On any day, the city of London, England is worth a DK diary. But on this day, for obvious reasons, there is particular resonance in the choice. However, this diary takes an upbeat tack, centering on music (classical - well, duh with 3CM), where much is going on this month in London. The key concerts will be The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall which start next Friday, but another festival going on now is celebrating an important anniversary.
BTW, the diary title comes from a poem by William Dunbar. One composer who set the poem to music was Sir William Walton, which you can hear from:
The text, and much else besides, followes 'neath ye flip.....
Just so you can enjoy the text of Dunbar's ode, here it is in full from that link:
"London, thou art of townes A per se.
Soveraign of cities, seemliest in sight,
Of high renoun, riches and royaltie;
Of lordis, barons, and many a goodly knyght;
Of most delectable lusty ladies bright;
Of famous prelatis, in habitis clericall;
Of merchauntis full of substaunce and of myght:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Gladdith anon, thou lusty Troynovaunt,
Citie that some tyme cleped was New Troy;
In all the erth, imperiall as thou stant,
Pryncesse of townes, of pleasure and of joy,
A richer restith under no Christen roy;
For manly power, with craftis naturall,
Fourmeth none fairer sith the flode of Noy:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Gemme of all joy, jasper of jocunditie,
Most myghty carbuncle of vertue and valour;
Strong Troy in vigour and in strenuytie;
Of royall cities rose and geraflour;
Empress of townes, exalt in honour;
In beawtie beryng the crone imperiall;
Swete paradise precelling in pleasure;
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Above all ryvers thy Ryver hath renowne,
Whose beryall stremys, pleasaunt and preclare,
Under thy lusty wallys renneth down,
Where many a swan doth swymme with wyngis fair;
Where many a barge doth saile and row with are;
Where many a ship doth rest with top-royall.
O, towne of townes! patrone and not compare,
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Upon thy lusty Brigge of pylers white
Been merchauntis full royall to behold;
Upon thy stretis goeth many a semely knyght
In velvet gownes and in cheynes of gold.
By Julyus Cesar thy Tour founded of old
May be the hous of Mars victoryall,
Whose artillary with tonge may not be told:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Strong be thy wallis that about thee standis;
Wise be the people that within thee dwellis;
Fresh is thy ryver with his lusty strandis;
Blith be thy chirches, wele sownyng be thy bellis;
Rich be thy merchauntis in substaunce that excellis;
Fair be their wives, right lovesom, white and small;
Clere be thy virgyns, lusty under kellis:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.
Thy famous Maire, by pryncely governaunce,
With sword of justice thee ruleth prudently.
No Lord of Parys, Venyce, or Floraunce
In dignitye or honour goeth to hym nigh.
He is exampler, loode-ster, and guye;
Principall patrone and rose orygynalle,
Above all Maires as maister most worthy:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all."
The festival in question from before the flip is the
City of London Festival, which is celebrating its
50th anniversary. The Festival takes place in various venues around the part of London known as "The City", which is the financial center of London (unfortunately in the news now because of
this sleazebag). I once had the luck to attend a vocal recital at a past Festival, on the last day, as it turned out, at a church toward what I deemed was the eastern portion of The City.
From the program(me) of the first City of London Festival in 1962, the Lord Mayor, Frederick Hoare, was quoted:
"Despite the fact the City of London is better known today mainly for its material efforts, in so many ways there is still a strong recognition of the things that have inspiration. This can be seen in the multitude of beautiful churches and the magnificence of St Paul's Cathedral. Within the Livery Companies there are many treasures of utmost beauty....this Festival is trying to show many things that are beautiful and inspired by the arts - music by the masters, played by the masters, the song, the play, the opera, verse, tragedy and comedy - in the setting of this our most historic capital, and perhaps by doing so release man for a while and remind him that there are other things than those entirely material."
One song cycle composed for the first City of London Festival was Sir William Walton's
A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table. You can check out the cycle (not from the Festival) thus (texts
here):
1. The Lord Mayor's Table:
2. Glide Gently:
3. Wapping Old Stairs:
4. Holy Thursday:
5. The Contrast:
6. Rhyme:
The list of events for this year's Festival, in admittedly not the most viewer-friendly format, is here. I give this characterization because, unless you slog through each listing for more details, you won't see that the July 15 concert with the London Symphony Orchestra features Renee Fleming as the guest soloist. Apparently it's sold out anyway, since clicking on that link indicates:
"This concert went on sale in January 2011 – returns only"
Translation: sold out. Interestingly, that concert coincides with the
third night of
The Proms, a concert performance of Debussy's one opera,
Pelléas et Mélisande. Choices, choices.
Keeping in mind the multiple commemorations going on in the UK now, with the diamond anniversary for Queen Elizabeth II and the Olympics now, the First Night of The Proms is properly celebratory, both for London and Elizabeth R:
Mark-Anthony Turnage: Canon Fever
Sir Edward Elgar: Overture Cockaigne (In London Town)
Frederick Delius: Sea Drift
Sir Michael Tippett: Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles
Elgar: Coronation Ode (1911)
In the Elgar Coronation Ode, BTW, you'll note the presence of 4 conductors for the evening, their version of a "baton relay" (haha). In addition, if you listen here, you'll hear a different version of the tune known as "Land of Hope and Glory", which is the high school graduation march played everywhere (and SNLC'ed here).
While any sort of "Olympic theme" in The Proms is pretty modest, one statement is that on the opening night of the Olympics, Friday July 27, The Proms will be featuring the annual performance there of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and conductor Daniel Barenboim. I hope that the security is really good for the concert, given that London is an obvious target for no-good-niks at this time (or any time), especially.
The best way to conclude this diary is with the single greatest evocation of London in the symphonic literature, Ralph Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony, the 2nd of his 9. In an bit of unplanned Olympic irony, the following YouTube videos are from a Brazilian orchestra:
1st movement:
2nd movement:
3rd movement:
4th movement:
With that, hope you're keeping cool, and since this is a "joint edition" diary, you can either:
a) Chit-chat about the music
b) Post loser stories of the week
c) Ignore both the above and comment on whatever you want (which is what most SNLC comments do anyway)