Anne Boleyn

It was 482 years ago today Henry VIII had Anne Boleyn beheaded on trumped up charges of adultery. Some say she was a Protestant.

Christopher Wren's House

While down at The Globe recently I noticed for the first time this house nearby. A plaque reveals that this was the house where Christopher Wren resided when involved in the building of St Paul's Cathedral on the opposite bank of The Thames (most conveniently reached these days by means of the Millennium Bridge). Apparently it was in this same house that Catherine of Aragon first lodged when she arrived in England in order to marry the son of Henry VII, Arthur.

Retro album of the week 3 - Six wives of Henry VIII

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman is an Everest in prog rock. It has it all.

 

Wakeman's first solo studio album, it was released on A&M in January 1973. Wakeman decided on the concept in 1972 while touring with Yes. usicians from Yes and previous band Strawbs play on the album. It reached number 7 (UK) and number 30 (US Billboard 200). It was certified gold in 1975 by the RIA of America and has sold 15 million copies worldwide. In 2009, Wakeman performed the album live for the first time at Hampton Court Palace for the 500th anniversary of Henry's accession. Each track was re-scored with added elements that could not be there due to time restrictions on the vinyl record.

In August 1971, Wakeman replaced keyboardist Tony Kaye with Yes. In early 1972, on tour in the USA to promote Fragile (1971), he bought four books at an airport bookstall in Richmond, Virginia, one being The Private Life of Henry VIII by Nancy Brysson Morrison. As he read about Anne Boleyn on the subsequent flight to Chicago, a theme he recorded in November 1971 ran through his mind. He often scribbled down pieces of music while travelling, but could not find a theme to put them to. Said Wakeman, "I had been searching for a style to write in and suddenly I found it in writing music about these six ladies...I would concentrate on one of the wives and then music just came into my head and I would write it down. Sometimes I was flying, other times I was on stage, or just in front of the piano at home...The "Six Wives" theme gave me the thread, the link, I needed to give me a reason for putting these pieces of music together."

He explains the album's concept in its liner notes: "The album is based around my interpretations of the musical characteristics of the wives of Henry VIII. Although the style may not always be in keeping with their individual history, it is my personal conception of their characters in relation to keyboard instruments."

Recording for the album began in February 1972 with an advance of £4K from A&M. Seven other musicians perform on the record.

Catherine of Aragon - Its basis was originally a piece that Wakeman wrote for Fragile titled "Handle With Care". Recorded at Trident Studios, London, the track features Steve Howe and Chris Squire with percussionist Ray Cooper.

Anne Boleyn - recorded at Morgan Studios and featuring drummer Bill Bruford. Wakeman had a dream about attending her execution that caused him to include a version of "St. Clement", the tune to the hymn "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended" written by John Ellerton. E. J. Hopkins is credited on the album, but the piece is generally attributed to Rev Clement Scholefield.

Catherine Howard - by the time production began on this engineer Ken Scott was replaced by Paul Tregurtha. Strawbs member Chas Cronk, who plays bass on it, recalled the "total confusion" during the recording and "couldn't make head or tail of what [we] were doing. We were going through it part by part and I couldn't see how all the parts were going to match up." He noted that Rick "knew exactly what he was going to do although he had nothing written down. It was all stored in his head."

Jane Seympur - the organ was recorded at St Giles-without-Cripplegate church, London. "I couldn't reproduce the sound I needed on an electronic organ, so we got permission to move the recording equipment into St Giles," said Wakeman. "It was quite an experience playing a lovely instrument like that.

Anne of Cleves - Wakeman calls "a rather fee-form" track, "almost having no form at all, there was a contradiction in what everyone was playing. The guys in the band thought I was completely barking, but it had to be like that."

The album was to be titled Henry VIII and His Six Wives with a track dedicated for Henry himself, but Wakeman recorded the tracks on the wives first and had used up the space available on a vinyl record. The track was then discarded and the album renamed. When recording ended in October 1972 the final cost for the record had reached around £25,000. Wakeman described working on the record as "difficult and cumbersome", but said that the album was a "finally rewarding project".

The cover photograph was taken at Madame Tussauds wax museum, London, where a figure of Richard Nixon can be seen in the background as the curtain was not fully closed.

Check out my youtube sequence here.

More on The Tudors

With Wolf Hall staring next Wednesday (see here) I'm not the only one going Tudor. BBC2 were showing a documentary on The Last days of Anne Boleyn recently I see (a repeat from 2013 with Hilary Mantel, David Starkey, Philippa Gregory, etc), which I hope to get round to watching soon (see here). Philippa Gregory in The Times recommends, on the Tudor theme, the anonymous painting at Hampton Court Palace The Family of Henry VIII, c. 1543-1547 (see here), Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the pauper (see here), the 1970 TV series with Keith Michell as Henry VIII (see here), Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena (see here), the 1969 Richard Burton film Anne of the thousand days (see here) and Edmund Spenser's unfinished poem The Faerie Queene (see here). No room for Rick Wakeman's six wives I see. Leave it to me.

Anne Boleyn

Ever since I first heard as a boy that there was a King of England who had so many wives (Henry VIII and his six wives or was it Henry VI and his eight wives?) I have found the story of the Tudors fascinating. It was the Tudors and Stuarts that I chose to study for 'A' level history ( I remember being amazed that I was the only boy to make that choice over modern history when we were asked to choose). Of course, the whole period of the Reformers and Puritans begins in the days of the Tudors (Tyndale, Latimer, Cranmer, Perkins, Ames, etc) so I have constantly been drawn back to the period. Then Hilary Mantel has drawn us all in with Bring up the bodies and Wolf Hall, which I have now both read and seen acted on stage and am looking forward to the TV version. (I think I must have read Philippa Gregory's relatively racy book on the Boleyn girls and I certainly saw Howard Brenton's play about Anne at The Globe. Oh yes, there's also Rick Wakeman's hugely enjoyable Six wives. Perhaps I can make it my retro album of the week. I have David Starkey's book here but it is unread).

Perhaps one of the most interesting characters of all the Tudors is Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn. I picked up a copy of Elizabeth Norton's Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's obsession a little while ago and have just finished reading it. Norton is an academic and has done all the research but writes quite well and keeps all the reference details to the end. So you get a book quite abreast of scholarship, judicious and fair not speculative and it made for a good read. Clearly Anne was a friend of reform but is unlikely to have had a personal faith. What makes her story so gripping is to see her rags to riches to rags story played out in history and to imagine what it must have been like to go from obscurity to Queenship only to see the whole thing unravel in a relatively short time. Her death was an undoubted travesty yet she was in a sense the cause of her own undoing. Fascinating.

Wolf Hall

A bit indulgent but to make sure I did both I went along to the Aldwych again last night, this time to see Wolf Hall. Bette organisation would have meant I saw them in the proper order. They are not really separate plays but a very long play over two nights. Wolf Hall begins with the dancing by the cast that you often see at The Globe (presumably based on some Shakespearean tradition) and ends rather abruptly with a reference to Jane Seymour. One could also characters like Mark and George being developed in Wolf Hall so that they made more sense in the second part. Anyway, having read both Hilary Mantel's novels it wasn't too much of a problem. This second one didn't get as many laughs and was slightly less sordid while including foul mouths that I do not recall from Bring up the bodies. The weather played a really big part in last night's production but I don't remember it being mentioned in the other one. I was impressed again both by Mantel's skill and that of Mike Poulton who has done the adaptation so well (call me Risely is completely erased I noticed this time). Ben Miles (above with Lydia Leonard; Nathaniel Parker is Henry VIII) reminds me of Roger Daltrey (did some wag say who?). London's a great place.

Footnote: Last Tuesday a respectable looking woman in her sixties with a French accent asked me for a pound to get home. I didn't give her anything as she did not seem genuine. Last night I saw her again. Again she was not drunk or high. I asked her what her real story was but she was reluctant to share. I wonder what the story is. As has been asked - all the lonely people, where do they all come from?

Bring up the bodies

Went to see Bring up the bodies at the Aldwych last night. I got a ticket that day for what they call the slips. The view is slightly restricted but it was no problem. I like the Tudor period since I was a  child and have enjoyed Hilary Mantel's two novels. This dramatic adaptation of the second of them is very well done. The subject matter is rather sordid at points but the interesting thing is the principal characters and how they act. Mantel seems to have got Henry VII well and probably Cromwell. As for Ann Boleyn one can see how a few changes to the script could make her much more  of a victim and even the Reformed Christian that some have argued she was.

Obviously the novel has more time to play with but because of the compression I got things that I hadn't got so clearly when reading. The play never misses a laugh either (although I found myself laughing at some things no-one else did). The biggest laugh was for an anachronism - when Stoke Newington was described as a pastoral idyl - I had to explain to the American next to me). The use of modern English makes it easier than watching Shakespeare. I'll have to get to see Wolf Hall soon (I think they must play alternate nights). Pity I will have done them in the wrong order. The Aldwych is a lovely theatre and I can go almost door to door from here by bus (though it takes a while).

Llewyn Davis song

This is from the film and despite the odd sepia presentation it is hauntingly beautiful. Love the promoter's line at the end.

Hilary Mantel Trilogy

I have now read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring up the bodies. I was attracted to the large volumes by their subject matter - Thomas Cromwell (a key figure in Henry VIII's reign) the Tudors being my best loved and known historical period - and their award winning success. They certainly are very well written and I think give an insight into the period not easily gained from ordinary history books. I am not a fan of historical fiction. When doing A level history many years ago Jean Plaidy (Eleanor Hibbert was her real name - she also wrote as Philippa Carr and Victoria Holt). The class was nearly all girls and they would always ask if Plaidy was worth reading. The teacher's cautious answer meant I never bothered. In fact, one of the Philippa Gregory Boleyn novels is the only venture into historical fiction I have made, I believe. Anyway, Mantel is clearly superior to either of those authors but still you have this problem - not knowing what is credible fact and what is patent fiction. I tend to look behind every sentence of a book wondering what prompted it and reading these books I was constantly wondering what prompted it - whim or research. So, given that these are such long books I am not altogether satisfied but I'm glad I've got through them. Given that there is one more book to come (The Mirror and the Light) I am rather tied in I guess but that is not until 2015 they say. Meanwhile, the thought of Mark Rylance and a presentation of the material as Shakespearean drama does appeal. See here.

10 Famous portraits

1. Mona Lisa/Leonardo
2. Henry VIII/Holbein
3. Charles I/Van Dyck
4. Oliver Cromwell/Lely
5. Laughing Cavalier/Hals
6. Girl with the pearl earring/Vermeer
7. Blue Boy/Gainsborough
8. Berthe Morisot/Manet
9. Arrangement in grey and black/Whistler (Whistler's mother)
10. Marilyn Monroe/Warhol

(I have excluded self-portraits and paintings that feature more than one sitter)