This is Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Overture to Marmion (1951), a homage to the poem ‘Marmion: A Romance of Flodden Field’ (1808) by Sir Walter Scott, one of Sullivan’s favourite writers. ‘Marmion’, the work which first brought Scott to public attention, is a long historical romance in narrative verse, set in 16th century Scotland and England, which ends with the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

Lord Marmion is an anti-hero, an English knight in the court of Henry VIII. Marmion tries to win the unwilling object of his passion, Clare, from a rival, Sir Ralph de Wilton, by spreading slander about him, and succeeds in driving him abroad in disgrace. In this dishonourable cause, Marmion has enlisted the help of his besotted mistress Constance de Beverley; but when Constance, a nun, is discovered in her affair and sentenced to death for her broken vows, he abandons her. The jilted lover now revenges herself by revealing the plot against de Wilton to the Earl of Angus, a Scottish nobleman, who restores de Wilton to the rank of knight. Meanwhile, war between Scotland and England breaks out. At Flodden, de Wilton and Marmion are on opposing sides, but the anticipated showdown never takes place. Marmion is killed in the press, and dies in Clare’s arms; de Wilton fights bravely on the losing side, and lives to marry Clare.

The Overture is performed here by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras, and was provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group.

This is the music from the film Tom Brown’s School Days (1951), an adaptation of Thomas Hughes’s 1857 novel praised for its faithfulnes to the original book. It was directed by Gordon Parry, and starred (among other well-known names) John Howard Davies as Tom, Robert Newton as Dr Arnold, and John Forrest as the school bully Flashman.

The Overture is performed here by the BBC Concert Orchestra under Kenneth Alwyn, and was provided to YouTube by Naxos of America.

Elias Parish (1808-1849) was an English harpist who made a name for himself as a virtuoso performer and popular composer both here and abroad: some said that he was to the harp what Franz Liszt was to the piano. Parish took the stage-name Alvars for a tour of the Continent in 1828, in an attempt to sound more exotic. The video below is the second movement from his Concerto for Two Harps and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 91, marked Andante.

The recording was provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises.

This is ‘Hunt the Squirrel’, from the First Suite of English Folk Dances by Ernest Tomlinson (1924-2015), performed by Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducted by the composer. The dance goes back at least to 1709, when it appeared in Playford’s Dancing Master.

The recording was provided to YouTube by Naxos of America.

In 1713 James Brydges (1673-1744), son of the 8th Baron Chandos, began building a magnificent residence named Cannons, at Little Stanmore, Middlesex. James was a great patron of the Arts, and in 1717-18 George Frideric Handel, composer-in-residence at Cannons, wrote eleven Anthems for performance at the house, known to this day as the Chandos Anthems. All of them are settings of verses from the Psalms.

The recording below is the opening movement of Anthem No. 9. The words come from Psalm 135, in a metrical and rhyming translation by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, first published in 1696. Nahum Tate was a playwright and Poet Laureate, remembered chiefly today as the librettist for Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and as the author of the popular Christmas carol While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night. Nicholas Brady was a poet and a Church of England clergyman.

O PRAISE the Lord with one consent,
And magnify his Name;
Let all the servants of the Lord
His worthy praise proclaim.

For the whole Psalm, see Psalm 135 (Tate and Brady).

The piece is performed here by The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers, in a recording provided to YouTube by Naxos Digital Services.

This is the Finale from Gustav Holst’s St Paul's Suite, which was composed for the orchestra of St Paul’s School for Girls in 1912-13. It is subtitled ‘The Dargason’, the name of a seventeenth-century English dance. The speculation is often repeated that the word ‘dargason’ is borrowed from an Anglo-Saxon legend about a dwarf, though without any corroboration. Another well-known English tune also appears in this piece, ‘Greensleeves’. A ‘broadside ballad’ called Greensleeves was registered in September 1580 by Richard Jones.

It is performed here by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Hogwood, in a recording provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group.