To conclude the account of the second Coronation Service in which I have had the great honour to direct the music I hope I may be forgiven for adding the
following letters and incidents.
The first letter is from Bishop Ryle, our respected Dean, who has never failed to say a kind word to me on any occasion when I have done my best for the Abbey. It was written and sent to me on the very evening of Coronation Day, and was a particularly kind act as the Dean was very much fatigued, having been in ill-health for some time previous to the eventful day :
The Deanery,
Westminster, S.W.,
9.30…
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To conclude the account of the second Coronation Service in which I have had the great honour to direct the music I hope I may be forgiven for adding the
following letters and incidents.
The first letter is from Bishop Ryle, our respected Dean, who has never failed to say a kind word to me on any occasion when I have done my best for the Abbey. It was written and sent to me on the very evening of Coronation Day, and was a particularly kind act as the Dean was very much fatigued, having been in ill-health for some time previous to the eventful day :
The Deanery,
Westminster, S.W.,
9.30 p.m., June 22nd, 1911
MY DEAR SIR FREDERICK, Excuse a pencil note. But I could not sleep to-night without sending a line to thank and congratulate you for the splendid
service you and your great choir rendered with such wonderful success. I hope you will be feeling happy about it. You deserve to do so. Personally let me
thank you for all that you have done for to-day's great function.
Yours very gratefully,
HERBERT E. RYLE.
The King has sent a beautiful telegram about the
satisfaction he and the Queen derived from your
reverent and devotional treatment of the Coronation
solemnity."
From Sir Hubert Parry I received the following very flattering and highly characteristic letter :
Royal College of Music,
June 26th, 1911.
MY DEAR BRIDGE, How are you feeling about now ? I'm very sorry I didn't see you this morning to pile congratulations on you for getting through that
fearfully tangled and complicated and responsible business with such complete success. As far as I could hear in my remote corner you seemed ready for every emergency and kept it all going all the long while without a sign of faltering or a gap, and you kept them all in such good humour and got ever so much more work out of them in consequence. I am infinitely obliged to you for taking so much trouble over the Anthem and the Te Deum, and I'm sorry I
made the latter so hard. I couldn't hear much of it at the ceremony, but it seemed to be going all right. I should have written sooner but I dragged my anchor in Stokes Bay on Saturday and the sloop went ashore and remained broadside to the waves for seven hours and we had an awful job getting her back to Littlehampton next day, after pumping all night !
Yours ever,
HUBERT H. PARRY."
His Majesty the King marked his recognition of the occasion by conferring upon me the Commandership of the Royal Victorian Order, which I received at
Buckingham Palace a few days after the Coronation. I thus had the honour of receiving a decoration from a third sovereign, Her Majesty Queen Victoria having bestowed upon me the Jubilee Medal in 1887, and conferred the honour of Knighthood in 1897, while King Edward had added the M.V.O. in 1902. A very gratifying compliment was shortly afterwards paid to me by the Coronation Choir, who organized a dinner, the Chair at which was taken by His Grace The Duke of Devonshire. During the evening the Chairman read the following letter from Lord Knollys:
"His Majesty wishes it to be made known to the Westminster Abbey Choir, as well as to Sir Frederick Bridge, that he was very much pleased with the musical arrangements in the Abbey on the occasion of his Coronation, and that
he thought the music was beautiful and extremely well rendered."
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