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As the 18th century went on, music began to acquire a higher moral purpose and communal singing became a means of finding a kind of perfection amid the harsh reality of daily life.

As the century went on, the quest for pleasure began to be replaced by a tougher, noisier, harder-working attitude as Britain embarked on what was to become the Industrial Revolution.

Music also began to take on a different hue - more than just the sonic background to an age of roaring excess, it began to acquire a higher moral purpose. Communal singing, whether in amateur choirs or Handel oratorios, became a means of finding a kind of perfection amid the brutal reality of daily life. Romanticism began to blossom in the search for the sublime. The British folk music that travelled with emigrants to America, the songs of abolitionists that flew in the face of the British slave trade - all were an attempt to use music as a route to more perfect world.

Suzy concludes the series by looking at the crowning achievement of 18th-century music, Haydn's Creation.

1 hour

Last on

Tue 6 Feb 2018 00:00
大象传媒 Four

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See all episodes from Rule Britannia! Music, Mischief and Morals in the 18th Century

Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Water Music

  • William Cowper

    The Negro's Complaint

    Composer: John Newton.

  • Robert Burns

    Auld Lang Syne

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Spring

  • James Nuttall

    Salvation! O, the joyful sound!

    Lyricist: Isaac Watts.

  • Iantha

  • George Frideric Handel

    Organ concerto in G minor

  • Charles Wesley

    Zeige mir dein Angesicht

  • Charles Wesley

    Love Divine All Loves Excelling

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Hark the Herald Angels Sing

  • Charles Wesley

    Let Earth and Heaven Agree

  • Charles Wesley

    Lo He Comes with clouds descending

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Sea shanty/ slave bit/ Bristol Sonata

  • John Newton

    Amazing Grace

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Summer

  • William Cowper

    The Negro聮s Complaint

    Composer: John Newton.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Organ concerto in G minor

  • Nicola Matteis

    Sarabande

  • Nicola Matteis

    When She Came Ben She Bobed

  • George Frideric Handel

    Rodelina

  • George Frideric Handel

    And Israel saw that Great Work

  • George Frideric Handel

    Hallelujah Chorus (Messiah)

  • George Frideric Handel

    See the Conquering Hero Comes from Joshua HWV 64

  • Dumbarton聮s Drums

  • Glan M么r Heli

  • Dafydd y Garreg Wen

  • Can Crwtyn y Gwartheg

  • Can y Cadeirio

  • Robert Burns

    A Man聮s a Man for A聮 That

  • Robert Burns

    Auld Lang Syne

  • Elsie Marley

  • John Stafford Smith

    The Star-Spangled Banner

    Lyricist: Francis Scott Key.

  • John Stafford Smith

    To Anacreon in Heaven

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadok the Priest

  • Joseph Haydn

    Now Vanish Before the Holy Beams The Creation

  • George Frideric Handel

    Worthy is the lamb (Messiah)

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No 104 in D major Adagio-Presto

Credits

Presenter Suzy Klein
Producer Marc Edwards
Director Marc Edwards
Executive Producer Paul Bullock

Broadcasts

18th Century Season

Meet the Georgians who forged modern Britain, across 大象传媒 Two, 大象传媒 Four and 大象传媒 Radio 3.