coronation, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, known worldwide for his musicals “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”.
Webber has composed a new anthem (“Make a Joyful Noise”), based on Psalm 98 of The Bible.
Among the others are a new march from Patrick Doyle, an organ piece by Iain Farrington representing musical themes from around the Commonwealth; Tarik O’Regan will mix Arabic and Irish sounds in his “Agnus Dei”, and Paul Mealor has prepared the first-ever Welsh piece for a coronation.
Five women composers have been commissioned, including Judith Weir, who has been “King’s Music Master” since 2014, the first woman to hold the post.
The others include film composer and environmental activist Sarah Class.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
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