1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,160 # God bless our noble king 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:08,680 # God save great George our king 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:12,600 # God save the King. # 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,240 Give or take the odd note, and the gender of the Monarch, 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:22,160 of course, Britons have been singing this since 1745, 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,800 making ours the oldest national anthem in the world. 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,040 # God save the King. # 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,000 In this series, I'm exploring how the monarchy has shaped 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,400 the story of British music. 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,760 The 18th century produced more than its fair share of patriotic 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,200 classics, yet this was a time 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,160 when the monarchy had never looked more fragile. 13 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,200 It had lost much of its political and religious power. 14 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,040 It imported its ruling house from abroad. 15 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,520 And it was under constant threat - from rival claimants, 16 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,240 from vicious family feuding, even from madness. 17 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,320 This was the age when Britain became the world's leading power. 18 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:11,240 Nevertheless, much of the century was spent searching for music 19 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,400 that would reflect that new status. 20 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,320 MUSIC: "Zadok The Priest" by Handel 21 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,600 One musician would eventually rise to the challenge, 22 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,160 writing music for the coronation, the royal fireworks, 23 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,000 and operas and oratorios for British audiences. 24 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,120 And yet the man who gave Great Britain its musical voice came, 25 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,200 like the new royal dynasty, from Germany. 26 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:43,200 # Hallelujah. # 27 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,560 In 1707, the newly finished 28 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,400 St Paul's Cathedral was the setting for a majestic ceremony, 29 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,560 presided over by Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart dynasty. 30 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:11,840 The event being marked was momentous. 31 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,200 It cried out for a triumphant classic of royal music. 32 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,000 Anne came here repeatedly 33 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,320 to celebrate stunning military victories over the French, 34 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,480 which were turning her nation into Europe's greatest power. 35 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,840 But the achievement of her reign that Anne was most proud of 36 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,960 was a peaceful one - the union, in 1707, of England 37 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,920 and Scotland under a single crown and parliament. 38 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,800 The result was no less than the forging of a new nation - 39 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,280 Great Britain. 40 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,440 And Anne celebrated by holding the grandest thanksgiving 41 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,600 service of her reign, here in St Paul's. 42 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:58,400 No fewer than three composers were commissioned to provide the music. 43 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,800 William Croft, John Blow, and Jeremiah Clarke. 44 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,560 This is just a little of what they came up with. 45 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,520 # Come as brethren 46 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,320 # Love, love as brethren 47 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,680 # Live in peace 48 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,760 # In peace 49 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:30,040 # Live in peace... # 50 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,200 Don't feel embarrassed if you don't recognise it. 51 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,840 It hasn't been performed for centuries. 52 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,080 This fragment by William Croft is in fact all that's 53 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:40,920 survived from the occasion. 54 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,000 # Love and peace 55 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,760 # Peace, peace shall be with you 56 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:51,960 # The God of love and peace, peace shall be with you 57 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,880 # The God of love and peace... # 58 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,120 So why, given the significance of the Act of Union in British 59 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,800 history, has its celebratory music been so completely forgotten? 60 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,480 Croft's anthem falls hopelessly short as the herald of a new nation. 61 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,280 Now, there are excuses, of course - 62 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,840 the words of "Love As Brethren" are banal and utterly fail to 63 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:24,560 set the world on fire - as, rather curiously, did the event itself. 64 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,320 The Act of Union of 1707 is of major political 65 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:33,480 and constitutional significance, but that - unlike, say, some spectacular 66 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,880 military victory - is hardly the stuff of musical inspiration. 67 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:45,680 # Hallelujah, hallelujah. # 68 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:51,640 The grand celebrations of 1707 might look like business as usual. 69 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:56,480 In fact, they are the last gasps of a dying tradition. 70 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:58,720 ORGAN PLAYS 71 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,040 In earlier centuries, 72 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,600 the very greatest English music had been created by the musicians 73 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:12,880 of the monarch's personal choir, the Chapel Royal, for sacred ceremony. 74 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:15,880 In the 18th century, however, power had clearly shifted 75 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:20,040 away from the monarchy and the church, and music followed it. 76 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,800 London is certainly, by this point, the richest city in Western Europe. 77 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,880 It's also a city which to a quite unusual extent acts 78 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:35,080 as a national capital - it sucks the whole of the English elite into it. 79 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:40,320 London then has to feed this appetite for pleasure, 80 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,520 for leisure - leisure is a function of wealth. 81 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,080 You therefore need what? Theatres. 82 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,560 What audiences flocked to see was exotic, 83 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,520 flamboyant and fashionable - Italian opera. 84 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:03,240 And in 1710, the enthusiasm and the wealth of London's new opera goers 85 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,360 drew a 27-year-old German to the city. 86 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:14,400 George Frideric Handel had spent three years studying opera in Italy. 87 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,880 His debut work for the London stage was called Rinaldo, 88 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,160 and it was an instant hit. 89 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:26,440 # Lascia ch'io pianga 90 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:32,680 # Mia cruda sorte 91 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:38,960 # E che sospiri 92 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,360 # La liberta 93 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:57,800 # E che sospiri 94 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:03,120 # La Liberta. # 95 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,680 "Let me weep my cruel fate and sigh for liberty." 96 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,320 This great lament is sung by Almirana, 97 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:17,960 the heroine of the opera, 98 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,040 who has just been entrapped along with the hero, Rinaldo, by 99 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:27,040 the snares of the wicked sorceress, Armida, Queen of Damascus. 100 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,760 It's a tale of derring-do 101 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,960 and high passion, set amidst the delights of the fabled East. 102 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,760 It gave Handel the opportunity to show his talents - 103 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:44,360 genius, rather - as a composer, conductor and harpsichord soloist. 104 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,360 Handel never looked back. 105 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:53,440 # E che sospiri 106 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:59,720 # La liberta. # 107 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,800 Rinaldo is the first Italian opera 108 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,320 to be specifically written for the English stage. 109 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,640 Handel's librettist-cum-impresario, Aaron Hill, 110 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,880 made the most of the fact in his dedication of the opera 111 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:31,720 to the Queen herself, proclaiming that, "This opera was a native 112 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:36,440 "of Your Majesty's dominions, and was consequently born your subject." 113 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,800 But it's a funny kind of British subject, isn't it, 114 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:44,920 that's written by a German and sung in Italian? 115 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,120 But Queen Anne welcomed this immigrant music. 116 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:57,400 In February 1711, Handel and his Italian singers were summoned 117 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:02,680 to St James's Palace to perform for her birthday. Her Majesty was 118 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:06,480 reported to be "extremely well pleased" with his music. 119 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,920 Some of her subjects, however, were less seduced. 120 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,760 "From foreign insult save this English stage 121 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,120 "No more the Italian squalling tribe admit 122 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,760 "In tongues unknown, 'tis popery in wit." 123 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,520 The learned author of these words, Richard Steele, 124 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:34,200 was no xenophobic philistine - he went on to found The Spectator. 125 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,680 But, like many in proudly Protestant Great Britain, 126 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:41,720 he was suspicious of anything which savoured of Catholicism. 127 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,680 "The songs theirselves confess from Rome they bring. 128 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:49,640 "And 'tis high mass, for ought you know, they sing." 129 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:55,400 Instead, Steele would invoke Britain's new greatness 130 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,640 and call for a native culture whose distinction would 131 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:00,240 match its military power. 132 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,080 "Let Anna's soil be known for all its charms 133 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,960 "As famed for liberal sciences as arms 134 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,320 "Let those derision meet who would advance 135 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,480 "Manners or speech from Italy or France 136 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,840 "Let them learn you, who would your favour find 137 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,200 "And English be the language of mankind." 138 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,400 This search for a native music worthy of the greatness 139 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,560 of Britain would be one of the crucial factors determining 140 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:32,320 the development of music in the 18th century. 141 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,760 The man who gave Great Britain its voice, however, would turn out 142 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:41,160 to be the very same German who was writing Italian operas. 143 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:46,120 In 1711, Handel began studying the English language - and its music. 144 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:50,560 In 1713, he was able to present this to Queen Anne. 145 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:59,960 # Eterna-a-a-a-al... 146 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,320 # ..source. # 147 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,800 This is the English, or rather the Anglicised, Handel. 148 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,680 Eternal Source of Light Divine is a birthday ode, 149 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:30,920 which is an English form. 150 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:35,680 The words are English, by the sentimental poet Ambrose Phillips. 151 00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:39,120 Even the musical forces were English too, 152 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:43,120 as Handel originally wrote this for a favourite counter-tenor 153 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:47,320 of the Chapel Royal, accompanied by trumpet in the manner of Purcell. 154 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,600 But the melodic genius, which has led the piece to be appropriated 155 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:02,480 by great sopranos and sung with gusto like this, was Handel's own. 156 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:08,160 # Eternal source 157 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:15,240 # Of li-i-i-ight 158 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,320 # Divine. # 159 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,160 It is a tricky piece to sing. 160 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,600 It has incredibly long phrases, and the point of Handel 161 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,960 is not to try and sing it in one breath. 162 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,440 The point is to give it the beauty it deserves, 163 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,040 and the space that he really wrote into those bars. 164 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:36,280 # ..Thy beams display. # 165 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,760 'It was written very much in the English style. 166 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,240 'Handel is pretty much trying to emulate Purcell, 167 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,640 'and you can really hear that in the simplicity of it.' 168 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,440 There's a lovely distance between the singer's notes 169 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,520 and those of the orchestra, and I think that gives you a lovely gap 170 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,560 which is so typical of English music. 171 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,840 English music just has a depth, um, and yet a simplicity, a sort of 172 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,000 transparency, which the Italian music tends to fill with notes. 173 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,240 # ..Shine 174 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:12,480 # And with distinguished glory shine. # 175 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:18,040 Anne rewarded Handel with a royal pension - a handsome £200 a year. 176 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:24,200 Barely three years after arriving in England, 177 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,840 he had already overshadowed home-grown talents - a process that 178 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:32,040 would accelerate when the monarchy too ceased to be home-grown. 179 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,960 In 1714, another German stepped off the boat here at Greenwich. 180 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,840 In July, Queen Anne had died, aged 49, 181 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,520 without having produced any children who lived to adulthood. 182 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,080 Parliament had ruled out a Catholic successor, then and for ever. 183 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,960 So, the new King of Great Britain was Georg Ludwig, 184 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:13,320 elector of Hanover and, as James I's great grandson, 185 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,800 Anne's closest living Protestant relation. 186 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,600 The House of Hanover had begun. 187 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,600 This allegorical wall painting shows George arriving 188 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,560 here in a Roman triumph. 189 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,320 It's grand, if faintly preposterous to our eyes, 190 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,080 but the reality was much more sober. 191 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:41,120 George arrived at night and in ordinary travelling clothes, 192 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,440 but at least his taste in music was magnificent, 193 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,600 and, as King of Great Britain, he could afford to indulge it. 194 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,080 On 17th July, 1717, 195 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:01,000 King George headed down the river in a royal barge. 196 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,840 Next to his boat travelled another barge with 50 musicians. 197 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,760 It was the premiere of Handel's Water Music. 198 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,520 George already knew and liked Handel's music, 199 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:28,400 since before the composer came to London he'd already held 200 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:33,200 a post as head of George's Chapel Royal in Hanover. 201 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:40,960 But this time, Handel was to make his music bigger, better, louder. 202 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,840 Handel cleverly scored the music with instruments loud enough to 203 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:06,040 carry across the water - trumpets, oboes, bassoons, flutes and violins. 204 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:11,200 For volume and novelty value, he also used German hunting-horns. 205 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,720 Handel's music was an instant hit, both with the King, 206 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,960 who liked it so much that he commanded the musicians to 207 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,600 repeat it twice, and with the public, who clamoured to hear it, 208 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,280 some of them lining the banks, others crowding on nearby boats. 209 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,080 MUSIC: "Water Music" by Handel 210 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,240 The scene must have resembled this later Canaletto image 211 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:53,760 of a regatta on the Thames. 212 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,960 Water Music is a masterpiece. 213 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,440 It's also perhaps the first example 214 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,320 of royal music being used in a spectacle 215 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:11,400 which had no spiritual or even very much obvious ceremonial purpose. 216 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,960 Instead, what George had done was to take the River Thames here 217 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,840 and to turn it into a theatre-cum-concert hall with 218 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:25,040 himself and his subjects as an enthusiastic audience. 219 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:26,520 It was a turning point. 220 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,120 For George and his Hanoverian successors, royal ceremony 221 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:34,600 and its musical accompaniment, deprived of any kind of religious 222 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,960 or even very much national raison d'etre would 223 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,440 become merely, gloriously, theatrical. 224 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:48,800 And it was in the theatre that King George would spend much of his time. 225 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,520 In person, George I could be stiff, reticent, and dour, 226 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,960 but he enjoyed nothing more than the high passions of opera - 227 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,600 especially when written by Handel. 228 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:18,120 During the single season, George attended half of the 44 opera 229 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:22,040 performances at the King's Theatre in London's Haymarket. 230 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,440 In Hanover, George had been unable to afford his own court opera. 231 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,080 The London theatre, however, provided new commercial 232 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,560 opportunities for sponsoring his favourite kind of music. 233 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:51,520 In 1719, George I put up seed money for a new opera company called, 234 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,680 grandiosely, The Royal Academy of Music. 235 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,440 It was based here, in Haymarket, 236 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:00,280 in the newly developing West End of London. 237 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:06,040 George's contribution amounted to £1,000 a year for seven years. 238 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,040 Where the King led, members of the nobility were happy to follow 239 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,840 and stump up substantial subscriptions as well. 240 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:18,680 This wasn't a court opera in continental style, rather it 241 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:23,360 was a commercial venture with the King as patron-cum-impresario. 242 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,520 George put Handel in charge of the Royal Academy, and sent him 243 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,040 overseas to recruit the finest singers. 244 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:36,880 Handel's prize catch was the most famous singer of the day, 245 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,880 Senesino, the Italian castrato. 246 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:45,200 He was lured to London by a salary of £1,000 for a single season. 247 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,360 That's pushing a million in today's money. 248 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:52,360 But then, Senesino had paid the ultimate price himself - 249 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:56,280 castration before puberty - which left him with abnormally long 250 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,560 limbs and a voice of child-like purity and manlike power. 251 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:08,600 # Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera 252 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,360 # Vendetta fara Quest'alma guerriera 253 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:15,720 # Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera 254 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:24,840 # Al lampo dell'a-a-a-a-armi 255 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:26,880 # Quest'alma guerriera 256 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,160 # Vendetta fara 257 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:33,840 # Al lampo dell'armi 258 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,000 # Quest'alma guerriera 259 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:43,000 # Vendetta fara-a-a-a-a 260 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,600 # Al lampo dell'armi Quest'alma guerriera 261 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:52,640 # Vendetta fara-a-a-a-a 262 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,520 # Quest'alma guerriera 263 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,400 # Vendetta fara. # 264 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,400 Senesino's performance in Giulio Cesare was praised 265 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:05,160 by London newspapers as "beyond all criticism." 266 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,640 Though his vanity and insolence 267 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,960 provoked the equally short-tempered Handel to call him "a damned fool." 268 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,720 He certainly pulled in the crowds, however, 269 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:16,680 appearing in 13 Handel operas 270 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,840 during his first eight-year stint in London. 271 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:21,880 # La destra guerriera 272 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:25,600 # Che forza le da. # 273 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,880 Italian opera was massively popular. There was a huge public for it. 274 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,800 And the public at that time was a very, very different kind of public 275 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,080 from the opera audience that you would have today. 276 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:39,560 It was almost an orgy. 277 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,840 I mean, anything could happen in the opera house. 278 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,480 They wouldn't necessarily pay attention the whole time. 279 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,400 They would go to hear a certain singer. 280 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,200 Or, if they'd been once or twice before, they'd know which arias 281 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,320 they liked and which they would pay attention to... They had boxes... 282 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:53,360 They had boxes. 283 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:56,400 So the most surprising things could happen. Anything could happen! 284 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,680 So it was an incredibly different kind of theatre experience 285 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,040 than we're used to today. 286 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,400 Of course, there were fierce factions, weren't there? 287 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:05,560 Huge factions. Particular singers. Exactly. 288 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,560 Rather like soccer - particular singers would have a following. 289 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:09,760 There would be enemies. 290 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:13,440 That's an incredibly good comparison, like a soccer crowd. 291 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,960 # Al lampo dell'armi Quest'alma guerriera 292 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:21,720 # Vendetta fara-a-a-a 293 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:26,600 # Quest'alma guerriera 294 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,040 # Vendetta fara! # 295 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,920 Handel wrote over 40 operas. 296 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,640 In the earlier decades of the 18th century, 297 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:42,520 the royal and aristocratic appetite for Italian opera was insatiable. 298 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,160 Moreover, the desire for novelty meant that composers 299 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:50,120 had to come up with new works all the time. 300 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:53,920 Fortunately, Handel was well suited to this kind of environment, 301 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,560 as he was able to knock out an Italian opera 302 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,640 in a matter of weeks, rather than months. 303 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:11,720 Handel's success, both in the theatre and at court, 304 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,240 made him a rich man, 305 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:17,120 and he took up residence in this fine Mayfair townhouse. 306 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,800 He'd embraced life in Britain, just as Britain had embraced his talent. 307 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,240 The same could not be said, however, for the monarch he served. 308 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,120 King George I here, despite his years as King 309 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:36,040 of Great Britain, never became remotely British, because 310 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:41,440 he was a member of an international court culture that made love, 311 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:47,760 war and peace in French, which George spoke perfectly, and sang in 312 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,480 Italian, in the operas which George adored, and that Handel composed. 313 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,440 In 1727, George died and was buried - fittingly, perhaps - 314 00:23:58,440 --> 00:23:59,760 in Hanover. 315 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,200 George I's musical legacy lies in music written for pleasure 316 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,160 rather than grand ceremony. 317 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,480 George II, however, was very different. 318 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:17,520 George II actually enjoys ceremony, and he produces the most impressive 319 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,720 musical coronation in the whole of the history of the coronation. 320 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,280 He was crowned in October 1727. 321 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,240 And on this occasion, Westminster Abbey served not just 322 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:36,120 as the royal church, but also as the grandest of grand concert halls. 323 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,920 # The King shall rejoice 324 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:45,760 # The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord 325 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,320 # The King 326 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:58,000 # Shall rejoice 327 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,520 # Shall rejoice 328 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,160 # In thy strength, O Lord 329 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,360 # The King shall rejoice 330 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:13,640 # The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. # 331 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,840 There were two contenders to write the music. 332 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,160 Dr Maurice Greene, 333 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,120 the newly appointed Master of the King's Music, and Handel. 334 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,320 Precedent dictated that Greene should get the task, 335 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,240 as a leading member of the royal musical household. 336 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,400 But Handel was well placed too, and also, perhaps not 337 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:39,400 coincidentally, he'd just been naturalised as a British subject. 338 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,080 But what determined matters were George II's characteristically 339 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:47,200 violent prejudices. According to his grandson, George III, 340 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,400 he considered poor Greene to be "a wretched, little, crooked, 341 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,400 "insignificant, ill-natured writer, player and musician." 342 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,400 Forbad him absolutely to have anything to do with 343 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,400 the coronation music, and instead gave the honour to Handel. 344 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,600 # ..in thy strength, O Lord 345 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,840 # The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. # 346 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,400 The four coronation anthems he wrote for the occasion were a major step 347 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,920 towards finding a musical voice for Great Britain. 348 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:21,640 Handel addressed, head on, 349 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,920 a paradox which had troubled the Protestant Church of England 350 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,400 since its creation nearly two centuries earlier. 351 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:35,680 # The King shall rejoice 352 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,680 # The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord. # 353 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:46,960 The English Reformation, with its single-minded emphasis on the 354 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:52,800 pure, unadulterated word of God, had been the great enemy of music. 355 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,920 Handel changed all that. 356 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,000 More imaginatively than any Englishman, 357 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,880 he responded to the power and poetry of the key texts 358 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:07,880 of the Church of England to invent a new musical language. 359 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:12,400 The texts of the coronation anthems were traditionally taken 360 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,160 from those two great achievements of the English Reformation - 361 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,400 the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible. 362 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,520 The verses were re-edited by the Archbishop of Canterbury 363 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,840 to suit the circumstances of each coronation. 364 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,880 But in 1727, the Archbishop, the story goes, 365 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:38,280 was stunned to be told by Handel, "I have read my Bible very well, 366 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,360 "and shall choose for myself." 367 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,200 And he did, ruthlessly editing down the texts 368 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,640 and rearranging the verses to serve his own musical ends. 369 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,240 He was searching for words and ideas that were royal 370 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,240 and that he could then orchestrate royally. 371 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,960 What you get with Zadok the Priest 372 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,160 is the most wonderful musical coup de theatre. 373 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,960 You get a very, very long sort of slow-burning introduction, which 374 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:35,120 has an immediate sense of dignity, and a sort of gliding, undulating 375 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:40,280 pulsating, building up musical tension through harmonic means. 376 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,280 And it builds up and builds up and builds up tension 377 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,320 until the choir comes in as one voice with the word "Zadok." 378 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:58,440 And the letter Z at the beginning of Zadok, sung by all the choir 379 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,440 at once, with the addition, at that moment, of the trumpets 380 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:07,360 and the drums, provides a sort of spine-tingling effect. 381 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:14,200 # Zadok the Priest 382 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:21,720 # And Nathan the prophet 383 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:31,960 # Anointed Solomon king 384 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:40,920 # And all the people rejoiced 385 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,800 # Rejoiced 386 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,640 # Rejoiced, and all the people... # 387 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,360 The combination of this majestic musical language 388 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,200 with English biblical texts 389 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,360 was one that Handel would return to for the rest of his career - 390 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,560 most famously with his oratorio Messiah, that would prove 391 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,640 as glorious in the service of the heavenly King 392 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,560 as it did here for the Hanoverian monarchy. 393 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,840 # Rejoice 394 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:21,400 # Rejoiced and said 395 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,760 # God save the King 396 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,800 # Long live the King. # 397 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,040 Zadok the Priest, with its resounding, 398 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,800 repeated acclamations of "God save the King!" 399 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,000 would have been the perfect national anthem - 400 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,360 if it weren't so damned difficult to sing. 401 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,160 # For ever, for ever 402 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:45,960 # Amen. # 403 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:50,280 Indeed, for several decades following, it served much 404 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,240 the purpose of the yet-to-be-written national anthem, and headed 405 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,680 the programme of countless concerts where it was described 406 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:04,480 as THE coronation anthem - or even "the anthem, God Save the King." 407 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,200 # Long live the King 408 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,760 # God save the King 409 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,960 # Long live the King 410 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:16,840 # May the King live 411 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,640 # For ever. # 412 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,520 Handel was an opera composer, 413 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,720 and I think he captured more than many of his predecessors 414 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,360 the sense of transcendent moment and the drama of the occasion, 415 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,840 almost painting it in musical terms, 416 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,880 a bit like sort of the epics of Cecil B de Mille 417 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,520 or something like that. 418 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,360 It had this huge scale and this sense of kind of 419 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:42,640 really portraying the significance 420 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,960 and the sense of occasion in musical language. 421 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,640 # Hallelujah 422 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:56,240 # Halleluja-a-a-a-ah. # 423 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,160 George II's coronation was remarkable 424 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,560 not only for its magnificent music, 425 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,120 but for the conspicuous absence of George's son and heir, 426 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,160 Frederick, who had been banned from attending. 427 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,880 Frederick loved music. He's pictured here playing 428 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,920 the cello in front of the palace he made his own, Kew. 429 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,840 He had rather less love for his parents. 430 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:29,920 They clashed about everything, 431 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:33,520 from the size of Frederick's allowance, to politics. 432 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,920 So when, in 1740, Frederick commissioned a new musical work, 433 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,920 he did not employ his father's favourite composer, Handel. 434 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:47,560 Instead, he chose Handel's closest rival, Thomas Arne. 435 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,720 Like Handel, Arne wrote for the theatre. Unlike Handel, 436 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:59,160 his productions were in English - and he was too. 437 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,360 Arne wrote the music for a private entertainment, 438 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:09,400 staged in the grounds of the prince's country estate, Cliveden. 439 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:16,160 The event was supposed to celebrate the birthday of Frederick's 440 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,640 three-year-old daughter, Augusta. 441 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:22,160 In reality, it had much more to do with Frederick's own 442 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,960 political ambitions. 443 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,120 Now, openly estranged from his father, George II, Frederick 444 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,560 was keen to establish his own political identity. 445 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,800 So, he launched a carefully orchestrated campaign 446 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:38,480 to present himself as the patriot prince, 447 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,720 supporting a ruthless expansion of British power abroad. 448 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:55,120 The musical performance itself took place here, in this amphitheatre, 449 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,920 overlooking the wooded valley of the Thames. 450 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,400 The audience sitting on the terraces here was the creme de la creme, 451 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,640 for they had been summoned to see and hear 452 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:10,640 the centrepiece of Frederick's "Patriot Prince" campaign. 453 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:15,240 Everything was to be English. Hence the choice of form - 454 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:18,800 an English masque rather than an Italian opera - 455 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:23,520 of the composer - the English Arne, rather than the German Handel - 456 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:29,600 and, above all, of the subject - the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred. 457 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,000 Alfred was cultured, and learned. 458 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,760 He was an heroic defender of his people 459 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,840 against a barbarian invader... 460 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,080 ..and the founder of the Navy. 461 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,440 Alfred, the only English king to be called "Great", 462 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:52,840 would be Frederick's model. 463 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,360 Only Frederick would be greater, because he would be ruler 464 00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:02,320 not of England, but of Britain - Great Britain. 465 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:07,880 # When Britain first at heaven's command 466 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:12,720 # Arose from out the azure main 467 00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:18,520 # Arose, arose, arose from out the azure main 468 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,160 # This was the charter 469 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,920 # The charter of the land, 470 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:29,520 # And guardian angels sang this strain 471 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,160 # Rule, Britannia 472 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,240 # Britannia, rule the waves 473 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:40,520 # Britons never shall be slaves. 474 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,080 # Rule Britannia 475 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,000 # Britannia rules the waves... # 476 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,520 When Rule Britannia is sung at the Last Night of the Proms, 477 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,080 it seems like a straightforward, if tub-thumping, 478 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:52,600 expression of national pride. 479 00:35:53,720 --> 00:35:57,080 Few now realise though that it was created to criticise, 480 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,440 not celebrate, the reigning monarch. 481 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:08,360 Four years later, Arne's tune was taken up by still fiercer 482 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:10,320 opponents of George II. 483 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,560 It was sung by a rebel army marching south from Scotland, 484 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:18,000 who wanted to put a Catholic king back on Britain's throne 485 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,680 in the form of Bonnie Prince Charlie. 486 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,080 London waited nervously. 487 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:28,120 From one of its theatres, however, 488 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,040 came a statement of support for the embattled King George II. 489 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,480 Thanks, once again, to the entrepreneurial Thomas Arne. 490 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:42,200 On the 28th of September 1745, here on this site, 491 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,800 in the old Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 492 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,200 three of London's favourite singers came on stage 493 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,800 in front of the curtain at the end of the performance. 494 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,280 And there, to raise people's spirits in this time of crisis 495 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,480 and emergency, they sang an old tune with new words 496 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,520 and in a new arrangement by Arne. 497 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,400 It was greeted with tears, cheers and thunderous encores. 498 00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:10,880 As the weeks went by, the numbers of performers swelled, 499 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,960 and a chorus of 20 would appear to sing it, 500 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:18,080 to a similar rousing reception at the end of each performance. 501 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,960 It was, of course, God Save The King. 502 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:27,480 # God bless our noble King 503 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,440 # God save great George our King 504 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,560 # God save the King 505 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,640 # God bless our noble King 506 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:43,840 # God save great George our King 507 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:48,640 # God save the King 508 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,960 # Send him victorious 509 00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:57,440 # Happy and glorious 510 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:01,560 # Long to reign over us 511 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:05,880 # God save the King 512 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:10,120 # Send him victorious 513 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:14,640 # Happy and glorious 514 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:19,120 # Long to reign over us 515 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:24,240 # God save the King. # 516 00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:27,600 By the end of the 18th century, God Save The King 517 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:31,960 was firmly established as THE national anthem, making 518 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,920 Britain the first country in Europe to have such a patriotic hymn. 519 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,320 I suppose it's the royal-est piece of music of them all. 520 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,760 But it had originated not in an official commission, but 521 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:50,680 instead in an instantaneous response to a political and military crisis. 522 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:54,320 And it depended on the public, not royal patrons, 523 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:55,680 for its initial success. 524 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,720 # Confound their politics 525 00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:04,200 # Frustrate their knavish tricks 526 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:09,240 # On thee our hopes we fix 527 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:15,520 # God save us all. # 528 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:26,520 Public taste also determined the initial success of a work 529 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,160 that was first heard three years later, not in court, 530 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:32,760 nor at church, but in public parks. 531 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,320 It was Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, 532 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,040 and such was the composer's fame by the mid-18th century, 533 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,400 even its rehearsal stopped the traffic. 534 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,400 The rehearsal took place on this very spot. 535 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,560 Now, it's a scrubby patch of green. 536 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,880 Then, it was the heart of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, 537 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,640 whose verdant avenues and pretty pavilions were the principle place 538 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,880 of public entertainment in 18th-century London. 539 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:07,440 On the day of the rehearsal, London came to a standstill. 540 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:12,680 There was a three-hour coach jam on London Bridge as some 12,000 people 541 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:14,960 struggled to get here. 542 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,520 12,000 people! 543 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:21,640 That's probably the largest audience that had yet listened 544 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:24,720 to a piece of music anywhere in Europe. 545 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:33,320 But then everything about this occasion was on an epic scale. 546 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:37,520 It was commissioned to mark the end, 547 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,040 after eight long years, of the War of Austrian Succession. 548 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,720 The Peace Treaty proved unpopular however, since the British agreed 549 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:49,480 to give up many of the colonial gains they had won from the French. 550 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,240 MUSIC: "Music For The Royal Fireworks" by Handel 551 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:07,800 To win over sceptical popular opinion, the Government 552 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,000 turned to the well-tried technique of bread and circuses, 553 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:14,320 and decided to throw a grand fireworks party. 554 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:15,920 It was a theatrical idea 555 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,520 that was executed in a thoroughly theatrical fashion. 556 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,120 A 400-foot long set was built in Green Park, 557 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,120 the site of the official celebrations. 558 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:34,120 Presiding over it all was a giant sun representing George II 559 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:38,240 and proclaiming "Vivat Rex" - "Long Live the King." 560 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,680 Actually, neither the event nor the music were the monarch's idea. 561 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:48,920 But once Handel had been commissioned, 562 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,640 George made it clear what he wanted - martial music. 563 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:56,720 Handel responded by scoring it for three pairs of kettle drums, 564 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:02,600 nine trumpets, nine horns, 24 oboes and 12 bassoons. 565 00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:07,320 He described it as "a grand overture of warlike instruments." 566 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,720 It might seem a paradoxical choice for celebrating a peace treaty, 567 00:42:12,720 --> 00:42:17,040 but George was a king who'd seen battle - the last British monarch 568 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:21,680 to do so when he personally led the troops at Dettingen in 1743. 569 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,040 He sees himself as a soldier. 570 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:30,240 He wants his monarchy to have the sound of a soldier king, 571 00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:33,920 to have the sound of the drums and the trumpets and the horns 572 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,800 that lead men into battle. 573 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:39,920 Despite Handel's efforts, however, 574 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,320 the fireworks themselves were rather less than a triumph. 575 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,960 The King inspected the gigantic set as Handel's music played. 576 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,320 Then the fireworks themselves began. 577 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,560 At first, all went well, and the rockets were much admired. 578 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:01,200 But then, suddenly, part of the wooden set caught fire. 579 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,760 With great difficulty, it was extinguished, 580 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,000 but the delay threw the whole timing out, and the event, 581 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:12,640 which had aroused such expectations, dribbled on to an inglorious close. 582 00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:17,960 The royal fireworks had begun as theatre - they ended as farce. 583 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:26,000 In the midst of the chaos, however, Handel's music had established 584 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:30,760 beyond doubt another characteristic of Great Britain's musical identity. 585 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:35,320 A love of brass, volume, and all things military. 586 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,360 But Handel was to make an even more important 587 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:45,440 contribution to our musical culture. 588 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,560 And for this he took inspiration once more from the theatre. 589 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:55,640 Now, though, he was creating very different 590 00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:59,280 productions from those that George I had loved so much. 591 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:06,080 After 1741, Handel stopped writing Italian opera altogether. 592 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:10,560 It was ruinously expensive to stage. It had almost bankrupted him, 593 00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,960 despite his shrewd commercial instincts. 594 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:18,280 Instead, he concentrated on English language oratorio - 595 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:20,040 a less elaborate concert drama, 596 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:23,840 which married operatic techniques to English sacred texts. 597 00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:26,600 # If God be for us 598 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:29,760 # Who can be against us? 599 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,680 # Who can be against us? 600 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:38,360 # Who can be against us? 601 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,080 # If God be for us 602 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:47,720 # Who can be against us? 603 00:44:55,880 --> 00:45:04,880 # Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? 604 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,840 # Of God's elect. # 605 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:14,000 Usually performed without sets, costumes or action, 606 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,080 the oratorio was much cheaper to stage. 607 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,680 It could be performed on religious feast days, 608 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,160 when the theatres were otherwise dark. 609 00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:25,560 # Of God's elect. # 610 00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:29,440 Whilst the biblical stories on which it was normally based 611 00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:33,960 appealed to the religiosity of an important new audience. 612 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:39,120 Not to the immoral, cosmopolitan aristocracy who'd been the great 613 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,440 patron of Handel's Italian operas. 614 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,320 But, instead, to the ever more prosperous, 615 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:49,560 numerous and politically powerful middle class, who grew 616 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:53,800 and thrived in the long economic boom of Georgian England. 617 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:59,400 These people were English, and they were proud of it. 618 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:04,840 # See the conquering hero comes 619 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,720 # Sound the trumpets... # 620 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:10,400 The subjects of Handel's oratorios 621 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:12,920 were more English than they looked, too. 622 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:14,240 On the surface, 623 00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:18,280 Judas Macchabaeus was the story of an Old Testament military leader 624 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:22,520 who heroically defeats a rebellion and unites a doubting people. 625 00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:27,680 The audience at the Covent Garden premiere in 1747 would have 626 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:31,120 instantly thought of a much more contemporary figure - 627 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,600 George II's younger son, The Duke of Cumberland, 628 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,120 who had just smashed the Jacobite army at Culloden. 629 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,400 The parallel is made explicit in the dedication, 630 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,040 which refers to the Duke as, 631 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,680 "Truly Wise, Valiant and Virtuous Commander." 632 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:54,960 Handel's oratorio had given voice to the nation's sense of triumph 633 00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:59,320 and relief, far more effectively than any thanksgiving service. 634 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:05,920 # See the conquering hero comes 635 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:12,000 # Sound the trumpet, beat the drums. # 636 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:16,080 The unique power of oratorio was its ability to dramatise 637 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:20,040 the national myth of the new Holy Land - Great Britain. 638 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:29,000 For season after season at the London theatres, Handel would 639 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,920 present a new instalment of the story of God's chosen people. 640 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:37,160 The righteous struggle of an elect nation. 641 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,640 # In defence of your nation, religion, and laws 642 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:47,360 # The Almighty Jehovah will strengthen your hands 643 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:56,880 # In defence of your nation, religion, and laws 644 00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:07,960 # The Almighty Jehovah will stre-e-e-e-e-ngthen 645 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:15,200 # The Almighty Jehovah 646 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:23,520 # Will strengthen your hands. # 647 00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:28,320 The idea of a divinely ordained monarchy no longer held sway 648 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:31,080 in Hanoverian England. 649 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:35,520 Instead, it had been replaced by the idea of a divinely ordained nation. 650 00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:41,120 Oratorio was the soundtrack to this new ideology. 651 00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,560 # Arm, arm, ye brave! 652 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:46,720 # A noble cause 653 00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:50,880 # The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands 654 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,320 # A noble cause 655 00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:55,640 # Arm, arm, ye brave! 656 00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:57,440 # Arm ye brave! 657 00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:05,240 # The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands. # 658 00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:11,760 Oratorio combined religious zeal with a strident national pride. 659 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:16,400 It stood on its head the old Puritan objection to religious music - 660 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,120 that it brought the theatre into church - 661 00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:23,240 by bringing religion triumphantly into the theatre. 662 00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:26,800 And it would be elevated into a new national cult, 663 00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,680 and given royal endorsement by the next Hanoverian King, George III. 664 00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:43,560 Unlike the previous Hanoverian monarchs, 665 00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,600 this King George was actually born in Britain. 666 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:51,680 When he acceded to the throne in 1760, he proclaimed to Parliament, 667 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:56,920 "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain." 668 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,800 George III believed that Britain should be as pre-eminent in the arts 669 00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,240 as in military power, and Somerset House, 670 00:50:11,240 --> 00:50:14,600 in whose magnificent courtyard I'm standing now, 671 00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:18,080 is the monument to his cultural ambitions. 672 00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:21,000 The north block was built at George's insistence 673 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,920 as a kind of clubhouse-cum-exhibition space 674 00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:27,880 for the elite of Britain's scientists, artists and historians. 675 00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:33,280 George, who was a keen musician himself, was also the patron 676 00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:36,840 of the Academy of Ancient Music, which was set up to study 677 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,880 and perform the works of the great composers of the British past. 678 00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:45,120 And, incomparably, the greatest of them all in George's view 679 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:47,160 was Handel. 680 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,840 One year before George III came to the throne, 681 00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:57,520 Handel had died at the age of 74. 682 00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:02,240 His passing was marked with something close to a state funeral. 683 00:51:02,240 --> 00:51:05,920 He was buried in Westminster Abbey, on a regal scale, 684 00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:08,240 with 3,000 people in attendance. 685 00:51:09,720 --> 00:51:14,200 Many years before, Handel had observed of the young Prince George, 686 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:19,080 "Whilst that boy lives, my music will never want a protector." 687 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,520 George would fulfil that prophecy. 688 00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:27,520 George III kept a private band to play for him in both London 689 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:29,960 and his favourite residence at Windsor. 690 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,880 Its leader was the accomplished German violinist 691 00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:35,400 George Georg Griesbach. 692 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,760 Each day, it would seem, the King gave him a play list 693 00:51:38,760 --> 00:51:42,160 of the music that he would want to hear in the evening. 694 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:46,440 A handful of these, written on any scrap of paper that the King could 695 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:52,480 find, have survived, and they consist of Handel, Handel 696 00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:56,000 and Handel. And not just any old Handel. 697 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:01,040 Instead, they cover the whole range of the composer's music - 698 00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:04,960 overtures, concerti grossi, and movements from operas 699 00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:09,200 and oratorios from every decade of the composer's career. 700 00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:13,120 In other words, George not only loved Handel, 701 00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:15,360 he really knew his music, 702 00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:21,520 and here is hands-on evidence in the King's own handwriting. 703 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,400 And Handel's music was not merely a private passion for George III. 704 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:29,400 It also led him to put Westminster Abbey 705 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,000 to a quite unprecedented public use. 706 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:38,880 In 1784, 4,000 of the richest, most powerful and fashionable people 707 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:42,640 in London packed into the newly decorated nave 708 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:47,280 of Westminster Abbey here. It was the biggest national event 709 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:51,520 since George III's own coronation some 20-odd years previously. 710 00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:56,400 But they didn't come to give thanksgiving for a great 711 00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,720 military victory, or a royal anniversary. 712 00:53:00,720 --> 00:53:06,480 Instead, they came to honour a musician, plain Mr Handel, 713 00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:10,040 and celebrate the supposed centenary of his birth 714 00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,960 with a series of grand concerts of his works. 715 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,840 The King was chief patron of the event, 716 00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:21,080 involved in everything, from the programme to the decorations. 717 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:26,320 And each day, seated in a great Gothic throne, the King led 718 00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:32,720 the nation in homage to the man who had given it its musical voice. 719 00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:37,320 Before the celebration began, the Royal Family visited Handel's 720 00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:41,760 tomb nearby, in the south transept, to pay their respects. 721 00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:46,520 Then they processed to their box and listened, rapt, 722 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:48,880 as Handel's Messiah was performed. 723 00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:51,840 # Hallelujah 724 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:54,200 # Hallelujah 725 00:53:54,200 --> 00:53:55,920 # Hallelujah, hallelujah 726 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,640 # Hallelujah 727 00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:01,480 # Hallelujah 728 00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:03,680 # Hallelujah 729 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:05,840 # Hallelujah, hallelujah 730 00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:09,160 # Hallelujah. # 731 00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:11,800 There is a story that explains why, 732 00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,320 by the later 18th century, it was customary 733 00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:17,760 when there was a performance of Handel's Messiah 734 00:54:17,760 --> 00:54:20,480 that you actually rose for the Hallelujah chorus - 735 00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:24,600 at some point, the King must have risen. 736 00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:26,920 And of course when the King gets to his feet, 737 00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:28,280 everybody gets to his feet. 738 00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:30,080 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 739 00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:31,600 # Hallelujah! 740 00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,840 # Hallelujah... # 741 00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:36,040 The reversals are astonishing. 742 00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:41,400 Music at the Abbey had once honoured kings - 743 00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,640 now the King led the nation in worshipping music. 744 00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:51,280 And music written to the glory of God became instead 745 00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:53,880 part of the cult of the musician Handel. 746 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:59,800 # Hallelujah 747 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:06,400 # The kingdom of this world 748 00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:12,520 # Is become 749 00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:16,920 # The kingdom of our Lord 750 00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,440 # And of his Christ 751 00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:22,080 # And of his Christ. # 752 00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:29,840 The 1784 celebrations featured 250 singers and 250 instrumentalists. 753 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:34,160 The British had acquired a taste for musical giganticism. 754 00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:42,840 All the newspaper reports emphasise scale, numbers, power of sound. 755 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:46,440 So this is literally the music of a great power. 756 00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:49,720 It's booming brass and sounding drum. 757 00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:52,040 # For ever and ever 758 00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:54,280 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! # 759 00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:58,120 All the time, the fusion of the sacred and the soldierly, 760 00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:03,040 the sacred and the military, it becomes the language of ceremony. 761 00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:04,840 # King of kings 762 00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:06,920 # For ever and ever 763 00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:09,040 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 764 00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:12,280 # And lord of lords. # 765 00:56:12,280 --> 00:56:15,880 The commemoration was repeated at the Abbey in following years, 766 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,280 with ever growing numbers of musicians, 767 00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:21,760 and then replicated across the country. 768 00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:23,440 To this day, of course, 769 00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:27,560 Messiah is a favourite of British choirs everywhere. 770 00:56:27,560 --> 00:56:29,560 # King of kings 771 00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:32,400 # And lord of lords. # 772 00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:36,320 Everything that Handel gave to Great Britain is exemplified 773 00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:40,520 by this one work - above all, the way he uses the music to serve 774 00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:44,680 the power and majesty of the English language itself. 775 00:56:44,680 --> 00:56:47,080 # King of kings 776 00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:49,440 # For ever and ever 777 00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:51,800 # And lord of lords 778 00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:54,440 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! # 779 00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:58,680 It was the approach he'd first taken with the coronation anthems, 780 00:56:58,680 --> 00:57:01,280 then perfected with the oratorios. 781 00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:04,000 # King of kings. # 782 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,280 At the beginning of the 18th century, 783 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:09,240 the Act of Union gave life to Great Britain. 784 00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:13,720 By the end of the century, the new superpower had, at last, 785 00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:19,080 found its musical voice - thanks to Handel, and his royal patrons. 786 00:57:19,080 --> 00:57:22,760 # For ever and ever 787 00:57:22,760 --> 00:57:24,360 # Hallelujah 788 00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:26,120 # Hallelujah 789 00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:27,400 # Hallelujah 790 00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:28,640 # Hallelujah 791 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:39,680 # Hallelujah! # 792 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:44,640 Next time, our story comes to its end. 793 00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:51,640 # And did those feet in ancient time 794 00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:53,120 # Walk... # 795 00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:56,080 The Monarchy rediscovers its sacred role 796 00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:58,720 in response to scandal and crises. 797 00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:03,200 Royal pageantry is reinvented, with spectacular success. 798 00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:07,760 And royal patronage creates the greatest generation of British 799 00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:09,880 composers for several centuries. 800 00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:14,760 It defines the sound of a nation in the age of imperial power. 801 00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:18,760 # And did the countenance divine 802 00:58:18,760 --> 00:58:26,440 # Shine forth upon our clouded hills? 803 00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:33,880 # And was Jerusalem builded here 804 00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:40,640 # Among those dark satanic mills? # 805 00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:40,640 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd