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Royal Music

Music fit for kings, queens, princes and princesses: but what do we mean by royal music?

Royal music throughout the ages. Tom Service asks: what makes it sound royal, and why? And is there really such a thing as a royal sound world?

Royal music doesn’t have to be heraldic, ranging from the pomp and ceremony of Elgar; to the intimacy of lutenists like Dowland writing in the court of Christian IV in Denmark; to the secret music of the Kyoto imperial court, performed exclusively for royal ears. Composers over the centuries and millennia have written for kings, queens, princes and princesses, at times simultaneously praising and even criticising monarchies from within and without.

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29 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Jun 2022 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Herbert Howells

    Pageantry - suite for brass band

    Performer: Gabrieli Players. Performer: Paul McCreesh.
    • SIGNUM CLASSICS.
    • SIGCD 569.

  • William Byrd

    William Byrd: Galliard (Hirsch Lute Book of 1595)

    Performer: David Miller.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN 0682.

  • William Walton

    Crown imperial - coronation march for orchestra

    Performer: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • DECCA.
    • 470 508-2.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadok the priest - coronation anthem no. 1 HWV.258

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir. Performer: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 475 6897.

  • Edward Elgar

    Coronation ode Op.44 vers. 1911

    Performer: Royal Military School of Music Band. Performer: New Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Philip Ledger.
    • EMI.
    • 7 64209 2.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadok the priest - coronation anthem no. 1 HWV.258

    Performer: Monteverdi Choir. Performer: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 475 6897.

  • Tony Britten

    Tony Britten: UEFA Champions League

    Performer: Tony Britten.
    • SONY.
    • G010004778248Y.

  • John Dowland

    Can she excuse my wrongs [1597]

    Performer: Iestyn Davies. Performer: Thomas Dunford.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA 68007.

  • Philip Rosseter

    Philip Rosseter: Shows and Nightly Revels

    Performer: Dowland Consort.
    • BIS.
    • BISCD 451.

  • Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra

    Trad. Japanese: Etenraku

    • LYRICHORD.
    • 744457712627.

  • Elton John

    Elton John: Candle in the Wind (1997)

    • MERCURY.
    • 568 109-2.

  • Ben E. King

    Ben E. King: Stand by Me

    Performer: Kingdom Choir.
    • SONY.
    • G010004000638Z.

  • George Formby

    George Formby: Leaning on a Lamppost

    • SUPREME MEDIA.
    • 887845832559.

  • Forbury Consort, I Fagiolini & Robert Hollingworth

    Pastyme with good companye (De mon triste deplaisir) for 3 voices

    • CANTORIS.
    • CRCD 2365.

  • Emmanuel Pahud, Trevor Pinnock & Jonathan Manson

    Sonata no. 3 in B minor for flute and continuo

    • EMI.
    • 0 84220 2.

  • Carlo Gesualdo

    Moro, lasso, al mio duolo for 5 voices [1611b]

    Performer: Concerto Italiano. Conductor: Rinaldo Alessandrini.
    • NAIVE.
    • OP 30238.

  • William Byrd

    Sing joyfully unto God for 6 voices

    Performer: Odyssean Ensemble. Conductor: Colm Carey.
    • LINN.
    • CKD 608.

  • William Byrd

    Libera me, Domine, et pone me juxta te for 5 voices [1575]

    Performer: Cardinall's Musick. Performer: Andrew Carwood.
    • ASV.
    • CD GAU 197.

  • John Bennet

    All creatures now are merry-minded for 5 voices [from The Triumphs of Oriana, 1601]

    Performer: Robert Hollingworth. Performer: I Fagiolini.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN 0682.

  • William Byrd

    O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth for 6 voices

    Performer: Tallis Scholars. Conductor: Peter Phillips.
    • Gimell.
    • CDGIM011.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Gloriana - opera Op.53

    Performer: Welsh National Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • DECCA.
    • 00028947625933.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Gloriana - opera Op.53

    Performer: Josephine Barstow. Performer: Welsh National Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • DECCA.
    • 00028947625933.

  • William Walton

    Orb and Sceptre coronation march

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: André Previn.
    • WARNER.
    • 190296706189.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Jun 2022 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 10 Jun 2022 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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