Christmas concert
William Walton
1902-1983
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given
on Wednesday 28 November 2007
in St Mary's Church, Rock Gardens, Kemptown, Brighton
William Walton Coronation Te
Deum
Edward Elgar Te Deum and Benedictus |
The Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra played in the
first half of this early Christmas concert, then the Symphony Orchestra performed Beethoven's
Egmont overture and Gershwin's Cuban
Overture. In the second half the Choral Society with
orchestra and brass band performed the Walton and Elgar works. |
William Walton - Coronation Te Deum
William Walton wrote his Te Deum in 1952 for first performance at the
coronation in Westminster Abbey of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. Sir William McKie
conducted the Coronation Choir with orchestra. On the occasion the trumpeters of the Royal
Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, and the Abbey organ played a significant role in
the piece.
The original scoring of the Coronation Te Deum is for brass, organ and
percussion. The glittering brass echo the colourful chorus of praise in Belshazzar’s
Feast, and contrast with episodes of quiet lyricism as when Holy, holy Lord God
of Sabaoth begins a slow crescendo towards the fanfares of Thou art the King of
Glory, O Christ. It has often been said that the 1953 Coronation was the beginning of
a new optimism in Britain, but the close of the Te Deum, let me never be confounded,
still contains dark echoes of a World War ending only eight years earlier. |
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Edward Elgar
1857-1934 |
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Edward Elgar - Te Deum and
Benedictus
Elgar wrote both the Te Deum, and a paired Benedictus,
to be performed at the opening service of the 1897 Three Choirs Festival at Hereford
Cathedral. He was commissioned to write these two church canticles by George Robertson
Sinclair, the cathedral organist. Sinclair was one of two people at the Festival who later
is found among the friends pictured in the Enigma Variations; the second there
was August Jaeger, publishing office manager at Novello whose efforts to champion Elgar's
work are commemorated in Nimrod, the greatest of the variations.
At the time of the commission, Elgar's reputation was far from established, so
it was something of a turning point when he was chosen to provide a work as the
centrepiece of the 1897 festival. Its acceptance was not automatic – Elgar had to run
through the piece for Sinclair, and it needed to be approved by him before being accepted
for the festival. Sinclair is said to have found the work surprisingly modern and was
initially hesitant in giving his consent.
Elgar’s Te Deum is scored for either orchestra or organ.
The introduction is a characteristic nobilmente, leading to a choral explosion at
the opening We praise Thee, O God. It continues with a symphonic treatment of the
themes. The Benedictus develops much of the same melodic themes
in a different but complementary way. |
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