Here comes the sun ...

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Little darlin' it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darlin' it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun ...
From the Beatles' Abbey Road

British Summer Time started this weekend, and we put our clocks forward an hour last night. The photo above was taken at Holkham Bay, Norfolk, on Saturday afternoon. The temperature was 15 degrees C (60F)!

Holkham is a few miles from Sandringham, the country retreat of the Queen. John Philip Sousa conducted his band there at a royal command performance for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on the Queen's birthday in 1901. The King demanded seven encores, and awarded Sousa the medal of the Victorian Order (right). "Where shall I pin it?" he asked the composer. "Over my heart," Sousa replied. "How American!" said the King.

In return composed his march Imperial Edward which is dedicated to the King. It was first performed in Montreal in 1902, and the manuscript is in the British Museum. But in an ironic example of 'you win some, and you lose some' Sousa considered the march to be one of his least successful compositions.

And, of course, the dedication on the score of Sir Edward Elgar's Second Symphony is '(to the memory of) King Edward VII'. Which neatly brings this Overgrown Path back full circle to Elgar, Alsop and Bernstein.

Sousa anectdotes from 'A Musical Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland' by Gerald Norris (David & Charles ISBN 0715378457 Out of Print). Image credit: Goodalls Tailors, now that is one interesting web site .... Image owners - if you do not want your picture used in this article please contact me and it will be removed. Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
If you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to John Peel's 'Private Passions'

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