Anthems for the Queen

The Choirbook for the Queen, which has recently been launched, is a remarkable initiative, involving most of the leading Church musicians of our day and many philanthropists besides. The idea behind it is simple enough: to put together a collection of anthems (I use the word precisely) to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, with the added intention of showcasing ‘the excellence of choral writing and the continuation of the choral tradition by cathedral choirs and other choral foundations around the country’. Already in place is a plan for 80 of our cathedral and collegiate choirs to sing two of these anthems each this year, some to be broadcast on the BBC.

To encourage choirs to join in with these performances complete sets of the two volumes that make up the Choirbook have been widely distributed. The expense of such an exercise has been met principally by the Foyle Foundation, but thereafter by individuals who wanted to make sure that their local choral foundation would not miss out. The list of these individuals is long and impressive: Dame Janet Baker ensured that York Minster had copies; the Blair family did the same for Westminster Cathedral; Sir Colin Davis for Chichester Cathedral; Raymond Gubbay for King’s; Sir David Willcocks for Westminster Abbey, and so on. With Prince Charles as patron, this was a scheme that was not going to be allowed to go off at half-cock.

The list of contributing writers is impressive, too. As far as I can see, everybody who is anybody has been included except Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adès and Brian Ferneyhough. Otherwise, 44 composers have contributed one piece each of which 11 are new commissions, the remaining 33 items having already been published in other places, though all are of recent composition.