The King has chosen music for his Coronation to “stir the soul”, according to the man who will conduct the orchestra on the historic day.
Sir Antonio Pappano, the current music director at the Royal Opera in Covent Garden, said the King had obviously “thought long and hard” about the music being played on the day.
Musicians from eight orchestras will come together at Westminster Abbey to play a wide range of music including 12 new commissions and historic pieces by composers including the Coronation Te Deum by Sir William Walton, written to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s coming to the throne, and Sir Hubert Parry’s setting of I was glad.
Sir Antonio, right, said: “The King has made his programme and he has thought long and hard about it. First of all there is a lot of new music and he’s commissioned 12 pieces and they are pieces that are extremely communicative and there is the more traditional music. I love the traditional stuff. When you hear that music it’s quite stirring, the Englishness of it. It belongs to us, you can’t deny it. You hear that music and something happens.”
He said the music was central to conveying not only “mood and atmosphere” but also the “history” of the event which will be watched by
an audience of millions around the world. He said: “Some of it speaks in words obviously, therefore there is a message to be passed but some of it is there just to stir the soul.
“I know that sounds corny but music does that and it can also communicate the festive nature of the day and the ruminative nature that time is going by. We lost the Queen and there is a passage of time and music can explain that better than any words.”
It will include performances by singers Pretty Yende, Sir Bryn Terfel and Roderick Williams and marks a return for Sir Antonio whose early years in London were spent near the abbey.
He said: “It is a huge thing. I don’t think there will be an audience bigger than this one. It’s important for me personally but it is also important for culture and for the country.
“It’s pretty good for a kid who grew up in a council flat very near the abbey in Old Pye Street so I haven’t travelled very far in all these years.”
Sir Antonio, who is set to leave Covent Garden after more than 22 years, will also host a farewell gala at the Royal Opera House in May to mark his tenure in charge at the historic venue.
Royal Opera director Oliver Mears said their new season, which was also announced today, would mark his farewell “with ambition and style”.
