The National Anthem (Benjamin Britten)

The National Anthem is a 1962 choral and orchestral arrangement of God Save the Queen by Benjamin Britten. The arrangement was written for the Leeds Festival. It has been described as an "extraordinary progression from pianissimo prayer to pealing, overlapping choral fortissimo".[1]

"The National Anthem, arr. Benjamin Britten"
Single by London Symphony Orchestra
Recorded1962
GenreClassical music
LabelDecca
Songwriter(s)Henry Carey

Instrumentation

Britten arranged the anthem for an SATB chorus and an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons; four horns in F, two trumpets in C, three trombones, one tuba; a percussion section that includes timpani, cymbals, side drum, bass drum; and strings.

Notable performances

The piece was performed by Britten and the English Chamber Orchestra, along with the overture The Building of the House, at the openings of two English concert halls in 1967.[2][3]

The Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a purpose-built music venue on the South Bank in London which opened in March 1967. Britten prepared a reduced orchestration of his arrangement for the ECO to play at the opening concert.[4][5]

Snape Maltings

Snape Maltings is a converted industrial building in Suffolk. The Queen presided over its opening as a concert hall in June 1967 and its reopening after fire in 1970.[6][7]

Royal Albert Hall

Beginning in 2010, it has been played each year at the close of the Last Night of the Proms. In 2022, the event was cancelled due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II a few days earier. In 2023, the arrangement was sung for the first time as God Save the King in honour of King Charles III at Opening Night (closing night’s was Henry Wood’s version).

Release of recording

The arrangement was released by Decca both as a single (45-71146) and as 45 EP (SEC 5119) 1962. On the B side of the single was the Trumpet Voluntary in Sir Henry Wood's arrangement with the London Symphony Orchestra augmented by the trumpeters of Kneller Hall in a performance conducted by Kenneth Alwyn. The tracks of the EP were:

References
  1. Neil Powell A Life for Music 2014 -0099537362 Page 410 "... for a concert which opened with Britten's arrangement of the National Anthem, with its extraordinary progression from pianissimo prayer to pealing, overlapping choral fortissimo, afterwards, ... "
  2. "History: Britten and the ECO". Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  3. Eric Walter White, John Evans Benjamin Britten, His Life and Operas 0520048946 1983 Page 66 "... first two pieces of music in the Inaugural Concert programme — Britten's setting of the National Anthem for chorus and orchestra, and his overture The Building of the House (composed specially for the occasion) — the audience realized that ..."
  4. "Benjamin Britten - The National Anthem". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  5. "Chineke! Orchestra". Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. "Britten's music festival revives..." New York Times. 1994.
  7. Paul Kildea. Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century 2013. 0141924306 "The Queen inspected the auditorium, with its beautiful honeyed timber ceiling and Victorian redbrick walls, and then looked out over the marshy expanse towards Aldeburgh. The audience stood for the national anthem in Britten's arrangement ..."
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