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Writing this during The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, I was struck by how many times the Queen must have heard the National Anthem.
To make it more engaging, there have been various arrangements of the piece, the most common over the weekend being the dramatic Gordon Jacob fanfare. My favourite, and I think The Queen’s favourite, is the Benjamin Britten two-verse arrangement, with the hushed prayerful first verse, and rousing key-changed second verse. However many times you hear a piece, a good arrangement can make a song stunningly fresh.
What hymns should you choose this Sunday?
In December 1527, the German reformer Martin Luther wrote to a colleague referring to himself in the third person: “We …