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C<\/span>hristmas 1860. Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and offspring are at Windsor Castle, enjoying one of their famously idyllic Yuletides. Along with the seasonal scribblings of Charles Dickens, these occasions helped fix in the public mind the notion of the traditional family Christmas that persists to this day.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Albert may not have introduced the Germanic \u2018Christmas tree\u2019 to Britain, but the nation followed suit when his family made it a feature of their celebrations \u2013 candles, gifts and other goodies heaped on and around the branches. Albert and Victoria were also the first royals to issue \u2018official\u2019 Christmas cards.<\/span><\/p>\n Fast forward 12 months to 23 December 1861. The thoughts of the nation are centred less on Christmas than a sombre ceremony in the freezing St George\u2019s Chapel at Windsor Castle: Albert\u2019s funeral, following his death nine days previously. The Queen is down at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, too grief-stricken to attend. In a pre-echo of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales<\/a><\/strong>, two of Albert\u2019s sons (the future Edward VII and 11-year-old Prince Arthur) follow the coffin into the chapel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The St George\u2019s choir played a central role in the funerary choreography, all the more appropriate given Albert\u2019s love of music. The early 18th-century English composer William Croft\u2019s settings of the Book of Common Prayer<\/i>\u2019s funeral sentences were fixtures at state funerals, as they have remained since. <\/span><\/p>\n Possibly at the insistence of the absent Victoria, reference was made to Albert\u2019s Saxe-Coburg\/Lutheran background in the form of German chorales. Luther\u2019s Great God! What do I see and hear?<\/i> (showcasing choir member John Tolley, the 29-year-old son of an Exeter tailor) had one reporter scribbling vivid purple prose: \u2018Peals as of thunder rolled through the building, reverberating from the arched recesses and the lofty aisles, and seemed to shake the very walls.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n The impact made by this, plus music by Handel<\/a><\/strong> and Beethoven<\/a><\/strong>, was down to more than the emotion of the occasion. Under the organist and master of the choristers George Elvey, the St George\u2019s choir exemplified the improvement in standards working its way round the country\u2019s cathedrals. <\/span><\/p>\n At Windsor, Elvey transformed shabbiness into splendour. He also coached Prince Albert in composition, one fruit of which was a Te Deum \u2013 written in Christmas 1844, perhaps using the breathing-space in the royal schedule the festive season afforded. Albert\u2019s other church music, including a not insubstantial anthem, Out of the Deep<\/i>, further demonstrated his ability to identify with Anglican worship.<\/span><\/p>\nThe music of Prince Albert\u2019s funeral<\/h2>\n