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Fanfare for Prince Philip (John Williams)


Thor

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Prince Philip was visiting Boston in 1992, and Boston Symphony Orchestra patron Frances Fahnstock urged Williams to write a piece. I don't know WHERE it was first performed, though -- it could be anything from when he emerged from the plane to a special event later. Maybe Miguel or others can specify.

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I don't particularly care for the royal family but anyway, 99 is a decent innings! Rest in peace.

 

Certainly had no idea JW composed a tribute piece for him, so that's cool.

 

The things you learn!

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Yes a good innings of 99 years of opulence and luxury. I hadn't heard of Williams' Fanfare either. Strange that the Maestro confines himself only to writing Fanfares or Concerti with the odd Overture. 

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Culture crash revealed! I'm a proud citizen of a monarchy, but I can understand why it's not for everyone, particularly not Americans.

 

Regardless of that, however, Philip was a force to be reckoned with. Great symbolical firepower, which I think Williams captures beautifully in his piece.

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It's the Queen I feel bad for, 75 years married is gonna be devastating and a massive gaping hole in her life.

 

I'm no royalist and I honestly think they could be let go for redundancy purposes, but I like Liz for her style and fortitude nevertheless. 

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

Culture crash revealed! I'm a proud citizen of a monarchy, but I can understand why it's not for everyone, particularly not Americans.

 

…or anyone who doesn't consider strange women lying in ponds distributing swords a valid basis for political power or claim to other people's fortune. Regardless of the potential merits of individual exponents.

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19 hours ago, Thor said:

Prince Philip was visiting Boston in 1992, and Boston Symphony Orchestra patron Frances Fahnstock urged Williams to write a piece. I don't know WHERE it was first performed, though -- it could be anything from when he emerged from the plane to a special event later. Maybe Miguel or others can specify.

 

If memory serves, it was premiered at a Pops concert Prince Philip attended. He visited Boston while a regata was taking place, that being the main reason for his presence in town.

"Aloft... to the Royal Masthead" was later performed that same year, as one of the three opening fanfares (usually performed by brass and percussion members of the TMC and Boston Symphony Orchestras) to Tanglewood on Parade.

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@stravinsky, if you research a bit of Prince Philip’s first ten years of life, you won’t find the words ‘opulence’ or ‘luxury’ figuring much. But, hey, why let the facts get in the way of a by-the-numbers anti-monarchist rant?

 

Mark (former Royal Navy officer: my monarchist subscription is good for a while yet)

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So rulers should be rulers based simply on the fact that they are born into a "divine" (in whatever meaning of the term) family. Regardless of their views or abilities. Except if you don't like them personally, then they shouldn't.

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1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

So rulers should be rulers based simply on the fact that they are born into a "divine" (in whatever meaning of the term) family. Regardless of their views or abilities. Except if you don't like them personally, then they shouldn't.

Not to get too political, but democracy is not far from that. Neither form of government is meritocratic.

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At least in a democracy, rulers are elected because people *think* they have reason to assume that they deserve to hold power/are fit to use it. How wrong that can go is all to obvious, but what else do we have?

 

But yes, this is all going too far off course.

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Politics aside, this is a tough picture:

 

(Only shows a blank space for me right now, but Twitter is having issues today, so perhaps it'll show up in a bit… if not, here's the link: https://twitter.com/PAImages/status/1383423559884689410)

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