Description
The Theme is a collection of traditional British tunes representing the four home countries of the United Kingdom as well as the national maritime tradition.
- The piece opens with the first few bars of "Early One Morning" (English, horns and trombones), before the main theme of "Rule Britannia" (British, woodwind and strings) is played.
- In the second section, the mood changes as "A Londonderry Air" (Northern Irish, cor anglais and harp) combined with "Annie Laurie" (Scottish, violin) are played at a slower tempo.
- The faster third section begins with "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" (Royal Navy, piccolo) combined with "Greensleeves" (English, strings), then "Men of Harlech" (Welsh, brass and percussion) combined with "Scotland the Brave" (Scottish, woodwind).
- The finale of the piece, after alluding again to "Early One Morning", ends with a full orchestral version of "Rule Britannia" over which a solo trumpet plays the "Trumpet Voluntary".
The piece was recorded in 1978 by the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. The original recording was 5 minutes, 45 seconds and did not include 'Greensleeves/Drunken Sailor', having instead a longer and slower 'Londonderry Air/Annie Laurie' section, with the two pieces played separately before being combined. By 1990, the more familiar five-minute arrangement was in use, lasting until 2006.
The piece has echoes of Jack Byfield's Fantasia on National Airs, known colloquially as "Nat. Airs", which was written as a startup theme for the BBC Television Service in the mid-1950s. Both pieces open with Early One Morning.
Read more about this topic: Radio 4 UK Theme
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