The Road to Westminster

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 723, 22 May 1953, Page 7

The Road to Westminster

will broadcast in the last few days of May a programme which will take listeners on an imaginary journey through the streets and avenues from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey along which the great gilded state coach wiil carry Queen Elizabeth ‘II to her crowning. Written and narrated by the Australian Colin Wills, Ceremonial Way was first® broadcast last month by the BBC. As Mr. Wills deseribes it, the programme follows the route of the processicn not only through the heart of London, but also through the texture of history. From the Palace gates the way leads past the statue of Queen Victoria and down the Mall that lies straight as a ruler between the Green Park and St. James’s Park, past Royal residences, to the Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square. Through clubland the road goes on, past great buildings that are the London homes of the Commonwealth countries, and down to the bank of the Thames, where the river takes a wide sweep with the Houses of Parliament on one skyline and St. Paul’s Cathedral on the other, Then it goes to the very heart of the Commonwealth-to Whitehall, with its Government offices. and Parliament Square, bounded on one side by the Palace of Westminster and on another by the Abbey. As he walks through these streets Colin Wills recalls in narrative and dramatic glimpses the history that lies behind them and the buildings he describes, and he gives a foretaste of the June morning when the streets will be a-flutter with flags and garlands, and the buildings will echo back the cheers, the music and the bells. On the Sunday before the Coronation (May 31) stations in the four main centres will broadcast a special Service of Dedication by officers and men of the Royal Navy, recorded at Portsmouth by the BBC. The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, flies his flag in H.M.S. Victory, preserved today just as she was when she fought at Trafalgar, and the Service is conducted from Nelson’s cabin. As a prelude Richard Dimbleby gives a brief word-picture of the Victory and the setting in which Nelson fell. bro stations of the NZBS

The Service is conducted by the Chaplain of the Fleet, the Ven. Archdeacon F, N. Chamberlain, O.B.E., and the lessons are read by the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, Admiral Sir John Edelsten, G.C.B., and the Chaplain of H.M.S. Victory, the Rey. J. C. Waters. The hymns and psalm are sung by sailors from H.M.S. Collingwood, accompanied by the Band of the Royal Marines (Portsmouth Division). Royal Occasion, to be heard next week from a number of National stations, is a history in sound of the public life of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Included in it are extracts from commentaries on ceremonial occasions, broadcast speeches of the Queen and the Duke, Princess Elizabeth’s speech from Cape Town on her twenty-first birthday, a description of her wedding, of the memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral for George VI, and of the Royal visit to Canada in 1951, and the Queen’s first Christmas message to her peoples. God Save the Queen, a feature about the National Anthem, is the first of four Coronation musical programmes from the BBC. The first part tells how the tune which has become the National Anthem of the British Commonwealth, and a national air of other countries, has been incorporated in major works by great European composers. In the second half listeners are taken in imagination to Westminster Abbey to hear some of the music which forms part of the "ceremonial of the Coronation. Coronation Music was recorded in Adelaide and the recordings sent to London, where’ special transcription discs were made and distributed by the BBC. It takes listeners back to the Coronations of every British Sovereign from Elizabeth I, recalls incidents, some serious, some light-hearted-of those great occasions in Westminster Abbey, and includes examples of the music played or sung at each Coronation. Elgar, whose name will always be associated with great national occasions, is represented by the First and Fourth Pomp and Circumstance Marches and by his Imperial March in a London Studio Concert planned to meet the mood of the Coronation. Other works in this programme are the "Coronation

March" from Edward German’s incidental music for Henry VIII, and the March "Youth of Britain," by Eric Coates-the third part, of his suite The Three Elizabeths, In BBC Coronation Bandstand, the Brighouse and Rastrick Band and the Huddersfield Choral Society are heard in a Denis Wright arrangement for brass band and voices of Handel’s Coronation Anthem, "The King Shall Rejoice in Thy Strength, O Lord." The band then plays Percy Fletcher’s festive march The Spirit of Pageantry, and the concert ends with the choral epilogue from Elgar’s cantata The Banner of St. George. _ Music from the first Elizabethan age is featured in programmes produced by the NZBS to be heard from several stations next week. In three _ programmes of lute songs and instrumental pieces the artists include Layton Ring (virginals and recorder). Thomas

Rive, Joyce Farrell and Patricia Ford (recorders), Olga Burton (soprano), Beatrice Jones (contralto) and Antonia Braidwood (violin). In a fourth programme _ selections from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Books and the Mulliner Book | are played on the virginals by Layton Ringe.

The NZBS has also recorded a quar-ter-hour programme of Maori music designed especially to celebrate the Coronation. In this the choir of the Ngati Poneke "Club, Wellington, is introduced by Michael Jones. Copies of this programme have been sent to other Commonwealth countries, which are using it in their Coronation -broadcasts. Ceremonial Way: All YZ stations, May 26; 1XN, 2XN and 2XP, May 27; all YA stations, May 29; all ZB stations and 2ZA, May 31. Royal Naval Service of Dedication: 1YC, 2YA, 3YA and 4YA, May 31; later from YZ stations. Royal Occasion: All YZ stations and 3XC, May 25; 1XH, May 26; all YA stations and 2XG, May 31. : God Save the Queen: 1XN, 2XN_ and 2XP, May 26; all YZ stations, May 27; all YC stations, May 31. Coronation Music: All YA Stations, May 31. London Studio Concert; 1XH, May 25; 2YZ, 4YZ, 3XC, May 26;°3YZ, May 27; 2XG, May 31. * ; Coronation Bandstand: 1YA, 3YZ, 3XC, May 25: 4YZ, May 27: 1XH, 2XG. Mav

31; later from other YA and YZ stations. Music from the First Elizabethan Age: 1YC, 4YC, May 25; 2YC, 3YC, May 27; later from YZ stations. Keyboard Music from Mulliney and Fitzwilliam Books: 1¥C, May a3; "2¥C,~ eiay 28: 3YC, May 29; 4YC, May 31; later from YZ. stations. Maori Music: 1YZ, 3YZ, May 27; 2YZ, May 28; 4YZ, May 31; later from YA stations,

HE map showing the route to be followed by the Coronation Procession — first published in "The Listener" of January 23-will be reprinted in our May 29 issue. This time it will also indicate the points from which the BBC outdoor .commentaries will originate and, used in conjunction with the plans of the Abbey published last week, should enable listeners to follow more easily the broadcasts on June 2. . Senne apne ne nna enen eee ene rennee entree eee SR AAO TC ETT AE A RA ip