On Sunday, October 2, at 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Wimberley, the Hill Country Community Band will perform their special, free concert program called, “Hail Britannia: A Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II”. From the initial board meeting to the last practice, The program content has been months in the making and originally was a musical nod from director, Dr. Manuel Arambula, to his personal selection of past English composers. However, recent historical events in the United Kingdom caused a subtle shift of the concert’s tone, but the planned playlist has remained unchanged. That varied list includes sea shanties, lively marches, some maybe unfamiliar compositions, and several well known melodies.
To open the concert, the band will perform “The Star Spangled Banner”. The familiar melody was borrowed by Francis Scott Key from an even older pub song, “To Anacreon in Heaven”. One might think that beginning a tribute concert to the long-reigning English monarch with that particular piece of music might be an odd choice. Yet, several sources cite that, two days after September 11, 2001, Queen Elizabeth II ordered that the American national anthem be played by the Coldstream Guards during that day’s Changing of the Guard ceremony. The anthem was played again the next day during a remembrance service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, attended by the Queen, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles.
According to program notes, “Nimrod” is “the ninth and best known variation in Edward Elgar’s fourteen-part work, Enigma Variations… Solemn and evocative, ‘Nimrod’ is frequently performed at royal events, such as the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997 and of Prince Phillip in 2021. It was played at the opening of the London Olympic Games in 2012, and has also been performed each year on the second Sunday in November at the annual ‘National Service of Remembrance’ at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London.”
The concert will close with “God Save the King” in honour of King Charles III. If the melody of that ancient, English national anthem sounds familiar, there is a good reason for that. The melody was another one “borrowed,” with the original lyrics changed, to become “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
The Hill Country Community Band is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose musicians are volunteers from the Central Texas area. To keep up with the band’s concert schedule, to find out how to join, or how to donate time or money, visit hillcountrycommunityband. org, and by following the HCCB on Facebook.
