Monday 27 August 2001 7:30 pm
Fairest Isle – a New National Songbook
| Jeremiah Clarke (1674 – 1707) | The Prince of Denmark’s March |
| Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) | ‘Come if you dare’ from King Arthur |
| ‘Fairest Isle, all isles excelling’ from King Arthur | |
| Henry Purcell or Jeremiah Clarke | ”Twas within a furlong of Edinboro’ town’ from The Mock Marriage |
| Jeremiah Clarke | Trumpet Tune in D major from The Island Princess |
| Anonymous arr. Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) | The Miller of Dee |
| Thomas Arne arr. Thomas Linley (1756 – 1778) | ‘Where the bee sucks, there lurk I’ from The Tempest |
| Joseph Vernon (1738 – 1782) | ‘When that I was a little tiny boy’ from Twelfth Night |
| Anonymous arr. J. C. Bach (1735 – 1792) | The Broom of Cowdenknowes |
| Anonymous | The British Grenadiers |
| Richard Clarke (d. 1737) | Medley Overture |
| George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) | ‘See, the conquering hero comes’ from Joshua |
| ‘The Melancholy Nymph’ from The What d’ye Call It? | |
| Anonymous arr. J. C. Bach | Farewell to Lochaber |
| Thomas Morley arr. R. J. S. Stevens | Now is the Month of Maying |
| James Hook (1746 – 1827) | The Lass of Richmond Hill |
| Charles Dibdin (1745 – 1814) | ‘Tom Bowling’ from The Oddities |
| Thomas Arne | ‘Rule, Britannia’ from Alfred |
- Philippa Hyde &
Claire Tomlin soprano - Patrick McCarthy tenor
- Psalmody
- Essex Baroque Orchestra
- directed by Peter Holman
The ‘national songs’ we learned at school were not by and large folksongs, as is often assumed, but composed art-songs, many of them written for London’s theatres in the century after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This programme collects together many of the favourites, but in their rarely-heard original versions, including Purcell’s ‘Fairest isle’, Thomas Arne’s ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘The Miller of Dee’, Charles Dibdin’s ‘Tom Bowling’ and several of John Christian Bach’s exquisite settings of Scots songs.