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Eight Songs for a mad King
Eight Songs for a Mad King Peter Maxwell Davies and Randolph Stow Performed by Michael Coe, with Peter Snow Directed by Chris Snow. Designed by Michael Coe. The piece was first performed in 1969 by Roy Hart and conducted by the composer. The text of the eight songs was inspired by a miniature mechanical organ owned by George III., which he is supposed to have used to teach birds to sing. Most of the background for the work comes from The Court at Windsor, by Christopher Hibbert (Longmans and Penguin Books). 'The songs are to be understood as the King's monologue while listening to his birds perform'. Sadly, George knew he was mad and wept. Some of his madness could be the result of a kingdom now concerned with parliamentary rule, rather than George's belief in, the increasingly outmoded notion of, 'the divine right of Kings'. George clung to the idea of being a father and exemplar to his people, whom he loved and expected to love him unconditionally. His construction of his life as King created an unimaginable tension between his public and private lives.
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