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Article: Jacobites just can't Handel the truth...(Column)
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- May 3, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: ALLAN MASSIE
THE BBC's choice of a Handel anthem for its World Cup coverage has come in for criticism, though not, perhaps surprisingly, because the composer was German. It is rather because the anthem comes from his oratorio Judas Maccabeus, which was written to celebrate the defeat of the 1745 Jacobite Rising at Culloden.
Its words 'See, the Conquering Hero Comes' refer to the victor of Culloden, the Duke of Cumberland, second son of George II and popularly known as 'the Butcher' on account of the cruel severity with which he treated the defeated Jacobites after the battle.
One might also think the choice rashly premature, for ...