The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album) - Conception

Conception

In August 1971, Rick Wakeman joined the English progressive rock band Yes to replace keyboardist Tony Kaye. While on tour of the United States in early 1972 to promote their fourth album Fragile (1971), he bought four books at an airport bookstall in Richmond, Virginia, one of them being The Private Life of Henry VIII by Nancy Brysson Morrison. As he read about Anne Boleyn on the subsequent flight to Chicago, a theme he recorded in November 1971 ran through his mind. He often scribbled down pieces of music while travelling, but could not find a theme to put them to. Said Wakeman, "I had been searching for a style to write in and suddenly I found it in writing music about these six ladies...I would concentrate on one of the wives and then music just came into my head and I would write it down. Sometimes I was flying, other times I was on stage, or just in front of the piano at home...The "Six Wives" theme gave me the thread, the link, I needed to give me a reason for putting these pieces of music together." He explains the album's concept in its liner notes: "The album is based around my interpretations of the musical characteristics of the wives of Henry VIII. Although the style may not always be in keeping with their individual history, it is my personal conception of their characters in relation to keyboard instruments."