Composer Debbie Wiseman has written a “theme tune” for Queen Elizabeth.
The 59-year-old musician has written the score for the Platinum Jubilee Celebration – which will air live on ITV on Sunday (15.05.22) evening – and, as with her other projects, part of her work involved penning a track especially for the central character.
She said: “I have an Elizabeth II melody, which I now think of as her theme tune. [It conveys] not only the majesty and ceremony, but her dignity and steadfastness – the feeling that we’ve lived with her all our lives.”
The ‘Lesbian Vampire Killers’ composer – who previously composed the Overture and Finale for the queen’s 90th birthday celebration and was one of those who worked on New Water Music for the Diamond Jubilee river pageant in 2012 – admitted every aspect of this week’s show has been “tailored” to the 96-year-old monarch.
She said: “It’s a very, very intricately planned show, and there’s nothing in it that hasn’t been tailored to the Queen.
“[The finale has] a big medley with a hundred massed pipes and drums. It brings the four nations of the United Kingdom together.”
The 90-minute performance is a “gallop through history” and will feature the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Damian Lewis, Alan Titchmarsh, Tom Cruise and Omid Djalili – as well as 500 horses.
Debbie told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “It’s like little snapshots of a time, done in a very humorous, lighthearted way.”
Creating the show has been “tricky” because it is live.
She said: “This is a live show, and it changes every single time you do it.
“I’ve had to write in a lot of belt-and-braces stuff so that whatever happens, there is music in place to cover it.”
And the horses have been acclimatised to the music “so they don’t get spooked”.
Debbie added: “The number of times they’ve heard it now, they ought to be able to sing along.”
The music for the celebration includes new song ‘Beacon of Brightest Light’, which Debbie – who also serves as the production’s musical director – composed using lyrics written by the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
She added: “It features lots of the traditional, Last Night of the Proms stuff [such as Elgar] that you’d expect, and short segments from places like India and Azerbaijan.”