Charlotte Metcalf is the Editor of Great British Brands and the co-presenter of Break Out Culture, a weekly podcast with former Minister of Culture, Lord Vaizey. She is also a film-maker, author and journalist. For Thomas Lyte’s journal, Charlotte regularly reports on cultural events, exhibitions, fairs and publications that are of interest to the communities of craftsmen we represent and celebrate, with a particular focus on goldsmiths and silversmiths. The following article is a special edition for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.
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The Chapel Royal dates back to 1254 when it stood in Whitehall. Building began on a new chapel next to St. James’s Palace in 1538, where the Chapel Royal has stood proudly ever since. It harbours the world’s oldest choir and prides itself on being the birthplace of English choral music. After all, it was where Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, the great Elizabethan composers of late Renaissance music, were choir masters. Many other great composers gravitated here, including Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell and Handel.
It has been the location for numerous Royal weddings and christenings, including Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert and Prince George’s christening in 2013. It possesses a magnificent collection of Restoration silver-gilt plate that adorns the altar on festival days. Last year Thomas Lyte was honoured to be tasked with crafting the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Processional Cross that will be used at religious services and state occasions.
Thomas Lyte is now strengthening its relationship with the Chapel by collaborating with the Royal Warrant Holders Association to support an organ scholarship. ‘Our support for this is based on my deep admiration for this unique music institution and a love of the exquisite music that has been written and performed there over the centuries,’ says Kevin Baker, Founder and CEO of Thomas Lyte. ‘I love the music of the Renaissance and at home I love to end each day listening to Byrd, Tallis or Palestrina – it’s pure therapy. I believe the need for an organist was prescribed as an essential part of the choir as early as the 1300’s so we’re delighted to help ensure this tradition endures. Besides, I love the notion of one craft supporting another. The Thomas Lyte Foundation was established in 2008 to support progression in youth through experiencing creativity and craft, so having learnt about the organ scholarship from Canon Paul Wright at the Chapel Royal, it was a natural step for us to support the scholarship programme.’
The Chapel Royal’s Director of Music, Joseph McHardy, and all its scholars come from the City of London School for Boys, which unusually has an organ. The Scholarship enables the boys to land coveted opportunities playing the organ at great Oxbridge colleges or cathedrals. Sam Jones, the 2019 scholar, went on to play the organ at Clare College, Cambridge and John Xang, went on to St. John’s, Cambridge and plays the organ at Liverpool Cathedral.
Louis Carpenter, now in his 12th year at school, is the latest student to benefit from the scholarship. ‘It’s been great for me, allowing me to experience organ playing in a professional setting with a regular service schedule,’ he says. I’ve enjoyed accompanying choral pieces, hymns, and psalms, and have played voluntaries and even whole services. I’m now considering both Oxbridge organ scholarships or a conservatoire tuition, which would be a good progression of my musical career which has already benefitted so much from this organ scholarship.”
‘We much appreciate Thomas Lyte’s very generous support of the Chapel,’ says Jon Simpson, Serjeant of the Vestry and Head Verger. ‘We hope that in time it will help us reach out to other scholars from less privileged schools and backgrounds and give them the extraordinary opportunity to play the organ in this hallowed historical institution.’
At the King’s Coronation on Saturday, it was Samuel Strachan, a Chorister from the Chapel Royal, who was the first to address His Majesty, representing the children of the Kingdom of God and welcoming him in the name of the King of kings. Three exquisite pieces from William Byrd were performed, the first from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and the second ‘Gloria in Excelsis Duo’ from ‘Mass for Four Voices’. The final piece in the entire service was Byrd’s ‘Earl of Oxford’s March’, arranged by Matthew Knight, performed just before the great bells began to peal out over London. Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Dean of His Majesty’s Chapels Royal, read the Gospel and the Service also comprised a hymn by Purcell and plenty of well-known and loved music by Handel, including ‘Zadok the Priest’.
‘It was so exciting to see the Chapel Royal choristers supporting the choir at Westminster Abbey at the Coronation and contributing to the once-in-a-lifetime event,’ says Kevin Baker, ‘The Chapel Royal was integral to the entire magnificent event and we are so proud to be involved with an institution that is at the heart of this country’s extraordinary ability to create exquisite music like no other. The relationship with the Chapel Royal brings me great personal pleasure and I hope it will continue to thrive.
‘The scholarship aligns perfectly with Thomas Lyte’s values of preserving traditional skills, and the company’s unsatiable interest in ensuring the future of British art, craft and culture,’ Kevin Baker concludes. ‘Our philosophy has always been to drop down the ladder and support people working in other valuable crafts at the beginning of their journeys, so we’re happy to be able to pass on our Baton of Hope and promote positive change through craft.’
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