Your good buddies the Windsors have announced details of twelve newly commissioned pieces of music that will be performed during the Coronation of King Charles III later this year. And don’t worry, they haven’t accidentally commissioned anything from Dizzee Rascal, so this all should be fine.
Among the new music that will be played as the King becomes, well, the King, are six orchestral commissions, five choral commissions and one organ commission. Together, we are told, they encompass “a range of musical styles” and reflect “the King’s life-long love and support of music and the arts”.
More specifically, there’ll be a new Coronation Anthem by Andrew Lloyd Webber, a Coronation March by Patrick Doyle, and a new piece of organ music “embracing musical themes from countries across the Commonwealth” by Iain Farrington
Plus other new works by Sarah Class, Nigel Hess, Paul Mealor, Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik, Shirley J Thompson, Judith Weir, Roderick Williams and Debbie Wiseman.
Says Lloyd Webber: “I am incredibly honoured to have been asked to compose a new anthem for the Coronation. My anthem includes words slightly adapted from Psalm 98. I have scored it for the Westminster Abbey choir and organ, the ceremonial brass and orchestra. I hope my anthem reflects this joyful occasion”. As do we all.
In addition to the music played during the actual Coronation at Westminster Abbey in London on 6 May, there’ll be a big old Coronation pop concert at Windsor Castle the following day.
We’ve been promised a bunch of “musical icons and contemporary stars” as part of that big gig. Maybe that could include another Charlie singing pop hits dressed as a Rhino, you know, just to make sure things are kept classy.
And before all that, there’s also that slightly bizarre Coronation playlist that the government’s culture department stuck up on Spotify recently.
Minus the Dizzee Rascal track they had to quickly drop from the original tracklist when people starting pointing out it was an odd choice given his conviction for assaulting former fiancée Cassandra Jones was recently upheld in court.