Main Performers | Miss Ida Cooper, Mr William Heseltine, Miss Olga Haley, Mr Herbert Heyner - vocals, C H Kempling - organ |
Orchestra or Band | Chorus and Orchestra of 1,200 |
Choirs | Royal Choral Society, Bach Choir, Central London Choral Society, Crystal Palace Choir, Dulwich Philharmonic Society, Ibis Musical Society, Islington Choral Society, Peoples Palace Choir, Penge and District Choral Society, South London Philharmonic Society, South-West London Choral Society, University of London Musical Society, Westminster Choral Society, YMCA (Central) Musical Society, Boy Choristers from the London Choir School, Denmark Hill |
Set List | 'A World Requiem: A Cenotaph in Sound', J Foulds, M MacCarthy INTERVAL, Royal Entrance, 'God Save the King' (The National Anthem), 'A World Requiem: A Cenotaph in Sound', J Foulds, M MacCarthy |
Royal Presence | HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH Prince George, HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll |
Performance Notes | This event was the first of what would become annual Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance.
"The scope of the work is beyond what any one has dared to attempt hitherto. It is no less than to find expression for the deepest and most widespread unhappiness that this generation has known. As such it was received by a very large number of listeners, who evidently had felt that music alone could do this for them. They found perhaps in the communal note of that choir of 1,200 the sympathy of which they stood in need, and in the words taken from those parts of the Bible that we never can hear unmoved, the consolation they hoped for." (The Times, 12 November 1923)
In attendance were the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Canada, the High Commissioners for India, Newfoundland, and South Africa, the French, Belgium, and Japanese Ambassadors, the Charges d'Affaires of the United States of America and Italy. There were 1,240 performers. (Taken from The Daily Telegraph, 12 November 1923) |
Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1923/44), Handbill (RAHE/6/1923/25) |