Coronation Music for Charles II

Splendour is paramount for the coronation of a new monarch. It is part and parcel, and it always has been. Just like it was for the coronation of Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, son of Charles I, who had been murdered. Charles II had been appointed ruler as early as 1649, however, the British Commonwealth had, instead, chosen to bestow the power upon Oliver Cromwell and Parliament.

During this tumultuous period, Charles II fled to France and the Southern Low Countries with his family. After Cromwell’s death in 1660, he was asked to return to England to ascend the throne. It was the beginning of the Restoration period. Charles II had to reassemble his court, including the court musicians. It is one of the reasons why the coronation festivities had to be postponed to April 23, 1661. The festive music with cornetts, natural trumpets, sackbuts (renaissance trombones) and percussion instruments forms a complete entity: music to accompany the Royal Entry, music to accompany the ceremonies at the four triumphal arches where the king was lauded with speeches, poetry and music by Matthew Locke. For the actual coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, a choir and an organist had been engaged to perform tribute music by William Child and Pelham Humfrey.

Even when guests took their places at the enormous banquet and afterwards, when they were being entertained by 'masquing ayres', musicians playing wind instrument stood proud. This typically EN formation with cornetts (rather than the earlier shawms) and trombones was applied overall, both indoors and outside. To contextualize this occasion music, many tracks on this cd are accompanied by a soundscape intro or outro.

Tekst: © Klara