Well, the gender has changed to King with the death of Queen Elizabeth II and with King Charles III now as Sovereign and Supreme Governor of the established Church of England.

As for the National Anthem, those who know nothing about music, usually ask why the Sir David Willcocks’s arrangement (performed above) is not performed more often?

Can anyone take an educated guess?  It’s a rarely performed arrangement because of the large musical forces required to perform it.  In this performance, the camera doesn’t show all of the performers.  In another part of the Cathedral, there was a full orchestra (not shown), The Bach Choir (not shown), the State Trumpeters and the Cathedral Choir (Men and Boys) of Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, and the Cathedral’s Great Organ.

Despite it being the first time this arrangement was performed/heard, The Queen looks a bit sour, if not utterly bored.  This Willcocks’ arrangement was specifically written for the wedding of Charles and Diana in Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral (Church of England).

Reading the comments under the video, most people seem to know nothing about this version.  They seem to think that this arrangement has always existed, when it was Sir David Willcocks who was commissioned to write this arrangement specifically for the Wedding of Charles and Diana as I said above.  One commenter wrote, “I can see why they went with this arrangement” implying it wasn’t new.  Don’t people research anything?  No they don’t, and they don’t seem to know how to use a search engine.  That’s especially true for the people who seem to know nothing about music.  The pretentious ones think they’re supposed to use the word “sublime” — every performance is described as “sublime,” and “maestro” (a word I never use) in their comments to give the impression and keep up appearances that they know something about classical music even though they don’t.  Those two overused words are apparently supposed to give them credibility of knowing something about music.

They also put conductors up on pedestals (conductor worshipping).  I don’t put conductors on any pedestal because I see conductors no differently than the rest of us having worked and performed under many celebrity conductor.  It’s interesting because when I was performing I don’t remember anyone ever referring to a conductor as “maestro.”  We just used their name (Mr or Dr. ____ or Ms Hillis, for example).

I agree with Nigel Kennedy:  Conductors are so over-rated.  From my symphonic choral experience, some conductors are not all that great in working with a Chorus, but you’re stuck with him even as he disrespects the thoroughly well-prepared Chorus.  That happened to us with one conductor when I was in the Choral Arts Society of Washington when we were invited to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra because they were not touring with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.  Lorin Maazel was the conductor.  He was difficult to work with even though we (the Choral Arts Society Chorus) were thoroughly prepared by Norman Scribner.   I remember walking off the stage after the dress rehearsal asking, “What just happened out there?”  Maybe he was pissed off that the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus did not tour on that occasion with the Cleveland Orchestra.  We didn’t know what his problem was but he was a real piece of work.

By comparison, conductor John Nelson was outstanding in working with the University of Maryland Chorus for our performance of the Berlioz Requiem out at Wolf Trap with the National Symphony Orchestra.  At the end of the dress rehearsal on the campus he was so kind.  He said, “This Chorus is the best prepared Chorus I have ever worked with.”

Stupid is in:  On Reddit someone was asking:  Is this arrangement not performed often because the Queen died?   And what does that have to do with anything?  (One wonders how some people get through the day?)  Again, they know nothing about music or this very elaborate arrangement.  I’m not registered to comment on Reddit to tell this fool that the Willcocks’ arrangement is not performed often because of the large musical forces it requires to perform it.  It has nothing to do with the gender of the Head of State.  You just change the word Queen to King.  Doh.  Dummy.  The piece is best performed in a large Anglican Cathedral since it was composed for that.  It could be performed in a concert hall but it would not sound the same because of carpeting and “dry” acoustics.

Someone wrote in the comments, “One of the slowest versions I’ve heard…”  The tempo of the piece was deliberate per the Willcocks’ arrangement, with a packed Cathedral and to accommodate the Cathedral acoustics.   The echo/reverberation time at St. Paul’s is 11-13 seconds.  If one looks closely in the Quire area, there is a chorister on the second row within camera view very precisely conducting (beating time).  There was the Cathedral Choir in the Quire area and The Bach Choir and Orchestra in another part of the Cathedral and the State Trumpeters in another part up on essentially the second story, and the organ console is up above the Quire area also on the second story. One can’t race through a piece and keep the ensemble together in those circumstances and with those musical acoustics.  It was also a slow temp because this arrangement is “grand and glorious” and one should not rush through it.

The Willcocks’s arrangement was performed in 2009 for the BBC Proms.  It says, “BBC Symphony Orchestra.”  So the Orchestra stood and sang the piece as well as playing the orchestral parts?  This is another instance of not crediting the Chorus.  It should say the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus.  I get so tired of this and it’s another instance of treating choristers as second-class musicians.  The tempo for this arrangement is faster in the Royal Albert Hall, in part, because the Hall is a much drier acoustic than St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral.  The descant is easier to hear in this acoustic.

The Musicians:

From the University of Cambridge (Oxbridge) Colleges:  The Choirs of King’s and St John’s Colleges, the Choirs of Clare, Gonville and Caius, and The Trinity Choir, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus with Sir Andrew Davis, conducting

Whilst writing this, I watched another video of the Willcocks’s arrangement where the camera view showed the other part of the Cathedral where The Bach Choir was and where the Philharmonia Orchestra was.  But I can’t find that as of this writing.  Perhaps that video was removed.

Sir David Willcocks was chosen as Director of Music for the Royal Wedding.  He conducted the massed Choirs (which included The Bach Choir) and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Barry Rose conducted the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, and Colin Davis conducted the Royal Opera House Orchestra alongside Willcocks.

“God Save The Queen/King” is a far better National Anthem — much better written; it is in hymn style and much easier to sing — than the tacky “Stars Spangled Banner” (which I can’t stand) that the US has which celebrates war (that text about “bombs bursting in air”) and other rubbish.  That anthem is difficult for anyone to sing because it’s all over the musical scale, and out of the range of most people’s voices.

By the way, the US stole the music of the British National Anthem to come up with that tacky piece they named “America” (text:  “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”).  By the way, what does “‘Tis of Thee” mean?  Since there are three Americas, one wonders which “America” they were referring to.

Things certainly do change.  There was a time when the fake-progressives led a campaign of sorts.  They said, “Do not use the word ‘America.’  Say US instead.”  They pointed out there are three Americas:  North, Central and South America.   Well, all of that thinking has vanished.  These days, no matter who it is, all I see and hear is the word “America” used over and over.  Hardly no one says US or United States, including the fake progressives, who are really just Democrats at election time.  So I guess their, “Do not use the word America” was just a silly fad for them and they’ve abandoned that themselves.  With few exceptions, the fake-progressives use the same language as the far-right whose language they once mocked.