2023-05-06 12:50:00
Last September, three English teams (Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea) and one Scottish team (Celtic from Glasgow) played at home their matches corresponding to the second day of the group stage of the Champions League. In none of those matches played on British soil did the competition anthem, as a sign of respect for the period of mourning decreed after the death of Queen Elizabeth. The paradoxical thing about the matter is that in the coronation ceremony of Carlos III yes it has been heard the anthem of the Champions League. Or at least something very similar.
What has sounded, in reality, is ‘Zadok the priest’one of the four hymns that georg Friedrich Handel composed by order in 1727 on the occasion of the coronation of King George II. At that time, Handel had just become a British subject (his Act of Naturalization was one of the last documents signed by King George I before he died) after achieving enormous prestige throughout Europe thanks to his work at the head of the Royal Academy of Music. Taking as a starting point some texts from the King James Bible, Händel composed the four ‘Coronation Hymns’ in just three days. Or so it is said.
scented oil
‘Zadok the Priest’ is based on the biblical account of the proclamation of Solomon as king of the Israelites by the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan, an episode that is already mentioned in the Time.news of the coronation of edgar the pacificin the year 973. Since 1727, Handel’s piece has accompanied the investiture of all British sovereigns, without exception, and is usually performed at the time of the anointing of the new monarch with scented oil.
Related news
Nearly four decades after ‘Zadok the Priest’ was played at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation ceremony, UEFA commissioned in 1992 the English composer Tony Britten the creation of an anthem for the main continental club competition, which was about to be renamed Champions League. Britten resolved the ballot by going to Händel’s work and introducing small modifications, among them a letter in French, German and English of rather limited poetic ambition (“these are the best teams, the masters, the champions…” and all So). Britten had an alibi, since it was Händel himself who, while he was alive, expressly authorized the use of his hymn in all kinds of ceremonies and public events (he himself recycled several passages in some of his later works).
The similarity between the Champions League hymn and ‘Zadok the priest’ is so great that when in 2002 the choir of the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields was invited to participate in the recording of an album of football hymns (‘World Soccer Anthems’ ), he limited himself to interpreting the original piece by Händel. The same one that will sound at the coronation of Carlos III, which, by the way, is a fan of Burnley FC, a historic club that this season is playing in the Championship, the second category of English football. Far from the Champions League.
#Champions #League #anthem #similar #sound #coronation #Carlos #III