BBC - Rule Britannia! Music, Mischief and Morals (2016) Part 1

Rule Britannia! Music, Mischief and Morals in the 18th Century

Suzy Klein explores the extent to which classical music played a significant role in shaping British identity and patriotism in the 18th century.

Part 1

In the first edition, Suzy Klein investigates music as a weapon in the fight for British identity; helping to cement the power of a new German royal family and used in Jacobite uprisings against them. She discovers why Italian opera was all the rage, thanks partly to a fascination with castrated male singers. When Handel arrived in London, the city realised it has a genius on its hands, a man capable of creating music of such power, vigour and vitality that it can stir the hearts of the whole nation. Music stirred a 'bottom up' revolution, as the Beggar's Opera brought the satirical, subversive songs of the street onto the British stage, inventing modern musical theatre as we know it.

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