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The Prince and the Composer

In this film, made in 2011, the then Prince of Wales gives his perspective on the work of Hubert Parry, composer of some of Britain's best-loved hymns.

Sir Hubert Parry is simultaneously one of Britain's best-known and least-known composers. Jerusalem is almost a national song, regularly performed at rugby grounds, schools, Women's Institute meetings and the Last Night of the Proms, while Dear Lord and Father of Mankind is one of Britain's best-loved hymns. Everyone knows the tunes, yet hardly anyone knows much about the man who wrote them.

In this film, made in 2011 by award-winning director John Bridcut, the then Prince of Wales, a longstanding enthusiast of Parry's work, sets out to discover more about the complex character behind it, with the help of members of Parry's family, scholars and performers.

1 hour, 30 minutes

Last on

Tue 2 May 202302:20
BBC Four

Music Played

  • Aled Jones

    Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

  • Choir of Westminster Abbey

    Laudate Dominum

  • Choir of Winchester Cathedral, Waynflete Singers, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Hill

    Choir of Winchester Cathedral, Waynflete Singers, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Hi

  • BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

    Mixed Parry Symphony No 5

  • BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC singers and audience

    Jerusalem

  • Choir and Orchestra at Abbey

    Anthem 'I Was Glad'

  • Westminster Abbey Choristers

    I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me

  • Hiroaki Takenouchi

    Shulbrede Tunes Dolly

  • Hiroaki Takenouchi

    Bogies and Sprites

  • Westminster Abbey Choristers

    At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners

  • London Symphony Orchestra

    Lady Radnor's Suite II Allemande

  • Hiroaki Takenouchi

    Father Playmate

  • Choir of Winchester Cathedral, Waynflete Singers, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/David Hill

    Long Since in Egypt's Plenteous Land

  • Peter Jacobs

    Hands Across the Centuries The Whirling Jig

  • BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

    Parry Symphony No 5 Stress

  • BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus

    BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus - Blest Pair of Sirens

  • Hiroaki Takenouchi

    Hands Across the Centuries Suite for Piano Quasi Sarabande

  • BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

    Parry Symphony No 5 II Love

  • BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

    Parry Symphony No 5 III Play

  • BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

    Parry Symphony No 5 IV Play

  • Schola Cantorum, I Carta Orchestra

    Magnificat

  • Choir of Westminster Abbey

    Lord Let Me Know Mine End

Credits

PresenterHRH Prince of Wales
DirectorJohn Bridcut
ProducerJohn Bridcut
Executive ProducerPeter Dale

Broadcasts

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