The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #81115   Message #4206202
Posted By: GUEST,henryp
29-Jul-24 - 12:42 AM
Thread Name: Songs about Nelson or Wellington
Subject: RE: Songs about Nelson or Wellington
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2018/10/wellington-lecture.page
Accompanied by Southampton singing students and members of the Southampton University Symphony Orchestra , Professor Owen Norris will explore the multi-faceted musical world of Wellington.

He says: “Even in the cradle, the Duke of Wellington heard his father trying out his compositions. Later, the Duke’s musical interests gave political cartoonists a useful metaphor. Rossini played for him at Apsley, and it was Wellington who escorted Queen Victoria to hear Chopin play. Wellington’s musical world fills in a new aspect of our picture of the man.”

The Duke’s name attached itself to many pieces of music. John Clare’s manuscript book of violin tunes contains a jig entitled Marquis Wellington, while Beethoven’s orchestral piece Wellington’s Victory (after the Battle of Vitoria in 1814) made its composer more money than any other work.

Princess Charlotte of Wales composed Lord Wellington’s March. Its sumptuous gold-leafed manuscript is preserved amongst the papers of the Duke’s valet, held in Special Collections at the University’s Hartley Library. A recording of the piece performed by Professor Owen Norris on Wellington’s own piano at the Duke’s former home of Apsley House will be played at the lecture.

The event will also include a piano sonata inspired by the Battle of Bella Rosa (the Spanish name for Waterloo), The Marquis of Wellington’s Victory at Salamanca by Mathias Holst, great-grandfather of the composer of The Planets and speeches by the Duke, set to music by Owen Norris in his 2015 political oratorio, Turning Points.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/18/the-duke-of-wellingtons-playlist