This work is based on actual historical events. In 1212, Earl Randulf of Chester was taken prisoner by the Welsh in his castle of Rhuddlan in Flintshire. A messenger reached the Constable of Chester, but all the soldiers at Chester Fair were too drunk to move. So the Constable and his son-in-law, Dutton, gathered together all the minstrels and jugglers. Dutton led them into Wales, until they boldly approached Rhuddlan Castle. The Welsh captors were in a position of strength. But they mistook the large group of minstrels for an army and fled the scene. The Earl of Chester was free.
Dutton and the minstrels were rewarded. All minstrels had to obtain a licence to make music from the King, once a year. But after the events of 1212, every Midsummer’s Day the minstrels of Chester visited the court of the Dutton family instead. Each musician presented four flagons of wine and four-pence half-penny in return for a licence to make music for 12 months. This practice continued until 1756.*
This composition gives a male voice choir the privilege of stepping into the shoes of those minstrels, with the bravado that comes naturally on a boozy summer’s day but which still does credit to the memory and courage of those men. It should not be sung with affectation. Many of the minstrels were criminals, only allowed into the city on that day because of an amnesty during the Fair. There are no solos because this is a work about strength in numbers. The choir should imagine the minstrel’s marching song as one which begins almost as a joke, but gains sincerity and conviction as they have no choice but to see their mission through. The more sombre reprise without piano accompaniment is a rare sober moment on the homeward journey, before they recall their pride. A robust joy and sense of purpose is as important as precision of pitch.
*History taken from The Oxford Companion to Music by Percy A. Scholes: “Minstrels (2) The Minstrel in English History”
www.abigailjfox.com