By Joby Talbot
An Independent Opera commission

Thursday 11 April 2019
Barbican Hall

Mendelssohn  Symphony No. 3, Scottish
Joby Talbot  A Sheen of Dew on Flowers

Britten Sinfonia
Natalie Murray Beale, conductor

Kelley O’Connor, mezzo soprano
Tobias Greenhalgh, baritone
Britten Sinfonia Voices
Eamonn Dougan, Britten Sinfonia Voices Director

To celebrate the bi-centenary of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s birth in 2019, Independent Opera (IO) and Britten Sinfonia presented the first public performance of Joby Talbot’s cantata A Sheen of Dew on Flowers at the Barbican Hall.  

For this major new commission from IO, Talbot took inspiration from Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet designed for her by Prince Albert.  A radiant and lyric score brings to life the story of one of the greatest marriages in history whilst reflecting on the tender themes of love and loss.

“A Sheen of Dew on Flowers sets sacred texts by women, collected from all parts of the world and written across three millennia.  The poems (translated into English by the American poet Jane Hirshfield) speak of love and mourning and suggest a burgeoning love affair that is cut short by bereavement.  It thus mirrors the story of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's own relationship, while celebrating the great museum that was such an important part of their shared vision.”  Joby Talbot, composer

For this performance, Britten Sinfonia and Britten Sinfonia Voices were conducted by Natalie Murray Beale, IO's Creative Director, who was joined by soloists Kelley O’Connor and Tobias Greenhalgh. 

The evening included a performance of Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony No. 3 which was dedicated to Queen Victoria and paints a vivid picture of the composer's grand tour to Scotland in 1829.

Photograph © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet designed for her by Prince Albert in 1840, their wedding year, was purchased for the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2017 through the generosity of William & Judith Bollinger, co-founders of IO, and Douglas & James Bollinger as a gift to the Nation and the Commonwealth. It went on permanent public display from 11 April 2019 in the refurbished William and Judith Bollinger Gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

One of the great jewels of her reign, the coronet featured in Franz Xaver Winterhalter's first and most famous portrait of Queen Victoria. In 1866, on the first occasion the Queen felt able to attend the opening of Parliament following Prince Albert’s death in 1861, she wore the coronet in place of her crown. The coronet endures as a symbol of their love.