Talk:Master of the King's Music

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Untitled[edit]

Isn't it traditionally spelt with a 'k'? (As in "Musick", not "Kmaster") Deb 19:15 Mar 5, 2003 (UTC)

That was once the title, I think, but according to various reference works I've looked in, the official title is now spelt without a K. I'll mention Musick in the article, though, and make redirects from Master of the Queen's Musick and Master of the King's Musick. --Camembert

Musick is indeed the usual spelling, but Williamson dropped the K on his appointment. It remains to be seen whether that was an official change, i.e. will the next appointee revert to Musick? Gritchka

Does anybody know when Williamson's successor gets appointed? Is it in the New Year's Honours list? Or has somebody already been appointed when nobody was looking? --Camembert

Well, new year honours have come and gone, and I've still heard nothing about it. Maybe it'll be in the birthday honours... Or it could be that somebody has slipped into the post when we weren't looking. --Camembert

According to the article here, taken from The Independent, the position has been vacant since Williamson's death. I've mentioned this in the article. -- Vardion 00:50, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

From the article:

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was appointed in March 2004 for a ten year period unlike previous appointments which were for life.

What happens in the (extremely likely) event that the Queen does not live that long? Pakaran . 21:02, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

He goes on the funeral pyre too. Seems tough, but goes with the territory.

Heh, well that might be right, but given what's happened in the past, I think he will continue as Master of the King's Music. Walter Parratt, for example, continued in the post following the deaths of Victoria and Edward VII. But I'm just saying that on assumption - anon above could be right for all I know. --Camembert

AFAICR, technically, he would be newly-created the Master of the King's Music, and so one might think that this would last for another 10 years hence; however, he would probably be made MotKM for the remaining part of his tenure, unless the Queen's sucessor particularly liked him/his style/the Old Ways, in which case it might well become a life-tenured position again.

*shrugs*

James F. (talk) 10:54, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

From what I can gather, it was Davies himself, rather than the royal household, who insisted on the ten-year term (again, though, I may be wrong). I don't think he'd want to hold the post beyond 2014 whatever happened. --Camembert

Spelling change[edit]

The article says the spelling change took place during Elgar's tenure but the discussion above says 1975, as do comments in the Elgar article. Does anyone know for sure? Nunquam Dormio (talk) 09:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have also been trying to nail this down. You can find plenty of ghits that say people like Walford Davies, Bax, Bliss, Williamson and Maxwell Davies were appointed "M of the Q's Musick". I'm sort of suspecting it still has this title über-formally but the "Music" spelling is used in less than über-formal contexts (unter-über formal?).

Can anyone track down the Court Circulars or Gazette notices where these appointments were actually made, so we can see how they spelt it? And if it's now formally spelt Music, can we find out exactly when and how it changed during Elgar's time (if, in fact, it did). Was it done on Elgar's own instigation, for example, or were other forces at play? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 02:36, 12 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If this film can be believed, it seems to have still been Musick in 1931, only a couple of years before Elgar died. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 13:00, 8 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Composer of music to the Queen in Scotland[edit]

This is very new territory for me, and I'm hoping someone who knows more can help out. I'm researching Sir Herbert Oakeley (1830-1903), a notable organist and composer.

My starting point was my trusty Grove's 1954 edition, which says he was "created composer of music to Her Majesty in Scotland" in 1881. This is confirmed here.
Here he's called "composer to the Queen, in Scotland".
Here he's "the Queen's Composer in Scotland".
Here, he's referred to as "Royal composer".

Naturally, I'm wondering whether this was a one-off, personal appointment for Oakeley, or whether it was an established office like Master of the Queen's Music(k).

If the former, what prevented the incumbent MQM, William Cusins, from performing this role?
If the latter, what is the history of the office and who were the other "composers of music to Her Majesty in Scotland" (or whatever the formal title of the appointment was)? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 03:05, 12 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am also researching Sir Herbert Oakeley and have just opened a stub in his name... Any further information on the connection between "Composer of Music to Queen Victoria in Scotland" and "Master of the Queen's Musick" would be insightful. For the moment I have wikilinked the title from his page to that of "Master of..." GARETHenterprises© ^{talk · contribs} 22:36, 7 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Mistress of the Queen's Music?[edit]

We're not supposed to speculate, but with the changes happening to the rules of succession to the throne and the ongoing rooting out of sex discrimination everywhere, what's the betting the next Master of the QM, when Max Davies retires in 2014, will be a Mistress of the QM? :) -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 22:56, 10 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]