Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.
Went the day well?

When you go home,
Tell them of us and say,
"For your tomorrows,
These gave their todays".

The sheet music of 'Went the Day Well?' is available from:

Peters Edition Limited
2-6 Baches Street, London N1 6DN
Tel: +44 (0)20 7553 4030
e-mail: newmusic@editionpeters.com
website: www.editionpeters.com

Please download the single from iTunes

If you would like a copy of the original CD please write to us via the Contact Us page

THE STORY BEHIND THE ANTHEM

Tom Jackson

I first came across the epitaph, 'Went the Day Well?', written by John Maxwell Edmonds, during the Remembrance Day Service at St. Paul's Cathedral in 2010 when I was trying to come up with ideas about how to raise money for Help for Heroes. Its full meaning became clear during that service and I decided that it would be wonderful if it could be put to music.

It was obvious to me who I would ask to sing this Anthem: My youngest brother, Harry, is a Chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral and I was hopeful that I would be able to convince the musical director at the Cathedral, Andrew Carwood, that the choristers should sing it. But who should I ask to compose it? I am a keen musician but I do not consider myself able to write music (or at least anything that I would be willing to ask anyone to listen to!). The obvious choice was Ben Parry, currently the Director of the Junior Royal Academy of Music in London. Ben was my Director of Music at St. Paul's School in Barnes before he took over the JRAM position and is a wonderful teacher, composer, conductor, singer.......I could go on but won't; instead go to his website by clicking on his name to see his CV.

In retrospect, it was a massive imposition on my part to assume that he would be happy to help me simply out of the goodness of his heart, but that is exactly what he did! I are hugely grateful to him.

After that I approached Andrew Carwood, the Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral and Neil Chippington, the Headmaster at St. Paul's Cathedral School, both of whom were extremely helpful; I have been bowled over by the enthusiastic response from everyone whom I asked to help out. A subsequent letter from me seeking permission from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral to allow the Choristers to perform this 'New work' had a positive response.

CHOOSING THE CONCERT VENUE

I originally planned on holding the concert at St. James's Church Piccadilly, another beautifully designed Christopher Wren building, on the 1st June. This church has a lovely feel to it - there are several pictures on the left which I took when I was looking round - and I was very pleased with the choice. However, it became clear for a number of reasons that the concert would be best held later in the month when, it so happened, that St. Paul's Cathedral was going to be available!

At some point I will go into detail about everything that had to be done to arrange the concert. It took an extraordinary amount of work and there were some things that were well worth doing and others that took up a lot of time with little or no gain. I learnt a great deal from the experience, not least that you should take the advice of others who have done this sort of thing before!

It was all well-worth it in the end. The concert was held on Wednesday 29th June 2011 and was attended by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The Choristers sang beautifully and it was a truly memorable occasion. Thank you to everyone who helped make it a success and to all of you who turned up on the day to enjoy what was, for me at least, a magical evening.